UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. Santa Barbara. String Sonata ( ) A Dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction

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1 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Santa Barbara The Fiery Genius : The Contribution of Neapolitan Virtuosi to the Spread of the String Sonata (18-173) A Dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Musicology by Guido Olivieri Committee in charge: Professor William F. Prizer, Chairperson Professor Alejandro E. Planchart Professor Stefanie S. Tcharos Professor Neal A. Zaslaw March 200

2 UMI Number: Copyright 200 by Olivieri, Guido All rights reserved. UMI Microform Copyright 200 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 13 Ann Arbor, MI

3 The dissertation of Guido Olivieri is approved Committee Chairperson January 200

4 The Fiery Genius : The Contribution of Neapolitan Virtuosi to the Spread of the String Sonata (18-173) Copyright 200 by Guido Olivieri iii

5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Dicebat Bernardus Carnotensis nos esse quasi nanos gigantium umeris insidentes, ut possimus plura eis et remotiora videre, non utique proprii visus acumine aut eminentia corporis, sed quia in altum subvehimur et extollimur magnitudine gigantea. John of Salisbury, Metalogicon. A research that extends for several years is indubitably the product of a collective work that the author (improperly) claims as his own. This is not to decline full responsibility of what it is written in this work, but to express my profound gratitude for the help and support I have received from so many friends and colleagues on this and the other side of the ocean. First I would like to thank all the members of my dissertation committee. Professor William F. Prizer has guided with sound advices and patient support every step of my professional career since I arrived in this country. His rigorous scholarship, painstaking care for all aspects of my research, and his love for and deep expertise in Italian music and culture have been crucial to the completion of this dissertation as well as to my training as a scholar. Professor Alejandro E. Planchart has encouraged me to combine research with performance. His all-round intellectual knowledge and unreserved enthusiasm for music have been an inspiring model for me. Professor Stefanie Tcharos deserves a special credit, for, in her first years of teaching experience, she had the patience to read through all these pages and offer her stimulating critical views. iv

6 When Professor Neal A. Zaslaw accepted to join my dissertation committee I was at the same time thrilled and scared. What I received from him was an exceptional help in the form of precious comments, punctual bibliographic indications, and wise practical advices, which revealed to me that his vast competence on the subject is equal to his wit, kindness, and availability. My affectionate thoughts go to one scholar who was originally in my committee, Professor Robert N. Freeman. During the long hours spent in his office, working on details of my research or of the class he was preparing, I learned so much about teaching and researching methods that today I only regret I did not spend more time with him. But most of all, I will always remember Dr. Bob kindness and deep (although partly concealed) humanity which remained unchanged until the last days of his life. Many other scholars have helped me in one way or another in these years. Among them a special thank goes to Professor Michael Talbot who has followed and encouraged my work since 199 when I spent a year under his exceptional guidance at the University of Liverpool (UK). Professor Michael Beckerman has taught me, among other things, subtlety and self-irony, rare virtues in our profession. Professors Patricia Hall, Lee Rothfarb, Scott Marcus, and Timothy Cooley have been greatly supportive during my graduate studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Taking their classes has enormously broadened my intellectual horizons. I thank the entire Department of Music, particularly its administrative staff, for the availability offered in these years. v

7 At UC Santa Barbara I have also met many wonderful friends and colleagues. If I cannot list their names here, I will never forget the help and kindness I received from each and every one of them. I am sure that in many cases our friendship and reciprocal esteem will last for the years to come. This research benefited significantly from the excellent facilities at the University of California Santa Barbara, first and foremost from the first-rate collections of the Music Library and the efficient service of the University of California Interlibray Loan. I am especially indebted to the support received by all the personnel of the Music Library at UCSB. I am particularly grateful to Eunice Schroeder, Barbara Hirsch, and Cathy Jones for their reliable and professional help, which made easier my research as well as teaching experience, and to my dear friend Temmo Korisheli, whose culture and competence as a librarian almost let one forget his amazing talents as a musician. A special thank extends to all the institutions I visited during my research: the personnel at the Archivio Storico del Banco di Napoli, the Archivio di Stato, and the Biblioteca Nazionale in Naples; the director of the library of the Conservatorio di Milano, dott. Agostina Zecca Laterza; the directors of the library of the Conservatorio in Naples, dott. Melisi, and of the Conservatorio itself, maestro Vincenzo De Gregorio;the head music librarian at the Music Library of the University of California, Berkeley, Dr. John Roberts. The personnel of the Manuscript Department at the Lund Universitetsbibliotek has been particularly kind vi

