Domenico Natale Sarro, also Sarri (24 December 1679 – 25 January 1744) was an Italian composer. Born in Trani, Apulia, he studied at the Neapolitan conservatory of

S. Onofrio Sant'Onofrio al Gianicolo is a titular church in Trastevere, Rome. It is the official church of the papal order of knighthood Order of the Holy Sepulchre. A side chapel is dedicated to the Order and a former grand master, Nicola Canali is entombed ...

. He composed extensively in the early 18th century. His opera '' Didone abbandonata'', premiered on 1 February 1724 at the

Teatro San Bartolomeo Theatres for diverse musical and dramatic presentations began to open in Naples, Italy, in the mid-16th century as part of the general Spanish cultural and political expansion into the kingdom of Naples, which had just become a vicerealm of Spain. ...

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

, was the first setting of a major libretto by

Pietro Metastasio Pietro Antonio Domenico Trapassi (3 January 1698 – 12 April 1782), better known by his pseudonym of Pietro Metastasio (), was an Italian poet and librettist, considered the most important writer of ''opera seria'' libretti. Early life Met ...

. He is best remembered today as the composer of '' Achille in Sciro'', the opera that was chosen to open the new

Teatro di San Carlo The Real Teatro di San Carlo ("Royal Theatre of Saint Charles"), as originally named by the Bourbon monarchy but today known simply as the Teatro (di) San Carlo, is an opera house in Naples, Italy, connected to the Royal Palace and adjacent ...

in 1737. Of his many intermezzi, 'Dorina e Nibbio' or L'impresario delle Isole Canarie (1724) has had an extensive performance history. With a libretto by

(his only comic libretto), it was performed often and imitated internationally (with versions by Albinoni, Gasparini, Leo, Martini and others). In recent years it was performed in the State Theatre of Stuttgart, the Bochum Symphony as well as the

Semperoper The Semperoper () is the opera house of the Sächsische Staatsoper Dresden (Saxon State Opera) and the concert hall of the Staatskapelle Dresden (Saxon State Orchestra). It is also home to the Semperoper Ballett. The building is located on the ...

Dresden. In addition to his Operas and other large scale works, Sarro has written a considerable number of vocal cantatas which show great charm and inventiveness. 'Coronatemi il crin' for Alto, two violins and continuo, is perhaps his most well known cantata. The only known depiction of Domenico Sarro is Nicolò Maria Rossi's painting of the Viceroy at the festa of the Quattro Altari in the Harrach collection, Sarro is one of the many composers depicted as part of the Neapolitan Court (La festa dei Quattro Altari, 1745)

Operas

References

*Grove Music On-line *Robinson, Michael F. (1972) ''Naples and Neapolitan Opera''. Clarendon Press, Oxford. . *''Fingere Per Godere: Comedia Per Music'' (1736) by Tomaso Mariani and Domenico Sarro 1679 births 1744 deaths Italian opera composers Male opera composers Italian male classical composers Italian Baroque composers 18th-century Italian composers 18th-century Italian male musicians {{Italy-composer-stub