Folia alessandro scarlatti biography

The reputation of Alessandro Scarlatti (1660–1725) rests mainly on his vocal music, of which he wrote an enormous quantity—operas (nearly seventy), oratorios.
Folia (Portuguese), is one of the oldest remembered European musical themes, or primary material, generally melodic, of a composition, on record.
Scarlatti wrote more than 115 operas (50 of which are extant) and more than 500 chamber cantatas for one or two voices and harpsichord.

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Folia

Type of musical composition

For other uses, see Folia (disambiguation) and Folium (disambiguation).

La Folía (Spanish), or Follies (English), also known as folies d'Espagne (French), La Follia (Italian), and Folia (Portuguese), is one of the oldest remembered European musical themes, or primary material, generally melodic, of a composition, on record. The theme exists in two versions, referred to as early and late folias, the earlier being faster.

History

Due to its musical form, style and etymology of the name, it has been suggested that the melody arose as a dance in the mid or late fifteenth century throughout the Iberian Peninsula, either in Portugal or in the area of the old Kingdom of León, or maybe in the Kingdom of Valencia.

The epithet "Folia" has several meanings in music.

Western classical music features both "early Folia", which can take different shapes, and the better-known "later Folia" (also known as "Follia" with double l in Italy, "Folies d'Espagne" in France, and "Faronel [fr]'s Ground" in En

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In an age when if your father was a butcher it was likely that, if you were a boy, you would become one too or, if a girl, marry one, it is not surprising that there were families of musicians. Of the three famous composers born in 1685, Handel is the odd one out—he became a musician despite opposition from his respectable father, a barber-surgeon. But both Bach and Scarlatti had musical ancestors, brothers and children. ‘Bach’, unqualified, means Johann Sebastian Bach; but the name Scarlatti in isolation is ambiguous. In the context of keyboard music, one assumes Domenico (though, as this recording shows, his father also wrote idiomatically for the harpsichord); but Alessandro’s reputation as a composer of vocal music is paramount.

Little is known about Alessandro’s father, Pietro Scarlata (to give the Sicilian form of the family name). He may not have been a musician; but his wife Eleanora d’Amato (whom he married in Palermo in 1658) was sister of the maestro di cappella of the cathedral there; his Passions according to St Matthew and St John,

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Pièces de Clavecin 13. / Scarlatti para siempre 1.

Grant Chu Covell

[October 2021.]

Domenico Scarlatti (1685–1757) has been a large part of my routine this year. I am sure I’ve heard each keyboard sonata at least once, and, considering performers’ favorites and their programs, there are many I have heard frequently. Being a completist, I unfailingly return to Scott Ross and Carlo Grante’s traversals. I have also dipped into different performance practices (Tausig, Friedman, Granados, et al.) and earlier performers (Landowska, Kirkpatrick, Horowitz, et al.).

The 555+ extant sonatas depict a fluid universe not unlike Mahler’s symphonies or Schubert’s songs, though the scope is decidedly narrower. Familiarity with Feldman’s epics can help penetrate what appear to be so many repetitions of the same gestures in the same formal structure. However, like any cosmos, there are astonishing and delightful details. Where else can you find so many three-bar phrases and music that may instantaneously change mood and key?

We could imagine the span of Scarlatti’s sonatas as a twilight dia