Le Serenate
xClick to Preview
Erminia.
«Ove smarrita e sola»
Music
by Alessandro Scarlatti, poet unknown. Naples, Palazzo
Zavallos Stigliano, June 16, 1723.
Please click on the image above to view the
preliminary pages of the modern edition
published by the Istituto
Italiano
per la Storia della Musica or here
to order a copy of this volume.
Only a single copy of the printed libretto
from 1723 has survived (in the Biblioteca Casanatense, Rome)
and from it we learn that the serenata consisted of two parts.
Strangely, only the music for Part One of the serenata
is known to have survived and is reproduced in this publication.
Happily, after this edition appeared in print,
two arias and a recitative from Part
Two were identified thanks to the good offices of the RISM
project.
A page of Errata as well
as three musical excerpts from this edition of Scarlatti's final
masterpiece can be seen here, here or here.
Program notes for the serenata, in English
or Italian,
are available; and for anyone wishing to perform this work
an archive of instrumental
and vocal parts may be
downloaded.
The major sections of this serenata sung by the the eighteen-year-old
castrato Carlo Broschi (called Farinelli) can be seen here.
Amore,
Pace e Providenza.
«Al fragor di lieta tromba»
Naples, music by Alessandro Scarlatti, text by Giuseppe Papis. Please click on al_fragor to access the score and libretto of this serenata.
On 17 April 1711 the Austrian Emperor Joseph I died, and
on October 12 of that year his younger brother Charles III, Habsburg
claimant to the throne of Spain, was elected Holy Roman Emperor as
Charles VI. Thus the celebration of Charles' nameday
on 4 November was of particular significance in 1711 and was widely
celebrated in the Habsburg domains.
The work heard on this occasion
survives in three manuscript scores and a printed libretto.
The title given here, Amore,
Pace
e Providenza,
is simply the name of the three main characters, the libretto
calling it a «SERENATA
A
TRE VOCI, E QUATTRO CORI in lode di Sua Maestà
Cattolica CARLO TERZO MONARCA DELLE SPAGNE, E SESTO IMPERATORE
ELETTO . . .»
The main performance on the
evening of 4 November took place on an elaborate temporary
structure in the square facing the balconies of the Royal
Palace.
Besides this performance, a public rehearsal1of
the serenata was open to the nobility on 1 November in the
palace as a conversazione,
and the serenata was
also repeated on the evening of 6 November for the
aristocracy, followed by dancing and gambling, again in the
palace. Borromeo's maestro di casa,
Giovanni Tapia, estimated the total cost of the festival as
8000 ducats, which may have included the cost of the cuccagne,
fireworks, temporary
structure for the musicians and 4800 carlini thrown
to the common people by the viceroy.
Il Genio Austriaco, Il Sole, Flora, Zeffiro, Partenope e Sebeto.
«Dia la fama il suo fiato»
Naples,
music by Alessandro Scarlatti, text by Giuseppe Papis. The
music has not survived.
More information concerning this
serenata can be found here.
Clori, Lidia e Filli.
«Già compito il suo giro»
Music
by Alessandro Scarlatti, poet unknown. A single score
survives in B Bc F 669z.
The score and libretto for
the serenata are found here. It appears to date from ca. 1700.
Genio di Partenope, Gloria del Sebeto, Piacere di Mergellina.
«Venticelli soavi che con ali amorosi»
Music
by Alessandro Scarlatti, poet unknown. Naples, 1696. It was
written to celebrate the birthday of the Spanish Viceroy's
wife.
You will find a score, libretto and more information about this
serenata here.
Filli, Clori e Tirsi.
«Dalle fiorite arene del mio patrio Volturno»
Music
by Alessandro Scarlatti, poet unknown. Naples, 1715 for the
nameday of the Austrian Viceroy’s wife.
Slightly revised as La Ninfa del
Tago and performed at Rome in 1721
for the nameday celebration of King John V of Portugal.
You will find the score, libretti and more information
concerning this serenata here.
Partenope, Teti, Nettuno, Proteo e Glauco.
«Chi al vasto ondoso formidabil Regno»
Music
by Alessandro Scarlatti, poet unknown. Naples, perhaps on
November 4, 1718, in the Royal Palace.
The serenata is for the nameday celebration of the Austrian
Emperor Charles VI and makes reference to a recent
maritime victory by the British Admiral George Byng.
