Francesco Provenzale
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Francesco Provenzale (25 September 1632 – 6 September 1704) 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 and teacher.Fabris 2016. He is considered the founder of the Neapolitan school of opera. Notably Provenzale was the teacher of famed
castrato A castrato (Italian; : castrati) is a male singer who underwent castration before puberty in order to retain a singing voice equivalent to that of a soprano, mezzo-soprano, or contralto. The voice can also occur in one who, due to an endocrino ...
'il cavaliere Nicolo Grimaldi (detto Nicolini)'.


Biography

Before the year 1658, there is virtually no record of Provenzale's existence, although it is thought that he studied at the Conservatorio della Pietà dei Turchini in
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 ...
. The year of his entry into history is 1654, the year 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 ...
''Teseo'' was performed in Naples.Grace O'Brien The golden age of Italian music 1980 p139 "This new influence bore fruit a few years later in the first Neapolitan music drama, Francesco Provenzale's Teseo. Like Stradella, Provenzale had a natural gift for melody, and the chief interest in his operas centres in the arias which, by their ..." In his life, he mainly focused his energies on teaching, but he has a place in history as the first Neapolitan composer to embrace opera. Before ''Teseo'', he seems to have composed at least two other operas. That same year, an opera called '' Il Ciro'', no doubt by Provenzale, was performed in
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 ...
at the Teatro Santi Giovanni e Paolo. What was remarkable about the opera was that part of the music was by
Francesco Cavalli Francesco Cavalli (born Pietro Francesco Caletti-Bruni; 14 February 1602 – 14 January 1676) was a Venetian composer, organist and singer of the early Baroque period. He succeeded his teacher Claudio Monteverdi as the dominant and leading op ...
; no other collaborative opera is known of in Venice before this date and Provenzale's ''Xerse'' and ''Artemisia'' may both have been arrangements of original works by Cavalli. Between composing opera and teaching, Provenzale managed to live a comfortable life. In 1660, he was married to Chiara Basile and by spring 1663, he became ''maestro'' of the Conservatorio di S Maria di Loreto, where he had been working for at least two years. In 1665 his son Giuseppe was born; he and his wife also had two daughters. From this point on, until age began to take a toll, his life was a fairly enviable success story. His works were frequently performed in Naples. As his reputation grew, commissions began to pour in and his body of students grew. And although he served as ''maestro'' in numerous institutions, the top position of chief ''maestro'' at any of these eluded him. Late in life, when removed from some of his posts due to his age, he became deputy to
Alessandro Scarlatti Pietro Alessandro Gaspare Scarlatti (2 May 1660 – 22 October 1725) was an Italian Baroque music, Baroque composer, known especially for his operas and chamber cantatas. He is considered the most important representative of the Neapolitan sch ...
. In 1704, he was at last made chief ''maestro'' at the royal chapel, but it was only days before his death. The post was inherited by Gaetano Veneziano, his star student. Provenzale's surviving works, only a fraction of what he composed, are the operas ''Il schiavo di sua moglie'' and ''La Stellidaura vendicante'', the sacred melodrama ''La colomba ferita'' (considered his best piece, about the life of
Saint Rosalia Rosalia (; ; 1130–1166), nicknamed ("the Little Saint"), is the patron saint of Palermo in Italy, Camargo in Chihuahua, and three towns in Venezuela: El Hatillo, , and El Playón. She is especially important internationally as a saint in ...
), and numerous sacred works. Qualities of Italian vocal styles that strongly express sadness and pain are nowhere better exemplified than in the long melodic lines and expressive
chromatic Diatonic and chromatic are terms in music theory that are used to characterize scales. The terms are also applied to musical instruments, intervals, chords, notes, musical styles, and kinds of harmony. They are very often used as a pair, es ...
harmonies of the
aria In music, an aria (, ; : , ; ''arias'' in common usage; diminutive form: arietta, ; : ariette; in English simply air (music), air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrument (music), instrumental or orchestral accompan ...
"Lasciatemi morir" ("Let me die"), from his opera ''Il schiavo di sua moglie'' (''His Wife's Slave'').


Selected recordings

* Cantatas, I Turchini Florio. Symphonia; reissue on Il Canto della Sirena 3CD Glossa 2011 * Missa defunctorum with Cristofaro Caresana: Dixit Dominus Cappella della Pieta de' Turchini Florio (2007) * Provenzale: Passione (1996) * Provenzale: Vespro * La Bella Devozione * Motetti * ''La colomba ferita'' 2CD * ''Lo schiavo di sua moglie'' 1672 * '' La Stellidaura vendicante'' 1674 - Stellidaura: Jennifer Rivera (mezzo-soprano), Armillo: Hagen Matzeit (countertenor), Armidoro: Bogdan Mihai (tenor), Orismondo: Carlo Allemano (tenor), Giampetro: Enzo Capuano (bass). Academia Montis Regalis dir. Alessandro de Marchi, DHM Classics, 2013


References


Sources

* * Fabris, Dinko (2016)
"Provenzale, Francesco Antonio"
in vol. 85 of ''Dizinario Biografico degli Italiani''.


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Provenzale, Francesco 1632 births 1704 deaths Italian classical composers of church music Neapolitan school composers Italian Baroque composers Italian opera composers Italian male opera composers