Pietro Alessandro Gaspare Scarlatti (2 May 1660 – 22 October 1725) was an Italian

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

, known especially for his

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

s and chamber

cantata A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian language, Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal music, vocal Musical composition, composition with an musical instrument, instrumental accompaniment, ty ...

s. He is considered the most important representative of the Neapolitan school of opera. Nicknamed by his contemporaries "the Italian Orpheus", he divided his career between

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

and

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

; a significant part of his works was composed for the papal city. He is often considered the founder of the Neapolitan school, although he has only been its most illustrious representative: his contribution, his originality and his influence were essential, as well as lasting, both in Italy and in Europe. Particularly known for his operas, he brought the Italian dramatic tradition to its maximum development, begun by Monteverdi at the beginning of

17th century The 17th century lasted from January 1, 1601 (represented by the Roman numerals MDCI), to December 31, 1700 (MDCC). It falls into the early modern period of Europe and in that continent (whose impact on the world was increasing) was characterized ...

and continued by Cesti, Cavalli, Carissimi, Legrenzi and Stradella, designing the final form of the ''

Da capo aria The da capo aria () is a musical form for arias that was prevalent in the Baroque era. It is sung by a soloist with the accompaniment of instruments, often a small orchestra. The da capo aria is very common in the musical genres of opera and orato ...

'', imitated throughout Europe. He was also the inventor of the Italian overture in three movements (which was of the highest importance in the development of the

symphony A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning c ...

), of the four-part sonata (progenitor of the modern

string quartet The term string quartet refers to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two Violin, violini ...

), and of the technique of motivic development./ encyclopedia / alessandro-scarlatti_% 28Biographical-dictionary% 29 / SCARLATTI, Alessandro in "Biographical Dictionary"
/ref> He was a model for the musical theater of his time, as evoked by Händel's Italian works, deeply influenced by his theatrical music. Eclectic, Scarlatti also worked on all the other common genres of his time, from the

sonata In music a sonata (; pl. ''sonate'') literally means a piece ''played'' as opposed to a cantata (Latin and Italian ''cantare'', "to sing"), a piece ''sung''. The term evolved through the history of music, designating a variety of forms until th ...

to the

concerto grosso The concerto grosso (; Italian for ''big concert(o)'', plural ''concerti grossi'' ) is a form of baroque music in which the musical material is passed between a small group of soloists (the '' concertino'') and full orchestra (the '' ripieno'', '' ...

, from the

motet In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the preeminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to the Eng ...

to the

mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

, from the

oratorio An oratorio () is a musical composition with dramatic or narrative text for choir, soloists and orchestra or other ensemble. Similar to opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguisha ...

to the

, the latter being a genre in which he was an undisputed master. He was the father of two other composers,

Domenico Scarlatti Giuseppe Domenico Scarlatti (26 October 1685 – 23 July 1757) was an Italian composer. He is classified primarily as a Baroque music, Baroque composer chronologically, although his music was influential in the development of the Classical peri ...

and Pietro Filippo Scarlatti.

Life

Scarlatti was born in

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...

(or in

Trapani Trapani ( ; ; ) is a city and municipality (''comune'') with 54,887 inhabitants, on the west coast of Sicily, in Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Trapani. Founded by Elymians, the city is still an important fishing port and the mai ...

), then part of the

Kingdom of Sicily The Kingdom of Sicily (; ; ) was a state that existed in Sicily and the southern Italian peninsula, Italian Peninsula as well as, for a time, in Kingdom of Africa, Northern Africa, from its founding by Roger II of Sicily in 1130 until 1816. It was ...

. He received his first musical education in his family in Palermo. Alessandro Scarlatti

He is generally said to have been a pupil of Giacomo Carissimi in

, and some theorize that he had some connection with northern Italy because his early works seem to show the influence of Stradella and Legrenzi. The production at Rome of his opera ''Gli equivoci nel sembiante'' (1679) gained him the support of Queen

Christina of Sweden Christina (; 18 December ld Style and New Style dates, O.S. 8 December1626 – 19 April 1689), a member of the House of Vasa, was Monarchy of Sweden, Queen of Sweden from 1632 until her abdication in 1654. Her conversion to Catholicism and ...

