Edward Joseph Dent

“ In 1714 he produced, at the court theatre, an opera, Pisistrato, which was much admired. He held various posts at the royal chapel, and continued to write for the stage, besides teaching at the conservatorio. After adding comic scenes to Gasparini’s Bajazette in 1722 for performance at Naples, he composed a comic opera, La Mpeca scoperta, in Neapolitan dialect, in 1723. His most famous comic opera was Amor vuol sofferenze (1739) , better known as La Finta Frascatana, highly praised by Des Brosses. ”

“ That his great qualities have been little recognized is due partly to the wonderful mastery with which he avoided all appearance of difficulty, and partly to the fact that he carried out in his operas and cantatas the structural methods which the present age considers to be suitable to instruments alone, but which were indeed admirably suited to vocal music in an age when the singer was technically and intellectually far in advance of all other musicians. ”

“ Mitridate Eupatore, composed for Venice in 1707, contains music far in advance of anything that Scarlatti had written for Naples, both in technique and in intellectual power. The later Neapolitan operas (L’Amor volubile e tiranno (1709) ; La Principessa fedele (1712) ; Tigrane, 1715, &c.) are showy and effective rather than profoundly emotional; the instrumentation marks a great advance on previous work, since the main duty of accompanying the voice is thrown upon the string quartet, the harpsichord being reserved exclusively for the noisy instrumental ritornelli. ”

“ He extended the old forms, and filled them with melody unrivalled for purity and serenity, based on a far-reaching foundation of modern harmony and tonality, combined with a remarkable power of thematic development. ”

“ There seems, however, no ground for supposing that this work made any noticeable difference to the composer's already established reputation as a writer of comic opera. About this time (1733-1734) Pergolesi entered the service of the duke of Maddaloni, and accompanied him to Rome, where he conducted a mass for five voices and orchestra in the church of St Lorenzo in Lucina (May 1734) . There is no foundation for the statement that he was appointed maestro di cappella at the Holy House of Loreto; he was, in fact, organist of the royal chapel at Naples in 1735. ”

“ He is said to have succeeded Scarlatti in 1725 at Sant’ Onofrio, and to have remained there until 1742, when he succeeded Porpora as head of the Conservatorio di Santa Maria di Loreto, also at Naples. ”