Domenico Scarlatti

“ Italian music has to French the relation which Bull has to Bird, or the virtuoso to the poet. In Scarlatti we seek in vain for any inner motive, nor do we feel any need of an emotional rendering on the part of the performer; his short pieces aim only [Pg 71] at sound effects, and are written merely from the love of brilliant clavier-passages, or to embody delicate technical devices. They are not denizens of Paradise, who wander, unconscious of their naked beauty, under over-arching bowers ”

“ Born in Trajano, Sicily, and gifted with the music-loving organization of the Sicilians, Alessandro Scarlatti seems to have made his way to Rome at an early age. It is uncertain where he obtained his musical education. Some writers credit him to Pavian masters, others to Carissimi at Rome. It is quite likely that he may have received instruction at both places, while the greater part of his equipment as composer he may have acquired by his own exertions. Nothing at all is known of his first thirty years. ”

“ The Scarlatti style is a genuine product of the Italian musical emotion. The Italian is not born for heavy, contrapuntal, “vain ticklings of the ears”; nor, on the other hand, for too intimate effusions or symbolic mysteries. He is sensuous through and through; delight in playing and in sound is the very life of his music, as delight in outline and in colour is the very life of his painting. The intoxication of absolute tone runs through the masses of his churches, the operas of his theatre, the chamber-music of his salons. ”

“ 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. ”

“ It is the old typical form, skilfully adapted to virtuosity, precisely as a sonata of Scarlatti is differentiated from a toccata of Frescobaldi or Pasquini. Originality is vanquished; elegance has created a set of formalities in which technique can freely exercise itself. The substantive style, so to speak, has given way to the adjective, and matter is conquered by form. This Neapolitan class of opera, which thus exalts the virtuoso, begins with Alessandro Scarlatti. ”

“ The eminent antiquarian Villarosa ('Memorie dei compositori ... del regno di Napoli') states (without quoting his authority) that when Scarlatti moved with his family to Naples he was a celebrated singer and player on the harp and harpsichord. The first ascertained fact in his life is that he was commissioned to compose for Christina, Queen of Sweden, an opera 'L' Onestà nell' amore' performed in 1680 at her palace in Rome, and it is a probable inference that he was even at that time a composer of some mark. ”

“ It was Scarlatti's good fortune to be active as a composer at the very time when the violin had received its finishing touches at the hands of the later Amati and Antonio Stradivarius. The first great violin virtuoso, Archangelo Corelli, had published his epoch-marking works during the last quarter of the seventeenth century. Scarlatti appears to have entered into the new musical [42] world thus opened with ever fresh enjoyment and a rare intelligence. ”

“ What Frescobaldi was in the first half of the seventeenth century, that was Pasquini in the second half. In Italy, Austria, and France he was treated like a prince; and his tombstone bears the proud inscription, “Organist of the Senate and People of Rome.” With Scarlatti the art of clavier-playing reaches its height, and begins to decline. It is not clavierists but violinists, the wordless rivals of the singers, who have carried the type of Italian virtuosity into our own times—Corelli, Vivaldi, Locatelli, Tartini, Paganini. ”

“ One of the airs occurring both in 'Agrippina' and the oratorio appears also in Alessandro Scarlatti's 'Pyrrhus,' given in London in December of the same year (1708) ; but it seems certain that it was introduced into Scarlatti's opera by the influence of some English amateurs who had seen 'Agrippina' in Venice. For the Roman academy of Cardinal Ottoboni Handel wrote an oratorio to a libretto by Cardinal Panfili, 'II Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno,' which was subsequently transformed into the English oratorio, 'The Triumph of Time and Truth,' performed 1757. ”