8 to send me copy of Cailò s sonata with plenty of information on the collection to which it belongs. The time I spent in Toronto, Canada, has been among the most enjoyable and fruitful of the last years. The long cold Canadian winter has been warmed by the friendly hospitality of all the friends I met: Professors Sandra Mangsen, Caryl Clark, John Haines, but most of all my guardian angel Professor Timothy J. McGee, who continues to help and encourage me with his terrific advices and cheerful optimism. Let me finally address my thanks to those who have helped to form my personality: my father, who has always complied with my aspirations, and my brothers, whom I love and admire for the choices they have made. My wife Luisa and my daughter Elena have been the true strength behind my work. Luisa s serene determination and patience and Elena s joyful energy have sustained me in the rollercoaster of feelings of these years. I offer them these pages as inadequate amends for the long hours I devoted to my research, for my infinite laments about the slow progress of the dissertation, and endless talks on Naples and the Neapolitan instrumental music. I dedicate this work to the memory of my mother, who did not have enough time to see all this. vii

9 VITA OF GUIDO OLIVIERI EDUCATION Laurea Summa cum Laude. Università degli Studi "Federico II" of Naples (Italy), Diploma in violin. Conservatory of Salerno (Italy), 199. Research Diploma in Musicology. Department of Music, University of Liverpool (UK), 199. Doctor of Philosophy in Musicology. University of California, Santa Barbara, March 200. PROFESSIONAL EMPLOYMENT Teaching Associate (Instructor of Record). Department of Music, University of California, Santa Barbara Research Assistant. Department of Music, University of California, Santa Barbara Teaching Assistant. Department of Music, University of California, Santa Barbara Substitute Teacher of Italian and Latin Literatures and History of Arts in High Schools, Italy. PUBLICATIONS Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart (Kassel: Bärenreiter). Entry: Ragazzi, Angelo (in preparation). Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (Roma: Istituto dell Enciclopedia Italiana) Entries: Marchitelli, Pietro ; Mascitti, Michele. (in preparation). Problems of Attribution in a Sketch for Luciano Berio's Tempi concertati, in... Et facciam dolçi canti. Studi in onore di Agostino Ziino in occasione del suo compleanno, eds. Bianca Maria Antolini and Teresa Maria Gialdroni (Lucca: LIM, 200). Tra Napoli e Vienna: musicisti e organici strumentali nel Viceregno Austriaco ( ), Analecta Musicologica 32 (2002): The New Grove Dictionary of Music (London: MacMillan, 2001). Entries: Cailò, Giovanni Carlo ; Marchitelli, Pietro ; Guido, Giovanni Antonio. Giovanni Carlo Cailò, Sonata per tre violini e organo (Naples: Editoriale Scientifica, 2001). viii

