Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725): Concertos and Sinfonias. Modo Antiquo, La Magnifica Comunita

(1) (Pietro) Alessandro (Gaspare) Scarlatti

(b Palermo, 2 May 1660; d Naples, 22 Oct 1725 ). Composer, generally considered the founder of the Neapolitan school of 18th-century opera.



1. Rome.

He was the second son of the tenor Pietro Scarlata (the form ‘Scarlatti’ was used from 1672 onwards) and Eleonora d'Amato, who were both involved in Palermo musical life. It was there that Alessandro began the studies that later facilitated his entry into musical life in Rome. In 1670 the death of Vincenzo Amato, a relation of Eleonora, deprived the family of a powerful supporter, and two years later an appalling famine made them decide to leave, first for Rome and then for Naples. Pietro may already have died when, in June 1672, his wife and some of their children moved to Rome; the rapid completion of Alessandro's studies may be attributed to the protection of Marcantonio Sportonio, Pietro's best man. An old legend has Alessandro a pupil of Carissimi, but Carissimi died in January 1674. In any case, the flourishing musical life of Rome offered the young Scarlatti exceptional opportunities for hearing and performing music. He was able to enter the artistic world at the highest level: after his marriage on 12 April 1678 to the ‘puella romana’ Antonia Maria Vittoria Anzaloni, the 18-year old Scarlatti lodged in an apartment in the palace of Gian Lorenzo Bernini (who had had a Cosimo Scarlatti in his service since 1660). On 11 January 1679 Filippo Bernini, the great architect's son, stood godfather to Alessandro's first child, Pietro. Other increasingly illustrious godparents succeeded him at the baptismal font in S Andrea delle Fratte, for the young musician's talent had aroused the attention of powerful patrons who must have supported his appointment as maestro di cappella at S Giacomo degli Incurabili (16 December 1678) and have assisted him in his rise to the heights of Roman musical life. The Duke of Paganica commissioned oratorios from him to be sung at SS Crocifisso during Lent; Cardinal Pamphili provided him with his own poetry to set and was possibly responsible for Scarlatti’s joining the circle of Queen Christina of Sweden. The success of Gli equivoci nel sembiante, a short comic opera, soon taken up in other cities, marked the beginning of the career of the most important opera composer of the period, and Queen Christina was willing to appoint him her maestro di cappella, partly to protect him from the hostility of the Roman Curia, provoked by the marriage his sister Anna Maria had audaciously contracted with a ‘cleric’.



Scarlatti left S Giacomo in November 1682 to become maestro di cappella at S Girolamo della Carità. The six operas performed in Rome between 1679 and 1683 are a sign of his success, but opportunities to compose operas, which Pope Innocent XI viewed with distaste, were a privilege offered only by aristocratic patrons who could defy papal displeasure with private performances. Thus the operas were restricted to a limited circle of aristocratic guests, headed by Queen Christina, who was courted by the more broad-minded cardinals, by aristocrats, such as the Neapolitan Dukes of Maddaloni, and by foreign diplomats appointed to the Roman see. Probably it was the Maddaloni who introduced Scarlatti's gifts to Naples and persuaded the composer to move to a city that offered the best opportunities for him to have his operas performed, with the further prospect of succeeding M.A. Ziani as maestro of the royal chapel. The Viceroy's favour was assured: the Marchese del Carpio had had the opportunity to appreciate Scarlatti's music when he was Spanish ambassador in Rome.



Roberto Pagano



2. Naples.

Scarlatti's arrival aroused jealousy and resentment in Neapolitan musical circles. His appointment to the royal chapel was taken badly by the elderly Francesco Provenzale, the vice-maestro, who had expected to succeed Ziani. But all that his protests and his resignation, and that of other musicians who supported him, achieved was to leave posts vacant for other Roman musicians – including Francesco Scarlatti – who had already been engaged for the season at the Teatro S Bartolomeo. Again in Naples, Alessandro's success risked being compromised by the behaviour of one of his singer sisters: soon after his appointment, the resentments of the excluded musicians erupted into a scandal: the Viceroy stripped of their duties three functionaries who ‘had close, illicit relations with several actresses, one of whom is said to be la Scarlatti, whose brother this lord viceroy made his maestro di cappella in competition with native virtuosos’. Hypocritical morality decreed that the royal chapel musicians could keep their posts but that the singers should be punished; the women chose to retreat to a convent rather than face the threat of exile, knowing that after a short period of penitence and confinement Duchess Maddaloni would be able to persuade the Viceroy to free them.