(who at the time was living in Rome), and he became her ''maestro di cappella''. In February 1684 he became ''maestro di cappella'' to the

viceroy A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the Anglo-Norman ''roy'' (Old Frenc ...

, perhaps through the influence of his sister, an opera singer, who might have been the mistress of an influential Neapolitan noble. Here he produced a long series of operas, remarkable chiefly for their fluency and expressiveness, as well as other music for state occasions. In 1702 Scarlatti left Naples and did not return until the Spanish domination had been superseded by that of the Austrians. In the interval he enjoyed the patronage of Ferdinando de' Medici, for whose private theatre near

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

he composed operas, and of Cardinal Ottoboni, who made him his ''maestro di cappella'', and procured him a similar post at the

Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore Santa Maria Maggiore (), also known as the Basilica of Saint Mary Major or the Basilica of Saint Mary the Great, is one of the four major papal basilicas and one of the Seven Pilgrim Churches of Rome. The largest Marian church in Rome, it is ...

in Rome in 1703. After visiting

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

and

Urbino Urbino ( , ; Romagnol: ''Urbìn'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Italy, Italian region of Marche, southwest of Pesaro, a World Heritage Site notable for a remarkable historical legacy of independent Renaissance culture, especially und ...

in 1707, Scarlatti took up his duties in Naples again in 1708, and remained there until 1717. By this time Naples seems to have become tired of his music; the Romans, however, appreciated it better, and it was at the Teatro Capranica in Rome that he produced some of his finest operas ('' Telemaco'', 1718; ''Marco Attilio Regolò'', 1719; '' La Griselda'', 1721), as well as some noble specimens of church music, including a '' Messa di Santa Cecilia'' for chorus and orchestra, composed in honor of

Saint Cecilia Saint Cecilia (), also spelled Cecelia, was a Roman Christian virgin martyr, who is venerated in Catholic, Eastern Orthodox Church, Orthodox, Anglican Communion, Anglican, and some Lutheran churches, such as the Church of Sweden. She became the ...

for Cardinal Francesco Acquaviva in 1721. His last work on a large scale appears to have been the unfinished '' Erminia'' serenata for the marriage of the prince of Stigliano in 1723. He died in Naples in 1725 and is entombed there at the church of Santa Maria di Montesanto.

Music

Scarlatti's music forms an important link between the early

Italian vocal styles of the 17th century, with their centers in Florence, Venice and

, and the classical school of the 18th century. Scarlatti's style, however, is more than a transitional element in Western music; like most of his Naples colleagues he shows an almost modern understanding of the psychology of modulation and also frequently makes use of the ever-changing phrase lengths so typical of the Napoli school. His early operas—''Gli equivoci nel sembiante'' 1679; '' L'honestà negli amori'' 1680, containing the famous aria "Già il sole dal Gange"; ''

Il Pompeo ''Il Pompeo'' is a dramma per musica in three acts by composer Alessandro Scarlatti. Written in 1682 when Scarlatti was 22 years old, it was his fourth opera and first dramatic work on a serious and grand subject. The opera uses an Italian langu ...

'' 1683, containing the well-known airs "O cessate di piagarmi" and "Toglietemi la vita ancor," and others down to about 1685—retain the older cadences in their recitatives, and a considerable variety of neatly constructed forms in their charming little arias, accompanied sometimes by the string quartet, treated with careful elaboration, sometimes with the continuo alone. By 1686, he had definitely established the "Italian overture" form (second edition of ''Dal male il bene''), and had abandoned the ground bass and the

binary form Binary form is a musical form in 2 related sections, both of which are usually repeated. Binary is also a structure used to choreograph dance. In music this is usually performed as A-A-B-B. Binary form was popular during the Baroque music, Baro ...