10 L'attività pianistica a Napoli al tempo di Alessandro Longo: Costantino Palumbo, in Alessandro Longo: l'uomo, il suo tempo, la sua opera (Vibo Valentia: Istituto di Bibliografia Musicale Calabrese, 2001): 10-2 (in collaboration with F. Esposito). Alle origini della tradizione violinistica napoletana: Giovanni Carlo Cailò, in Documenti d'archivio per la storia musicale napoletana (Naples: Editoriale Scientifica, 2001): Review of A Reader's Guide to Haydn's Early String Quartets by W. Drabkin, Notes 7/ (2001): 897. Review of Antonio Vivaldi by Cesare Fertonani, Nuova Rivista Musicale Italiana ns. (2001): Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, vol.2 (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 2000). Entry: Barbella, Emanuele. Una controversia sull'assedio di Calais, in Donizetti Napoli l'europa (Naples: Edizioni Scientifiche Italiane, 2000): Musica strumentale a Napoli nell'età di Pergolesi: le sonate per tre violini e basso, Pergolesi Studies (2000): Geminiani e Napoli, Nuova Rivista Musicale Italiana, n.s. (2000): 2-1. Aggiunte a La scuola musicale di Napoli di F. Florimo: i contratti dei figlioli della Pietà dei Turchini nei protocolli notarili ( ), in Francesco Florimo e l'ottocento musicale (Reggio Calabria: Jason, 1999), 2: Liner notes to Mottetti by Francesco Provenzale, Cappella de' Turchini, Opus111 (OPS ) (1998). Notizie sugli strumenti da tasto all'inizio del '700 a Napoli, Quaderni dell'archivio Storico del Banco di Napoli 2 (1998): L'Archivio storico del Banco di Napoli: una preziosa fonte per la storia dell'opera napoletana, in Gaetano Donizetti e i teatri napoletani dell Ottocento, catalogue of the exhibit (Naples: Electa, 1997). Si suona a Napoli! I rapporti fra Napoli e Parigi e i primordi della Sonata in Francia, Studi Musicali 3 (199): AWARDS 200 Best graduate student paper in Musicology. American Musicological Society, New York State- St. Lawrence Chapter Humanities/Social Sciences Research Award for original research in the Humanities. University of California, Santa Barbara, Graduate Division Stanley Krebs Memorial Prize in Musicology. University of California, Santa Barbara, Department of Music Victor Hugo Sickinger Memorial Scholarship for academic excellence in Music History. University of California, Santa Barbara, Dept. of Music. ix

11 Giovanni Sarno Memorial Fellowships for best research on eighteenth century music. Università degli Studi Federico II of Naples (Italy) (first and second editions). FIELDS OF STUDY Historical Musicology Professors Michael Beckerman, Robert Freeman, Alejandro E. Planchart, William F. Prizer, Michael Talbot, Stefanie Tcharos. Ethnomusicology Professors Tim Cooley, Scott Marcus. Theory Professors Lee Rothfarb, Patricia Hall. Educational Hypermedia and Multimedia Professors Dorothy Chun, George Michaels. x

12 ABSTRACT The Fiery Genius : The Contribution of Neapolitan Virtuosi to the Spread of the String Sonata (18-173) by Guido Olivieri Naples has been considered among the most active centers in the production of operas in the eighteenth century. Scholars, accordingly, have emphasized the importance of the operatic tradition, leaving out other crucial aspects of the Neapolitan musical activity. In particular, the existence of a rich instrumental production has been discussed only rarely. This is the first comprehensive study of the development of the string sonata in Naples between 18 and 173. Reinterpreting evidence previously known and drawing on new archival documents (dispatches, financial records, and lists of personnel of the principal musical establishments of the city), it reveals the existence of a vigorous string tradition, deeply connected to the most important music institutions of the time. The careers and production of several musicians are examined in the cultural and political contexts of the time, shedding new light on the history of musical institutions in Naples and on aspects of musical patronage and the aesthetics of xi

13 reception. Two traits emerge as distinctive of the local instrumental tradition: the adoption of a learned, contrapuntal style, and the virtuosic approach to performance practice. These traits characterize also the original repertory of sonatas for three violins and continuo that flourished in the first decades of the eighteenth century. The development of Neapolitan instrumental music did not remain an isolated phenomenon. Its dissemination was sustained by the migration of those performers who, trained in the four Neapolitan conservatories, spent most of their lives in the service of sovereigns and aristocrats in other major European courts, such as Paris and Vienna. During their lifetime, they were internationally regarded among the finest exponents of their art. The fiery genius of these Neapolitan virtuosi and their music add an entirely new dimension to the history of Italian instrumental music. xii