When this momentary crisis had passed, Scarlatti's work provided Neapolitan opera with the impulse that by 1700 would make it rival Venice as the pre-eminent operatic city. New operas often had their first hearing at the royal palace for particular celebrations and immediately went on to the Teatro S Bartolomeo. Scarlatti was also required to compose sacred works and serenatas for specific occasions, while aristocratic entertainments continued to provide an outlet for the many solo cantatas and chamber duets he had begun composing in Rome. Domenico was the first of five children to be born in Naples, on 26 October 1685. Again in his city of adoption the parish registers reflect his privileged position, in the importance of the godparents; but as his family grew Scarlatti's finances, however large his fees (to his colleagues' envy), became precarious. The result was a permanent state of dissatisfaction and a continual search for extra earnings which robbed him of the time and application to carry out the duties of his important posts. For a further ten ducats per month, the appointment as maestro di cappella at the Conservatory of S Maria di Loreto (1 March 1689) carried with it the daily duty of two hours of teaching, but by the end of April Scarlatti had obtained a month's leave of absence to travel to Rome. He did not bother to tell the Conservatory governors when the month had elapsed, and they dismissed him on 15 July.



The death of Queen Christina had not affected his relations with his other Roman patrons, but the continuing ban on theatres made public performances of operas infrequent. There was some respite when the Venetian Pietro Ottoboni became Pope Alexander VIII (6 October 1689 to 1 February 1691) and distributed ecclesiastical posts and privileges to members of his family, showing special favour to a grand-nephew who, a cardinal and vice-chancellor of the church since he was 22, lavished enormous sums on great displays that frequently involved important commissions. The relationship between this sophisticated cardinal and Scarlatti began during Alexander VIII's brief pontificate. In January 1690 La Statira, a dramma per musica by Scarlatti to a libretto by Ottoboni was performed at the Teatro Tordinona, and in the same year Gli equivoci in amore, or La Rosaura, was performed on the double marriage that joined two of the pope's nephews to the powerful Barberini and Colonna families. But others also turned to Scarlatti, now at the peak of his fame as an opera composer. In October 1688 Ferdinando de' Medici, granprincipe of Tuscany and a noted patron of the arts, had sent him a libretto to be set to music; Scarlatti immediately began work ‘with haste’, although he was working on ‘three other comedies’. The prince's letter describing his enjoyment of Scarlatti's score fired hopes of a permanent post, on a salary sufficiently high to allow him to leave Naples. In the meantime, Francesco Scarlatti's move to Palermo resulted in performances of his brother's music in Sicily; only the earliest librettos name the composer, who in Pompeo (1690) flaunts the title ‘Maestro di cappella della Reale di Napoli’ while in the frontispiece of L'Abramo (1691) he recalls that he is ‘from Palermo’. For reasons that are unclear, Scarlatti's increasingly famous name does not appear on the librettos of certain works that can reasonably be attributed to him; in one case – Scipione nelle Spagne, performed in 1721 – he is described as ‘the most noble swan of the Oreto’, a Baroque allusion to the stream running round Palermo.



Ferdinando de' Medici's patronage led to many performances in Tuscany of operas or oratorios by Scarlatti already given in Naples or Rome; such unambiguous signs that his music was appreciated, together with other Roman patrons' continuing demonstrations of their regard, made him feel increasingly ill-disposed towards Naples, where he had constant problems over the late payment of the money due to him and had to beg for the payment of his hard-earned wages, invoking the ‘pressing urgent needs of his own numerous family’.



That family partook of his musical talent. Pietro began an unremarkable career as a second-rate composer, but the memory of the trouble caused by Alessandro's sisters must still have rankled and he would not allow his daughters to go on to the stage, although they were skilled enough as singers to appear in private entertainments or exclusive performances for leading patrons. From 1700 onwards there was a possibility of Flaminia Scarlatti's entering the Medici service. At precisely that time it became clear that Domenico's musical talent was developing. Alessandro now had a new reason for leaving Naples: Domenico could succeed him. This was not before the family had undertaken a long journey to Rome and Florence, essentially in search of new appointments but also intended to astound powerful patrons with his daughters' abilities as singers and with Domenico's prodigious gifts.



With the death of King Carlos II, the War of the Spanish Succession broke out. Italian territories generally favoured Philippe, Duke of Anjou, as opposed to the Habsburg Archduke Karl. To allow the Scarlattis to undertake their planned journey the viceroy, Medinaceli, had allowed him ten months' leave of absence, but this was revoked when it was learnt that the new king, Philip V, was soon to visit Naples. Corelli was called from Rome to add to the splendour of the music, but Philip did not enjoy Corelli's playing. The leading role was taken by Scarlatti, with a ‘bellissima serenata’ (Clori, Dorino e Amore) followed by a firework display and an opera (Tiberio Imperatore d'Oriente), performed at the royal palace so that the king, at risk from attempts on his life by Austrian assassins, ‘could hear it in private’.



