Alessandro Scarlatti

Music

Scarlatti's music forms a link between the early Baroque Italian vocal styles of the 17th century, with their centers in Florence, Venice and Rome, 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 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 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 little arias, accompanied sometimes by the string quartet, sometimes with the continuo alone. By 1686, he had established the "Italian overture" form (second edition of Dal male il bene), and had abandoned the ground bass and the binary form air in two stanzas in favour of the ternary form or da capo type of air. His most prominent 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 and the taste of the viceregal court, his opera arias become more conventional in rhythm, with the oboes and trumpets being frequently used, and the violins often playing in unison. The operas composed for Ferdinando de' Medici are lost; they might have given a clearer idea of his style as his correspondence with the prince shows that they were composed with a very sincere sense of inspiration.

Mitridate Eupatore is usually considered his masterpiece. The later Neapolitan operas (L'amor volubile e tiranno 1709; La principessa fedele 1710; Tigrane, 1714, &c.) are other well-known operas of his later period. In his Teodora (1697) he originated the use of the orchestral ritornello.

Besides the operas, oratorios (Agar et Ismaele esiliati, 1684; La Maddalena, 1685; La Giuditta, 1693; Humanita e Lucifero, 1704; Christmas Oratorio, c. 1705; , 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 remain almost entirely in manuscript and have not been published.

His few remaining Masses and church music in general are comparatively minor, except the great Saint Cecilia Mass (1721), which innovated a style of sacred music that was further developed by later composers such as Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven.

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. (2007). Griselda. Harmonia Mundi HMC 901805.07. Dorothea Röschmann, Lawrence Zazzo, , 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, René Jacobs. (1998). Il Primo Omicidio. Harmonia Mundi Fr. Dorothea Röschmann, Graciela Oddone, Richard Croft, René Jacobs, 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 [9500 959 & 9500 960 – 2 vinyl discs] Emma Kirkby, soprano and Daniel Taylor, countertenor, with the Theatre of Early Music. (2005). Stabat Mater. ATMA Classique: 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