14 TABLE OF CONTENTS List of abbreviations Money system Pitch Designation Introduction The Myth of Naples Capital of the Musical World Choice of the Repertory...8 Problems of Periodization..13 The Dawn of Neapolitan Instrumental Music....1 Political and Musical Events: Scarlatti, Corelli, and Geminiani in Naples...18 Organization and Structure..2 Part 1: Naples Chapter Music Institutions in Naples A Wellspring of Talents: The Four Conservatories The Career of a Maestro: Giovanni Carlo Cailò...39 The Music of Power: Pietro Marchitelli and the Palace Royal Chapel...0 Music Publishing in Naples: The Sonatas by G. A. Avitrano. 90 Conclusions xiii

15 Part 2: Neapolitan Virtuosi in Europe Chapter The Italian Sonata in France Between Naples and Paris: The Careers of Neapolitan Virtuosi Giovanni Antonio Guido in Paris The Aesthetic Contex(s)t The Patronage of Italian Virtuosi...13 The Impact of the Public Sphere: The Career of Michele Mascitti Concert Life in Paris..17 Violin Technique: Giovannni Antonio Piani s Solo Sonatas The Styles Reunited Chapter 3: Between Naples and Vienna: the Careers of Neapolitan Performers in the Service of Charles VI of Habsburg Neapolitan Virtuosi in the Real Capilla de Barcellona Music of the Nations: Neapolitan Performers in the Imperial Chapel Instrumental Music at Naples under the Austrian Dominion Under the Wings of the Imperial Eagle: the Career of Angelo Ragazzi The Sonatas for Three Violins and Continuo ( ) Conclusions....2 xiv

16 Bibliography...28 Appendix A: Documents Appendix B: Selected sonatas xv

17 LIST OF MUSIC EXAMPLES Example 1.1: G. C. Cailò, sonata a due violini e cembalo Example 1.2: 7 Example 1.3: Marchitelli, sonata no. 3, third movement 81 Example 1.: Marchitelli, sonatas no., 11, and 1 83 Example 1.: Marchitelli, sonata no.10, fifth movement 8 Example 1.: Marchitelli, sonata no. 10 second movement 88 Example 1.7: Avitrano, sonata op. 1 no. 1, first movement 9 Example 1.8: Avitrano, sonata op. 1 no.2, first movement 97 Example 1.9: Avitrano, sonata op. 1 no., first movement 98 Example 1.10a: Avitrano, sonata op. 1 no., third movement 101 Example 1.10b: Avitrano, sonata op. 1 no., second movement 101 Example 1.10c: Avitrano, sonata op. 1, no. 2, second movement 102 Example 2.1: Guido, sonata no.7, Spiritoso-Presto 12 Example 2.2: Guido, sonata no. 7, Allegro 12 Example 2.3: Guido, sonata no. 7, third movement 127 Example 2.: Guido, sonata no Example 2.: Mascitti, sonata op. 1 no. 9, first movement 11 Example Example 2.7: Mascitti, sonata op. no. 1, second movement 18 Example 2.8: Mascitti, sonata op. no. 8, third movement 10 xvi

18 Example 2.9: Mascitti, sonata op. no. 11, second movement 12 Example 2.10: Piani, sonata op. 1 no. 11, second movement 18 Example 2.11: Piani, sonata op. 1, no., third movement 18 Example 2.12: Guido, sonata no. 1, third movement 19 Example 2.13: Guido, sonata no. 3, first movement 19 Example 2.1: Guido, sonata no. 1, fifth movement 197 Example 3.1a: Ragazzi, sonata op. 1 no., first movement 233 Example 3.1b: Ragazzi, sonata op. 1 no., second movement 233 Example 3.2: Ragazzi, sonata op. 1 no. 2, first movement 23 Example 3.3: Ragazzi, sonata op. 1 no. 2, second movement 238 Example 3.: Ragazzi, sonata op. 1 no. 12, first movement 239 Examples 3. a-h: Avitrano, sonatas opus 3 no.,, 7, 9, 10, 8, 11, Example 3.: Avitrano sonata op. 3, no. 9, third movement 2 Example 3.7: Cailò, sonata for three violins, fifth movement 27 Example 3.8: Cailò, sonata for three violins, second movement 29 Example 3.9: Cailò, sonata for three violins, third movement 21 Example 3.10: Cailò, sonata for three violins, third movement 23 Example 3.11: Marchitelli, sonata no.2, second movement 2 Example 3.12a: Ragazzi, sonata op. 1 no. 1, first movement 27 Example 3.12b: Ragazzi, sonata op. 1 no. 1, first movement 29 Example 3.13: Ragazzi, sonata op. 1, no. 1, third movement 20 Example 3.1: Ragazzi, sonata op. 1, no., first movement 21 xvii

