Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

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SCARLATTI SCARLATTI 241
able that he came of a Tuscan stock, the name
Scarlatti heingTuscan and notSicilian. He must
in any case have left the islsind at an early age ;
he is traditionally supposed to have been a pupil
of Carissimi in Rome, although that master
died when Scarlatti was fifteen years old. His
earlycompositionsshowtheinfluenceof Legrenzi,
and more especially of Stradella, whose best
work has recently been shown to have been done
in Rome ; and his early chamber -cantatas, of
which some are probably earlier in date than
even his first operas, are generally to be found
in MS. alongside of similar music by composers
who worked in Rome and northern Italy.
His first known opera was ' L' Errore Innocente
owero Gli Equivoci nel Sembiante,' produced
Feb. 8, 1679, in Rome at the Collegio
Clementino.
This work won him the interest
of Christina Queen of Sweden, who even asserted
her protection of him in defiance of the Papal
representatives, Scarlatti being in bad odour
at the Vatican on account of the misconduct of
his sister with an ecclesiastic. In the libretto
of his second opera, L' Honestk ' negli Amori
(1680), he is described as Maestro di Cappella
to Queen Christina. Both these operas are on
a small scaie
'
; Pompeo ' (Rome, 1683) was probably
his first attempt at opera seria in the
grand manner. In February 1684 'Pompeo'
was given at Naples, where ' Gli Equivoci ' had
also been heard, and on the 17th of the same
month he was appointed Maestro di Cappella
to the Viceroy, his brother Francesco receiving
a post as violinist in the same chapel royal.
The two brothers owed their appointments to
the influence of their sister, Anna Maria, an
opera-singer, who was the mistress of a court
official ; and the affair seems to have caused some
indignation at Naples, not so much on grounds
of morality as from motives of chauvinism.
That Scarlatti was regarded as a stranger in
Naples seems a sufficient proof that he did not
receive his musical education there, as Neapolitan
historians of music have tried to maintain.
About this time Scarlatti mamed one Antonia
Anzalone, by whom he had three and possibly
more children, of whom the eldest, born Oct.
26, 1685, was Giuseppe Domenico, later famous
as a composer for the harpsichord. From this
time to 1702 he remained at Naples, occupied
principally in the composition of operas for production
at the royal palace or at the royal
theatre of San Bartolonieo. He was also much
in demand as a composer of music for aristocratic
entertainments, and soon fell into a popular
and hasty style of work. His chamber music,
however, shows that even at this time his artistic
ideals were much higher, and by 1702 Naples
had become so irksome to him, both for musical
and financial reasons, that he determined to try
his fortunes elsewhere. His salary was in arrear,
and the political disturbances consequent on
the war of the Spanish Succession rendered his
VOL. IV
position still more insecure. On June 14 he
went with Domenico to Florence, where they
enjoyed the patronage of Ferdinand III., son
of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, a prince who
Was enthusiastically devoted to music. For his
private theatre at Pratolino Scarlatti composed
several operas, and the Arehivio Mediceo at
Florence contains a very interesting correspondence
between the prince and the musician on
the subject of these works. Ferdinand, however,
was not disposed to offer him any permanent
post, and Scarlatti being resolved not to return
to Naples accepted the humble position of
assistant Maestro di Cappella at the church of
S. Maria Msfggiore in Rome. This was obtained
for him by Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni, who had
taken an interest in him for some twelve years
or more, and who also made him his private
Maestro di Cappella. Nevertheless, Scarlatti
seems to have been no happier in Rome than
in Naples, judging from the contempt for both
places which he expresses in his letters to Ferdinand.
He had been forced to write down to
the level of a Spanish viceroy's taste for the
opera-house at Naples ; at Rome the Popes had
done their best to suppress opera altogether on
groimds of public morality. Thismust, nodoubt,
have been a severe blow to Scarlatti, whose real
genius sought expression in dramatic music,
although it found vent in chamber-music when
its natural outlet was obstructed.
On April 26, 1706, Scarlatti was admitted a
member of the Arcadian Academy, under the
name of Terpandro Politeio, Corelli and Pasquini
being elected at the same time. Crescimbeni
(Arcadia, Lib. vii. Prosa v.) gives a charming
account of their musical performances at these
pastoral assemblies. To this period of Scarlatti's
activity belong many of his beautiful chambercantatas,
and a certain amount of church music.
In May 1707, Antonio Foggia died, and Scarlatti
succeeded him as principal Maestro at the church
of S. Maria Maggiore. He continued to compose
operas for Ferdinand de' Medici while living
in Rome, but although his voluminous correspondence
about these works has been preserved,
the scores of them have unfortunately disappeared.
In spite of all his efibrts to write
pleasing music, he seems to have been too severe
for the prince's taste, and in 1707 he was dropped
in favour of Perti.
In this year he produced two operas, ' Mitridate
Eupatore ' and ' II Trionfo della Libertk
at Venice (Teatro S. Giovanni Crisostomo), going
there in person to direct them. These works
are on a larger scale than any of his previous
operas, and the first is one of the best that he
ever wrote ;
the second has come down to us in
so fragmentary a condition that it is hardly
possible to form a fair judgment upon it. In all
probability Scarlatti remained at Venice to the
end of the Carnival, and thence made his way
to Urbino, travelling, there is reason to believe,
K