“ It must not be forgotten that Alessandro Scarlatti’s harpsichord toccatas, described in the previous chapter, are, in spite of a general heaviness, often enlivened by astonishing devices of virtuosity.
Scarlatti wrote between three and four hundred pieces for the harpsichord. The Abbé Santini [12] possessed three hundred and forty-nine. Scarlatti himself published in his lifetime only one set of thirty pieces. These he called exercises (esercizii) for the harpsichord. The title is significant. Before 1733 two volumes, Pièces pour le clavecin, were published in Paris ”

“ They gave orchestral and vocal concerts, over which all Venice raved. Venice, indeed, was bathed in music, the entire life was threaded with it. Life was a perpetual round of pleasure.
When Handel arrived, the greatest of the Italian musicians, Alessandro Scarlatti, was about to produce at St. John Chrysostom's Theatre his chief work, Mitridate Eupatore, one of the rare Italian operas of which the dramatic beauty is on a par with the musical value. Was Alessandro Scarlatti still in Venice when Handel met him? ”

“ Leo and Scarlatti at their best have a solidity and dignity entirely wanting in Durante, and Alessandro Scarlatti at his worst is frivolous rather than sentimental. This type of music is characteristic of Durante as a man; intellectually uncultured, but sincerely devout. As a teacher he insisted on the strict observance of rules for which he either would not or could not give a reason, differing thus from Alessandro Scarlatti, whose first care was to develop his pupils’ talents according to their own individualities, regarding all rules as subservient to his exquisite sense of musical beauty. ”

“ Scarlatti's fertility was enormous. 'Tigrane' (1715) is called on the libretto his 106th opera, and there were in all 115, of which only 41 are extant, including, besides those already mentioned:—
Il Prigionero superbo (Naples) ; Equivoche nel sembiante; Eraclea (with all the instruments mentioned, except drums, 1700; score in the Fétis Collection, Brussels) ; Nozze col nemico; Mitridate; Il Figlio delle selve (1702) ; La Caduta dei Decemviri (1706) ; Il Medo (1708, much praised by Fétis) ; Martirio di Santa Cecilia (Rome) and Teodosio (Naples 1709) ; Giro riconosciuto (Rome 1712) ”

“ Porpora shook his head, and was silent for a few moments. At length he resumed—“I must, I see, give you a little of my experience; and you shall see what has been the life of a prosperous artist. I was, you know, the pupil of Scarlatti; and from the time I felt myself capable of profiting by the lessons of that great master, devoted myself to travel. I was more fortunate than you, for my works procured me, almost at once, a wide-spread fame. I was called for not only in Venice, but in Vienna and London.”
“Ah, yours was a brilliant lot!” cried the young composer, looking up with kindling eyes. ”

“ 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. ”

“ His pieces possess a delightful animation, the warm Italian blood runs through them; they testify to a wonderfully clever and adroit manipulation, and exhibit at times an almost electric rapidity of crossing the hands: in fact even now, when technical skill and execution are so enormously developed, they offer plenty of material for study and interest to the most experienced and practised performer. Couperin excels more in the refined and subtle working out of his short pieces. Less brilliant by far as an executant than Scarlatti, he is a more elegant, careful, and speculative musician. ”

“ It was Alessandro Scarlatti, however, who completely established the position of the aria in opera and defined its form. He himself was a noted singer and a teacher of singing, and he saw in the aria abundant opportunity for the display of pure vocal ability. His success in making music that enabled singers to reveal the beauties of their voices decided the direction in which Italian opera was to move until almost the present day, and led to the birth of a numerous body of composers upon whom I am fond of placing the title "Neapolitan school." ”

“ Corelli, on the other hand, composing far less, gave violin music the secure foundation upon which all later musicians have built, and left examples of simple instrumental music which still hold their place by force of their calm, genuine feeling. It is strange to think of Corelli on tour in Naples some two hundred years ago, sitting nervous and confused at the head of Scarlatti’s orchestra, stupidly making mistakes ”

