Alessandro Scarlatti

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Alessandro Scarlatti , 1660–1725, Italian composer. He may have studied with Carissimi in Rome, where his first opera was produced in 1679. In 1684 he went to Naples as master of the royal chapel and there composed operas for the royal palace and chamber music for the aristocracy. Later he was also active in Florence, Rome, and Venice. He wrote more than 100 operas, of which Mitridate Eupatore (1707) and Il Tigrane (1715) are considered the finest. As a leader of the Neapolitan school, he helped establish the conventions of the opera seria, perfecting the aria da capo and the three-part overture. His church music includes motets and masses; he also wrote serenades and madrigals, and he composed almost 700 chamber cantatas, which represent the highest development of his art.

His son, (Giuseppe) Domenico Scarlatti, 1685–1757, was a harpsichord virtuoso and composer. As a young man he is said to have engaged in friendly keyboard competition with his contemporary Handel, and thereafter the two had lifelong admiration for each other. From 1709 to 1714, Scarlatti was composer to the Polish Queen Maria Casimira in her court at Rome, and then for a time he was chapel master of St. Peter's. About 1719 he went to Lisbon as music master of the royal chapel and teacher of the Princess Maria Barbara. He accompanied her to Madrid in 1729, and spent the rest of his life at the Spanish court. Scarlatti wrote operas, oratorios, and cantatas, but his fame rests chiefly on his keyboard sonatas, of which he wrote well over 500. They exploit the instrument to its fullest capacity, exemplifying his mastery of the homophonic "free style" of composition. His works display the vivacity, grace, and ornamentation of the rococo, and at the same time show boundless invention and originality. Scarlatti is widely considered to be the founder of modern keyboard technique.

Bibliography: See biography of Alessandro by E. J. Dent (1905, new ed. 1960); biography of Domenico by R. Kirkpatrick (1953, rev. ed. 1968); S. Sitwell, A Background for Domenico Scarlatti (1935, repr. 1970).

Scarlatti, (Petro) Alessandro (Gaspare) (b Palermo, 1660; d Naples, 1725). It. composer, specially important in development of opera and considered founder of so-called Neapolitan school. Taken to Rome 1672, said to have studied with Carissimi, and wrote first opera there 1679. Engaged by Queen Christina of Sweden, then living in Rome, as choirmaster and cond., 1680–4, for her private th. Court cond. to Viceroy of Naples, 1684–1702 and from 1708. Alternated between Rome and Naples for rest of life, in various court and church appointments. Contribution to opera was liberation of dramatic expression. Est. the da capo aria, first in Teodora (1692), the opera in which orch. ritornello is supposedly used for the first time. The so-called ‘It. ov.’ was introduced in 1696 in a revival of Dal male il bene. In 1685, in L'Olimpia vendicata, occurs the first recorded instance of acc. recit. His greatest opera is reckoned to be Mitridate Eupatore (1707), comp. for Prince Ferdinando de’ Medici, but a failure on its f.p. in Venice. In his late Rome years, the general enthusiasm for opera, stimulated by Scarlatti, overcame all ecclesiastical objections. His 115 operas incl. only one comic opera, Il trionfo dell'onore (Naples 1718). Sixty-four survive, wholly or in part, of which revivals show superb craftsmanship and lofty invention, perhaps the best known being the last, La Griselda (1721). He also wrote some 20 oratorios, 10 masses, several settings of Stabat Mater, etc., over 40 motets, over 600 solo cantatas with basso continuo and 60 with other instr., some 30 chamber cantatas for 2 vv., 28 serenatas, several madrigals, 12 chamber concs., various sonatas, and hpd. pieces, incl. variations on La Folia. Father of Domenico Scarlatti.

Scarlatti, Alessandro (1660–1725) Italian Baroque composer who laid the foundations of the musical idioms that shaped music to the time of Beethoven. The founder of Neopolitan opera, Scarlatti established the opera seria style. He wrote more than 100 operas, including Mitridate Eupatore (1707) and Il Tigrane (1715).

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