19 LIST OF TABLES Table 1.1: Marchitelli, Sonate a quattro 80 Table 1.2: Avitrano, Sonate a tre op. 1(197) 9 Table 3.1: Personnel of the Royal Chapel (1708) 218 Table 3.2: Plan of the Royal Chapel ( ) 221 xviii

20 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ASN = Italy - Naples, Archivio di Stato. ASBN = Italy - Naples, Archivio Storico del Banco di Napoli. BN = Italy - Naples, Biblioteca Nazionale. I-Nc = Italy - Naples, Biblioteca del Conservatorio di S. Pietro a Majella. I-Mc = Italy - Milan, Biblioteca del Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi. MONEY SYSTEM ADOPTED IN NAPLES 1 ducato = tarì = 100 grana. 10 carlini = 1 ducato PITCH DESIGNATION Throughout the text, references to pitches adopt the Helmholtz system: C 12 c 2 c' 12 c'' 102 c''' 1

21 INTRODUCTION THE MYTH OF NAPLES CAPITAL OF THE MUSICAL WORLD Veux-tu donc savoir si quelque étincelle de ce feu dévorant t'anime? Cours, vole à Naples écouter les chefs-d'œuvre de Leo, de Durante, de Jommelli, de Pergolèse. Si tes yeux s'emplissent de larmes, si tu sens ton coeur palpiter, si des tressaillements t'agitent, si l'oppressions te suffoque dans tes transports, prends le Métastase et travaille; son génie échauffera le tien, tu créeras à son exemple: c'est là ce que fait le génie, et d'autres yeux te rendront bientôt les pleurs que les maîtres t'ont fait verser. Rousseau, Génie, Dictionnaire de musique (178) 1 This account... throws a light upon the comparative state of Music at Naples and at Rome in Corelli's time, and exhibits a curious contrast between the fiery genius of the Neapolitans, and the meek, timid, and gentle character of Corelli. Burney, A General History of Music (1789) In 178 Jean Jacques Rousseau included in his Dictionnaire de musique what was probably the first entry on musical genius. Rousseau s inspired definition of this 1 Do you wish to know whether a spark of this devouring fire animates you? Run, then, fly to Naples and listen to the masterworks of Leo, Durante, Jommelli, Pergolesi. If your eyes fill with tears, if you feel your heart palpitate, if quivers excite you, if breath-taking raptures choke you, then take Metastasio and go to work: his genius will enlighten yours; you will create at his example. That is what makes the genius, and the tears of others will soon repay you for the tears that those masters elicited from you. Translation with a few changes from Edward E. Lowinsky, Musical Genius: Evolution and Origins of a Concept, The Musical Quarterly, 0 (19):

22 concept, which would become of seminal importance for the Romantic generation, among other things, is a remarkable testimony to the reputation that Neapolitan music had achieved throughout Europe. Indeed Rousseau viewed the works of Neapolitan musicians as the quintessential expression of musical genius. The third largest city in the continent, Naples had been the southernmost destination of the Grand Tour since the seventeenth century. Foreign travelers who visited the city were attracted by the natural beauties of its marine landscapes, its sublime view of Vesuvius, its archeological vestiges, and the fame of its musical culture. Such an admiration toward Neapolitan music motivated Charles Burney s visit to Naples in Traveling through Italy with the intent of collecting information for his projected work on the history of music, Burney arrived in Naples with high expectations and recorded in his diary all the excitement of this visit: I entered this city, impressed with the highest idea of the perfect state in which I should find practical music. It was at Naples only that I expected to have my ears gratified with every musical luxury and refinement which Italy could afford. My visits to other places were in the way of business, for the performance of a task I had assigned myself; but I came hither animated by the hope of pleasure. And what lover of music could be in the place which had produced the two Scarlattis, Vinci, Leo, Pergolese, Porpora, Farinelli, Jommelli, 3

