This Week in Classical Music: March 24, 2025. Naples. Last week we promised to get back to the music-related impressions of our recent travels. We should state upfront that they were somewhat disappointing. Classical music is not being played in Italy as often as one would hope (and expect), either live in concerts or on the radio. Of all the cities we visited, the one with the richest musical tradition was Naples. Naples is a very old city, going back to the Greek settlement in the 6th century BC, but the history of classical music is much shorter, so those two intersect in the Kingdom of Naples in the 15th century when the King’s chapel had more musicians than any other court in Italy. That was also the time when Tinctoris, a famous composer and music theoretician, stayed with the court. Early in the 16th century, the Aragonese Spanish took over Naples and made it a viceroyalty. Carlo Gesualdo, Price of Venosa, stayed at the court and influenced generations of Neapolitan musicians. The talented Giovanni de Macque was one of them. The Royal Chapel and several major churches were important musical centers; then, in the mid-16th century, the first Conservatory was created. Initially, it was a shelter for orphans where music was one of the subjects taught to children. Eventually, music became the most important subject, and conservatories (soon there were four) attracted talented teachers. Alessandro Scarlatti taught there briefly, as, sometime later, did Nicola Porpora and Leonardo Vinci.
Opera played a very important part in the musical life of Naples. The genre was invented in the early 17th century in northern Italy, Venice in particular, and by midcentury Naples had regular performances of operas by Claudio Monteverdi, Francesco Cavalli and others. Till 1737, the main venue was the San Bartolomeo Theater, when the grand San Carlo Theater was inaugurated (San Bartolomeo was eventually converted into a church). The main figure in the history of the Neapolitan opera was, without a doubt, Alessandro Scarlatti, who lived in the city from 1679 to 1721 and composed more than one hundred operas, of which 70 are extant. With the construction of San Carlo, Naples turned into one of the most important opera centers in Italy, with the best companies presenting their shows. Early in the 18th century, a new style was invented in Naples, that of Opera Buffa, or comic opera. The major composers writing in this genre were Vinci, Scarlatti, and the young Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, who was born in 1710 but lived only 26 years. Pergolesi’s La Serva Padrona is regularly staged these days. Many of the operas were written on the libretti of the famous playwright Carlo Goldoni, the best of them by Baldassare Galuppi, Niccolò Piccinni, Giovanni Paisiello and Domenico Cimarosa. Later in the 19th century, Gaetano Donizetti, a Bergamasque by birth, lived in Naples for many years. He was the director of the San Carlo from 1822 to 1838 and presented 17 premiers of his works there, including Lucia di Lammermoor.
Some of the most famous castrati were born or trained in Naples and performed in the operas of Porpora and Scarlatti. Among the best-known are Farinelli, whose real name was Carlo Broschi, and Caffarelli (Gaetano Majorano). Metastasio, one of the greatest opera librettists of all time, had lived in Naples for years.
As vigorous as the musical life of Naples was from the early 17th to the late 19th century, it thinned out by the 20th, at least in its “classical” form. Nonetheless, it left a treasure trove of great music, of which we’ll present a couple of samples. Here’s the achingly beautiful aria Sussurrando il venticello from Alessandro Scarlatti’s Tigrane, which premiered in Teatro San Bartolomeo, Naples, in February of 1715. And here’s the aria Le faccio un inchino from Domenico Cimarosa’s 1792 opera Il matrimonio segreto.
Naples, 2025
This Week in Classical Music: March 24, 2025. Naples. Last week we promised to get back to the music-related impressions of our recent travels. We should state upfront that they were
somewhat disappointing. Classical music is not being played in Italy as often as one would hope (and expect), either live in concerts or on the radio. Of all the cities we visited, the one with the richest musical tradition was Naples. Naples is a very old city, going back to the Greek settlement in the 6th century BC, but the history of classical music is much shorter, so those two intersect in the Kingdom of Naples in the 15th century when the King’s chapel had more musicians than any other court in Italy. That was also the time when Tinctoris, a famous composer and music theoretician, stayed with the court. Early in the 16th century, the Aragonese Spanish took over Naples and made it a viceroyalty. Carlo Gesualdo, Price of Venosa, stayed at the court and influenced generations of Neapolitan musicians. The talented Giovanni de Macque was one of them. The Royal Chapel and several major churches were important musical centers; then, in the mid-16th century, the first Conservatory was created. Initially, it was a shelter for orphans where music was one of the subjects taught to children. Eventually, music became the most important subject, and conservatories (soon there were four) attracted talented teachers. Alessandro Scarlatti taught there briefly, as, sometime later, did Nicola Porpora and Leonardo Vinci.
Opera played a very important part in the musical life of Naples. The genre was invented in the early 17th century in northern Italy, Venice in particular, and by midcentury Naples had regular performances of operas by Claudio Monteverdi, Francesco Cavalli and others. Till 1737, the main venue was the San Bartolomeo Theater, when the grand San Carlo Theater was inaugurated (San Bartolomeo was eventually converted into a church). The main figure in the history of the Neapolitan opera was, without a doubt, Alessandro Scarlatti, who lived in the city from 1679 to 1721 and composed more than one hundred operas, of which 70 are extant. With the construction of San Carlo, Naples turned into one of the most important opera centers in Italy, with the best companies presenting their shows. Early in the 18th century, a new style was invented in Naples, that of Opera Buffa, or comic opera. The major composers writing in this genre were Vinci, Scarlatti, and the young Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, who was born in 1710 but lived only 26 years. Pergolesi’s La Serva Padrona is regularly staged these days. Many of the operas were written on the libretti of the famous playwright Carlo Goldoni, the best of them by Baldassare Galuppi, Niccolò Piccinni, Giovanni Paisiello and Domenico Cimarosa. Later in the 19th century, Gaetano Donizetti, a Bergamasque by birth, lived in Naples for many years. He was the director of the San Carlo from 1822 to 1838 and presented 17 premiers of his works there, including Lucia di Lammermoor.
Some of the most famous castrati were born or trained in Naples and performed in the operas of Porpora and Scarlatti. Among the best-known are Farinelli, whose real name was Carlo Broschi, and Caffarelli (Gaetano Majorano). Metastasio, one of the greatest opera librettists of all time, had lived in Naples for years.
As vigorous as the musical life of Naples was from the early 17th to the late 19th century, it thinned out by the 20th, at least in its “classical” form. Nonetheless, it left a treasure trove of great music, of which we’ll present a couple of samples. Here’s the achingly beautiful aria Sussurrando il venticello from Alessandro Scarlatti’s Tigrane, which premiered in Teatro San Bartolomeo, Naples, in February of 1715. And here’s the aria Le faccio un inchino from Domenico Cimarosa’s 1792 opera Il matrimonio segreto.