air in two stanzas in favour of the

ternary form Ternary form, sometimes called song form, is a three-part musical form consisting of an opening section (A), a following section (B) and then a repetition of the first section (A). It is usually schematized as A–B–A. Prominent examples inclu ...

da capo Da capo ( , , ; often abbreviated as D.C.) is an Italian musical term that means "from the beginning" (literally, "from the head"). The term is a directive to repeat the previous part of music, often used to save space, and thus is an easie ...

type of air. His best operas of this period are ''La Rosaura'' (1690, printed by the Gesellschaft für Musikforschung), and ''Pirro e Demetrio'' (1694), in which occur the arias "Le Violette", and "Ben ti sta, traditor". From about 1697 onwards (''La caduta del Decemviri''), influenced partly perhaps by the style of

Giovanni Bononcini Giovanni Bononcini (or Buononcini) (18 July 1670 – 9 July 1747) (sometimes cited also as Giovanni Battista Bononcini) was an Italian Baroque composer, cellist, singer and teacher, one of a family of string players and composers. He was a rival ...

and probably more by the taste of the viceregal court, his opera arias become more conventional and commonplace in rhythm, while his scoring is hasty and crude, yet not without brilliance (''L'Eraclea'', 1700), the

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double-reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common type of oboe, the soprano oboe pitched in C, ...

s and

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

s being frequently used, and the

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

s often playing in unison. The operas composed for Ferdinando de' Medici are lost; they might have given a more favourable idea of his style as his correspondence with the prince shows that they were composed with a very sincere sense of inspiration. '' Mitridate Eupatore'', accounted his masterpiece, composed for Venice in 1707, contains music far in advance of anything that Scarlatti had written for Naples, both in technique and in intellectual power. The later Neapolitan operas (''L'amor volubile e tiranno'' 1709; ''La principessa fedele'' 1710; ''Tigrane'', 1714, &c.) are showy and effective rather than profoundly emotional; the instrumentation marks a great advance on previous work, since the main duty of accompanying the voice is thrown upon the string quartet, the harpsichord being reserved exclusively for the noisy instrumental ''ritornelli''. In his opera ''Teodora'' (1697) he originated the use of the orchestral ''ritornello''. His last group of operas, composed for Rome, exhibit a deeper poetic feeling, a broad and dignified style of melody, a strong dramatic sense, especially in accompanied recitatives, a device which he himself had been the first to use as early as 1686 (''Olimpia vendicata'') and a much more modern style of orchestration, the horns appearing for the first time, and being treated with striking effect. Besides the operas,

s (''Agar et Ismaele esiliati'', 1684; ''La Maddalena'', 1685; ''La Giuditta'', 1693; ''Humanita e Lucifero'', 1704; ''Christmas Oratorio'', c. 1705; ''Cain'', 1707; ''S. Filippo Neri'', 1714; and others) and serenatas, which all exhibit a similar style, Scarlatti composed upwards of five hundred chamber-cantatas for solo voice. These represent the most intellectual type of chamber-music of their period, and it is to be regretted that they have remained almost entirely in manuscript, since a careful study of them is indispensable to anyone who wishes to form an adequate idea of Scarlatti's development. His few remaining Masses and church music in general are comparatively unimportant, except the great '' Saint Cecilia Mass'' (1721), which is one of the first attempts at the style which reached its height in the great Masses of

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: Help:IPA/Standard German, �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque music, Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety ...

and

Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

. His instrumental music, though not without interest, is curiously antiquated as compared with his vocal works.

Operas

Recordings

*Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Nicholas McGegan. (2016). ''La Gloria di Primavera''. Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra. Diana Moore, Suzana Ograjensek, Nicholas Phan, Clint van der Linde, Douglas Williams, Philharmonia Chorale. *Akademie für alte Musik Berlin,

René Jacobs René Jacobs (born 30 October 1946) is a Belgian musician. He came to fame as a countertenor, but later in his career he became known as a conductor of baroque and classical opera. Biography Countertenor Born in Ghent, Jacobs began his musi ...