“ Alessandro Scarlatti was followed by Logroscino and Durante; [5] the former of whom introduced concerted pieces and the dramatic finale, which was afterwards developed by Piccinni, and introduced into serious opera by Paisiello; while the latter succeeded his old master, contemporaneously with Leo, as professor at Naples, where Jomelli, Piccinni, Sacchini, Guglielmi, Paisiello, and Cimarosa, were formed under his guidance.
The special innovations of Piccinni and Paisiello have been mentioned. ”

“ He was strong in his writing for chorus, making splendid use of the fugal style. Another contemporary of the first rank was Alessandro Stradella (1645-1681) , whose oratorio, San Giovanni Battista (St. John the Baptist) is a most beautiful work. It contains a free treatment of the accompanying instruments, the arias are clear and well-designed, the chorus writing for five parts is effective as well as ingenious, and the work as a whole shows considerable power of dramatic expression, forming a sort of transition between Scarlatti and Handel. Stradella is said to have been a pupil of Carissimi. ”

“ F. Geminiani (1680-1762) , and Locatelli (1693-1764) . 108 Somis was a close follower of his master, and it is quite easy to believe this on a comparison of their respective sonatas. Geminiani asserted more of his individuality, and this, coupled with the fact of his having received theoretical instruction from Alessandro Scarlatti, one of the most learned musicians of the day, no doubt contributed to his making a decided advance on the violin music of the time. ”

“ I would be nice to her, and try to get myself invited often to Dun Moat. I would wander in the garden, where I must be seen by the Scarletts, and, as their presence in the “suite of the garden court” was no secret from me, it seemed that there would be no indiscretion in visiting Lady Scarlett. Once in that wing, it would go hard if I didn't get a peep at all its occupants!
I knew that the Scarletts kept up communication with the outer world, so far as getting food was concerned, through the old servant woman, whose name was Hedwig Kram. ”

“ Even John's father, Mr. Reginald Scarlett, a K.C., and a man of a most decisive and emphatic bearing, felt John's difference.
John's appearance was unengaging rather than handsome—a snub nose, grey eyes, rather large ears, a square, stocky body and short, stout legs. He was certainly the most independent small boy in England, and very obstinate; when any proposal that seemed on the face of it absurd was made to him, he shut up like a box. ”

“ The last Lord Scarlett, your elder brother, went to Australia because that actress he was madly in love with had a husband who popped up and made himself disagreeable. Oh, I can prove everything against you! And I know where the true Lady Scarlett is at this minute. You can prove nothing against me. You don't know where your son is, and you won't know until you hand that poor child from Australia over to Captain Burns and me. ”

“ Jim Courtenaye was at the other end, talking from the abbey.
“Lord and Lady Scarlett are living at Dun Moat,” he said, “with their venomous little brute of a boy. They must be dashed hard up, because they have only one servant in their enormous house and not a single gardener on a place that needs a dozen. But it seems that Scarlett has refused several big offers both to sell and let. Heaven knows why! Perhaps the man's mad. Anyhow, that's all I have to tell at present. They say it's no good hoping he'll part. He sticks to the place closer than a leech. ”

“ Reginald Scarlett, K.C., would see his son off at the station; there was a special breakfast. Young John had more money in his pocket than he had ever dreamed that he would possess. Moreover, the day was glittering after a night of rain; a blue haze was over the Square, the fountain in the garden kicked the air with ecstasy, and its falling waters hummed in the heart of the garden trees. ”

“ The Scarlet Pimpernel is a man who has devoted his entire existence to the benefit of suffering mankind. He has but one thought, and that is for those who need him; he hears but one sound the cry of the oppressed. ”

“ If the softness of the Italian life enervated him, he appears to have wasted no time. Not only did he assimilate the style of his friend Corelli—he conceived in Italy a passionate love of pictures [115] —but he attempted with a carefully cultivated dilettantism the most diverse styles, with which the cosmopolitan society of Naples amused its careless curiosity. Spanish and French influence fought for the honours of this city. Handel, as indifferent as Scarlatti to the victory of either of these parties, tried to write in the style of both. ”