More information, including a score,
libretto and the source for this serenata are found here.
La Virtù negli Amori.
«Dolce sonno, oblio de' mali»
Music
by Alessandro Scarlatti, poetry by Gaetano Lemer, scenery by
Francesco Bibbiena. Rome, November 16, 1721, Teatro
Capranica.
In celebration of the elevation of Innocent XIII as Pope.
The music has not survived.
Originally concieved as an occasional cantata by the
Portugese ambassador at Rome for performance in his palace,
as the date of its scheduled performance drew near, it was
enlarged almost to the size of an opera and the site
of its performance was transferred to the Teatro Capranica.
The printed libretto contains a
particularly interesting Foreword by the poet.
Le Glorie della Belllezza.
«In sì bel giorno, che il Gran Natale D'ELISABETTA»
Music
by Alessandro Scarlatti, poetry by Giuseppe Papis. Naples,
August 28, 1709, for the birthday of the Habsburg Queen of
Spain.
The music has not survived.
The pioneering Neapolitan scholar Ulisse Prota-Giurleo
published an extract from the Gazzetta
di
Napoli describing the performance
of this serenata. By extracting a phrase from the Gazzetta account Prota-Giurleo gave the
serenata the title it now bears, suggesting
that the work was sung by several allegorical characters.
This was not the case, as we now know from the printed
libretto (unknown to Prota-Giurleo).
The libretto for this musical entertainment (Trattenimento
Musicale) preserves the text of two
cantatas, the first praising Queen Elisabeth's physical
attributes, the second her spiritual qualities. These are
followed by a comic intermezzo. The entertainment ends with a
third cantata in which the hope
is expressed that the Queen give birth to many offspring.
Here you will find notes
on this serenata.
Giove Placato.
«Son ferita, son piagata.»
Music
by Alessandro Scarlatti, text by Giuseppe Papis. Naples,
Palazzo Reale, December 4, 1713,
for the nameday celebration of the viceroy's wife. The music
has not survived.
Notes on the libretto are found
here.
Guerra, Europa, Fama, Gloria.
«Mentre dell'Austria il fulminante Giove»
Music
by Alessandro Scarlatti, poet unknown. Naples, Palazzo
Reale, November 4, 1712.
The music has not survived.
Notes on the libretto
are found here.
La Gloria di Primavera.
«Nato è già l'Austriaco sole»
Music
by Alessandro Scarlatti, text by Nicolô Giuvo. Piedimonte
Matese (near Naples), Palazzo di Don Nicola Gaetano
d'Aragona, May 20, 21 and 23, 1716.
Here are found the score, libretto and
more information on this serenata, one of Scarlatti's finest.
Venere e Amore.
«Del mar tirreno in su l'amena sponda»
Music
by Alessandro Scarlatti, poet unknown, Naples ca. 1695-1700
Images of A. Tirabassi's (Brussels, 1921) modern
edition (that once belonged to Edwin Hanley) are found
here.
Venere, Cupido e Marte.
«Splende in Ciel la mia lucida stella»
Music
by Severo De Luca, poet unknown, Rome 1700.
Here are found the score,
libretto and more information concerning this serenata.
Bel piacere ch'è la caccia.
«Bel piacere ch'è la caccia»
Music
by Pietro Scarlatti, Naples.
The score, libretto and more
information concerning this serenata are found here in a MS Word file.
Il Trionfo d'Amore.
«Amici al fin»
Music
by Antonio Caldara, Rome, July 1709.
The score, libretto and and a fine
article by Magdalena Boschung concerning this serenata
are found here.
A score for Caldara's chamber cantata Ruscelletto
a cui sen Viene is found here.
Boschung has discovered that the second aria of the cantata is also
found in Caldara's
serenata Il Più bel nome of 1708.
Edward Dent's still valuble biography of Alessandro Scarlatti from 1905.
The doctoral dissertation by Thomas Griffin. Undertaken in the late 1970's: several newer discoveries made
since then are reported in the survey below.The Avvisi di Roma at Munich by Thomas Griffin.
Survey of the Late Serenatas of Alessandro Scarlatti (1709-1723) by Thomas Griffin.
A report on the 2013 conference 18th century music in Spain at the Universidad de la Rioja.