DICTIONARY OF MUSIC - El Atril

LEO LEO 677
us to fix the date of the Neapolitan comic opera
' La semmeglianza di clii 1' ha iatta, ' in which the
same air is sung as a show-piece by one of tlie
minor cliaractcrs. In 1732 he succeeded Vinci
as Pro-vice-maestro of the royaLchapel, and in the
same year produced his two celebrated oratorios
' La Morte di Abele ' and ' Sant' Elena al
Calvario. '
' Demofoonte,' perhaps the most
successfnl of all his operas, appeared in 1735 ;
in this opera occur the well-known duet ' La
destra ti chiedo ' and the pathetic air ' Misero
pargoletto,' considered by Piccinni as a model
of dranmtic expiression. In 1737 he was at
Bologna for the production of ' Siface, ' which
was given twenty -seven times at the Teatro
Malvezzi, and for which the composer received
1595 lire. ' Farnace ' (1737) was the last
opera given at tlie old Teatro di S. Bartolomeo
before its final conversion into a church, the
newly built San Carlo having taken its place as
court theatre. Leo's ' L' Olimpiade ' (1737) was
the second opera pierformed there. In 1738 he
composed * Le Nozze di Amore e di Psiche, ' a
' festa' teatrale ' in honour of the marriage of
Charles III. with Maria Amalia "Walburga of
Saxony, and was so much taken up with this
work that he was unable to finish the opera
Demetrio,' on which he was engaged in spite
of being imjirisoned in his house and guarded
by soldiers to ensure his working. He wrote
the first act and part of the second, which was
finished by De Majo, Lorenzo Fago, and Logroscino,
the third being written by Riccardo
Broschi, brother of Farinelli. The whole opera
was, however, eventually finished by Leo himself,
and produced at Rome in 1742.
Two impiortant compositions belong to the
year 1739 : the celebrated Miserere and the
comic opera ' Amor vuol sofferenze. ' The Miserere
was compjosed in March, for the use of the
royal chapel, and afterwards presented to King
Charles Emmanuel of Savoy ; Florimo tells a
story of Leo's refusing to allow it to be copied
after this, until his pupils contrived to do so
secretly and perform it before him. The comic
opera ' Amor vuol sofi'erenze ' is that described
with so great delight by the President Des
Brosses to M. de Neuilly— 'Nona avons eu
quatre operas a la ibis sur quatre theatres
differents (i.e. S. Carlo, Fiorentini, Nuovo, and
della I^ace). Apres les avoir essayes successivement
j'en quittai bientot trois pour ne pas nianquer
une seule representation de la Fresquatana,
comedie en jargon dont la musique est de Leo
. . . Quelle invention ! Quelle harmonic ! Quelle
!
excellente f)laisanterie musicale '
The heroine
of the opera, Eugenia, disguises herself as a
maidservant from Frascati ; hence the title La
Finta Frascatana, under which the opera was
revived at Bologna in 1742, and by which it
was no doubt conveniently known at the time
of its first production. It was also known as
' II Ciofe, ' from the absurd character Fazio, a
muddle-headed person who is always explaining
' and contradicting himself with the word cioe '
— 'that is to say.' In Nov. 1740 Leo went
to Turin for the piroduction of ' Achille in Scire,'
and to Milan for that of ' Hcipione nolle Spagne,'
being absent from Naples for four months.
On Jan. 1, 1741, he succeeded Nicola Fago as
first master at the Pieta dei Turchini, and with
the exception of a short visit to Rome in
November of that year, he seems to have remained
in Naples until his death. On Saturday
morning, Oct. 31, 1744, he was found dead,
having succumbed to apoplexy, while seated at
his harpsichord : the romantic statement of
Florimo that he was engaged at the moment
on the composition of ' La Finta Frascatana
is obviously untrue. The records of his death
are conflicting, owing to a confusion with his
namesake mentioned above ; for the various
documents the reader may be referred to Cav.
G. Leo's biography. He was buried at the
church of Montesanto, the last resting-place of
A. Scarlatti and many other musicians of his
school.
In person, Leo was of middle height and
handsome features ;
and urbane.
in manner he was dignified
He was a man of serious character,
working hard at night when his other occupations
left him little oppiortunity for composition
in the daytime, and so careful in tlie preparation
of music for performance that he would begin
on Ash Wednesday rehearsing the Miserere to
be simg in Holy Week. As a teacher he was
severe, but greatly beloved of his piupils, the
most distinguished of whom were Piccinni and
Jommelli.
As a composer, his fame rests chiefly on his
sacred music and his comic operas. He was
the first of the Neapolitan school to obtain a
complete mastery over modern harmonic counterpoint.
In the fugal movements of his psalms
and masses he is entirely free from modal in-
fluences, and is careful to secure a strong
rhythmic contrast between his subjects and
counter-subjects, a means of eflect but vaguely
attemp)ted by A. Scarlatti. Leo is in this
respect an important factor in the development
of modern scholastic counterpoint. In
other respects he presents little that is new.
His melody is flowing and dignified, but rarely
piassionate ; his hai'mony clear and logical, with
no attempt at romantic expression. Of his
ecclesiastical style the Dixit Dominus in C,
published by Novello & Co., is a very typical
another Dixit Dominus, for ten voices
specimen ;
and orchestra in D, exhibits similar qualities.
Of his masses that in D major for five voices
and orchestra is the best ; the well-known
Miserere and the series of Introits, etc., for Lent,
composed in 1744, show a successful adaptation
of old methods to modern needs of expression,
combining poetic feeling with a studiously re-
strained style. His sacred music for solo voices