After Philip had left, the new viceroy restored Scarlatti's leave of absence, but reduced it to four months. Letters from G.B. Salomoni, the grand-ducal envoy to Naples, provide the background for the journey, which was basically unsuccessful: indiscreetly, Scarlatti took with him ‘half his household, as if he were visiting his closest relation’, arrived in Florence three months before the performance of the opera he had been commissioned to write, Il Flavio Cuniberto, and lingered in the city more than a month after its performance. His letter of thanks, sent from Rome on 24 November, contains professions ‘of the debt of most obedient servants’ on behalf of his entire family. It was more than Ferdinando desired from Scarlatti and his reply pointedly ignores the renewed offers and requests, which must have been made verbally and explicitly during Scarlatti's months in Florence.



While Alessandro continued to delay his return to Naples by stopping in Rome in search of new posts, Domenico returned punctually and was well received. Alessandro returned at the end of December 1702, revealing his intention to move to Rome, where he mistakenly thought he had found ‘a suitable niche’. Following instructions, Salomoni had discouraged Scarlatti from repeating in Rome the disasters of his visit to Florence. When the composer asked to be relieved of his post Salamoni, considering the loss of income that Scarlatti would suffer if he went to Rome, was scandalized by the rash decision and wrote that the viceroy, ‘out of compassion, or to avoid a serious situation for the chapel’, had rejected the musician's request to leave his post and considered him suspended for two months. At the end of that period nothing was heard from Scarlatti, and Ascalona (later to be accused of oppressive and tyrannical behaviour), waited patiently and in vain for seven months for him to return, before advertising a contest to replace the defaulter.



Roberto Pagano



3. Return to Rome.

The situation in Rome was not as Scarlatti had imagined. Even if the arrival of Maria Casimira, former Queen of Poland, hinted at a return to the era of Christina, she was a more modest character and her life in Rome was troubled by the rivalry between the Austrians and the ‘gallispani’. Pressed by the conflicting claims of the respective ambassadors, Clement XI could not make up his mind which of the contenders he would eventually recognize as King of Spain and sought a solution in collective penitence. In this bleak atmosphere there was no room for opera and Scarlatti had to content himself with oratorios and cantatas for his usual patrons. On 9 January 1703 he was appointed assistant to Giovanni Bicilli, the elderly maestro di cappella of the Congregazione dell'Oratorio di S Filippo Neri at the Chiesa Nuova; their representatives had displayed ‘positive repugnance’ to accepting Scarlatti, but continued pressure from Ottoboni saw all the obstacles overcome. The document of appointment clarifies that the representatives assigned the post to Scarlatti, who is referred to as the ‘distinguished maestro di cappella’ and notes his reputation for absenteeism. Given the importance of oratorio in Roman musical life, and the important position of the Chiesa Nuova di S Maria in Vallicella in the genre, Scarlatti's work there assumes particular importance; but he made it clear that he ‘expected to take part only during the principal festivities’. When in May 1705 Ottoboni learnt of the situation, he required his protégé ‘to come to serve the church or else to leave his post as assistant’: Scarlatti resigned, because of ‘the many activities that he undertook in composing music in the service of various persons’. Among these activities some were connected with another important post, obtained through Ottoboni: from 31 December 1703 Scarlatti was assistant to the elderly and ailing Antonio Foggia, director of the Cappella Liberiana in S Maria Maggiore. Here too his negligence created discontent among the chapter, but complaints were directed chiefly at his lack of application in teaching and directing the chapel, not at the quantity of sacred music he composed in that particularly productive period.



To console him for his increasing disappointment, Ottoboni appointed Scarlatti one of his ‘ministers’ in April 1705, but became unhappy and replaced him with Corelli within a year. Scarlatti's self-esteem must have been gratified by his admission to the Arcadian Academy in April 1706, along with Pasquini and Corelli. The account of the admission ceremony shows that Scarlatti was enrolled not only as ‘distinguished master of music’ but also as ‘professor of poetry’.



Living in a city with no opera house remained frustrating to him: during the penitential period the only operatic outlet was that of Ferdinando de' Medici who, between 1702 and 1706, commissioned five operas from Scarlatti to be performed at Pratolino but did not invite the indiscreet composer to take charge of the productions. Accordingly, Scarlatti's correspondence with the prince contains detailed instructions on features indispensable to a satisfactory performance. Ferdinando appreciated Scarlatti's gifts but did not want to entertain the large Pratolino audience with an essentially aristocratic style; this is why Scarlatti's patron repeatedly recommended that the mus