. (2007). ''Griselda''. Harmonia Mundi HMC 901805.07. Dorothea Röschmann, Lawrence Zazzo, Veronica Cangemi, Bernarda Fink, Silvia Tro Santafé, Kobie van Rensburg. *Le Consert de l'Hostel Dieu. (2006). ''Il martirio di Sant'Orsola''. Ligia digital: 0202176–07 *Le parlement de musique. (2005). ''La Giuditta''. Ambronay editions: AMY004 *Ensemble Europa Galante. (2004). ''Oratorio per la Santissima Trinità''. Virgin Classics: 5 45666 2 *Academia Bizantina. (2004). ''Il Giardino di Rose''. Decca: 470 650-2 DSA. *Orqestra barocca di Sevilla . (2003). ''Colpa, Pentimento e Grazia''. Harmonia Mundi: HMI 987045.46 *Seattle Baroque. (2001). ''Agar et Ismaele Esiliati''. Centaur: CRC 2664 *''Sedecia, re di Gerusalemme''. 2000 . Gérard Lesne, Philippe Jaroussky, Virginie Pouchon, Mark Padmore, Peter Harvey, Il Seminario musicale. Virgin veritas, Erato *Capella Palatina. (2000). ''Davidis pugna et victoria''. Agora: AG 249.1 *Akademie für alte Musik Berlin,

. (1998). ''Il Primo Omicidio''. Harmonia Mundi Fr. Dorothea Röschmann, Graciela Oddone, Richard Croft,

, Bernarda Fink, Antonio Abete *Ensemble Europa Galante. (1995). ''Humanita e Lucifero''. Opus 111: OPS 30–129 *Ensemble Europa Galante. (1993). ''La Maddalena''. Opus 111: OPS 30–96 *Allesandro Stradella Consort. (1992). Cantata natalizia ''Abramo, il tuo sembiante''. Nuova era: 7117 * I Musici. (1991). ''Concerto Grosso''. Philips Classics Productions: 434 160–2 * I Musici. William Bennett (Flute), Lenore Smith (Flute), Bernard Soustrot (Trumpet), Hans Elhorst (Oboe). (1961). ''12 Sinfonie di concerto grosso'' Philips Box 6769 066 500 959 & 9500 960 – 2 vinyl discs* Emma Kirkby, soprano and Daniel Taylor, countertenor, with the Theatre of Early Music. (2005). '' Stabat Mater''.

ATMA Classique ATMA Classique is an independent classical record label based in Montreal, and welcomes artists from Quebec, across Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territorie ...

: ACD2 2237 *Francis Colpron, recorder, with Les Boréades. (2007). ''Concertos for flute''. ATMA Classique: ACD2 2521 *Nederlands Kamerkoor, with Harry van der Kamp, conductor. (2008). ''Vespro della Beata Vergine'' for 5 voices and continuo. ATMA Classique: ACD2 2533

References

External links

Associazione Domenico Scarlatti
Italian language (some material in English). * Free scores by Alessandro Scarlatti at the International Music Score Library Project *
The Madrigals of Alessandro Scarlatti
A lecture/recital by Garrick Comeaux and Consortium Carissimi, with Kelley Harness, 12 February 2009. University of Minnesota Institute for Advanced Studies. Audio and video available.
The partimenti of Alessandro Scarlatti (D-Hs M/A 251)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scarlatti, Alessandro 1660 births 1725 deaths 17th-century Italian educators 18th-century Italian educators 18th-century Italian male musicians Catholic liturgical composers Italian classical composers of church music Italian Baroque composers Italian opera composers Italian classical musicians Italian male opera composers Neapolitan school composers Italian string quartet composers 17th-century Italian composers 18th-century Italian composers Composers from Sicily Musicians from Palermo 01 17th-century Italian male musicians Alessandro

Life

Music

Operas

Recordings

See also

References

External links