23 Piccinni, Traetta, Sacchini, and innumerable others of the first eminence among composers and performers, both vocal and instrumental, without the most sanguine expectations? 2 As is well known, Burney s great expectations soon evaporated as he discovered the poor status in which music and the conservatories in Naples lay. His description of the chaotic environment in which students of the conservatories carried out their daily practice was accompanied by disillusioned final comments: The pathetic and the graceful are seldom attempted in the conservatories; and those refined and studied graces, which not only change, but improve passages, and which so few are able to find, are less sought after by the generality of performers at Naples, than in any other part of Italy. 3 Despite the apparent decline of Neapolitan music and of the institutions that had sustained it, Naples s fame remained intact during the eighteenth century and beyond. As Burney put it, the city had so long been regarded as the center of harmony, and the fountain from whence genius, taste, and learning have flowed to 2 Charles Burney, The Present State of Music in France and Italy (London, 1773; mod. ed. London: Oxford University Press, 199), Ibid., 28.

24 every other part of Europe, that even those who have an opportunity of judging for themselves, take upon trust the truth of the fact, and give the Neapolitans credit for more than they deserve at present, however they may have been entitled to this celebrity in times past. The notion of the preeminence of Neapolitan music rested on the success of operatic production and dated back to the 1720s and 1730s, when a generation of composers educated in the conservatories of the city had begun to dominate European theatrical scenes. It was certainly to the fame of Neapolitan opera that Charles de Brosses was referring to when he wrote his enthusiastic comments while visiting Naples in 1739: Naples is the capital of the musical world; it is from the numerous conservatories where the students are trained in this art, from which issued most of the renowned composers Scarlatti, Leo, Vinci, the true god of music, Rinaldo [da Capua], Latilla and my beloved Pergolesi. Ibid., 28. Even the twenty-one year old Mozart underlined that certainly it is a real distinction to have written operas in Italy, especially for Naples ( man hat halt credit, wen man in italien opern geschrieben hat, und sonderheitlich zu Neapel. Letter to his father from Munich on October 11, 1777). Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, The Letters of Mozart and his Family, trans. and ed. Emily Anderson (London: Macmillan, 198) 1: 30. Naples est la capitale du monde musicien; c est des seminaries nombreux où l on élève la jeunesse en cet art que sont sortis la plupart des fameux compositeurs, Scarlatti, Leo, Vinci le vrai dieu de la musique, les Rinaldo, Latilla et mon

25 The myth of Neapolitan opera was consolidated in the following decades and influenced the direction of historiography for the next two centuries. Naples was seen solely as the cradle of opera particularly of opera buffa and a strong emphasis was placed on the importance of investigations of vocal music and of the stylistic traits characterizing a distinctive Neapolitan school. With the exception of the keyboard repertory that since the sixteenth century could boast musicians such as Jean de Macque (18/0 11), Ascanio Majone (1-127), and Giovanni Maria Trabaci (17-17), research on instrumental music in Naples has been almost completely overshadowed by the attention to the origins and diffusion of charmant Pergolèse. Charles de Brosses, Lettres d Italie du Président de Brosses, ed. Frédéric d Agay (Paris: Mercure de France, 198), 01. An overview of the principal contributions to the creation of the concept of Neapolitan opera is in Francesco Degrada, L opera napoletana fra Seicento e Settecento, in Storia dell Opera, ed. Guglielmo Barblan and Alberto Basso, vol. 1, bk. 1 (Turin: UTET, 1977), ; Idem, Scuola napoletana e Opera napoletana : nascita, sviluppo e prospettive di un concetto storiografico, in Il Teatro di San Carlo ( ), ed. Bruno Cagli and Agostino Ziino (Naples: Electa, 1987), 2: 10; and Reinhard Strohm, Dramma per Musica. Italian Opera Seria of the Eighteenth Century (New Haven, London: Yale University Press, 1997), 1-. The idea of Neapolitan school has been used with caution or openly questioned. See the approaches in Helmut Hucke and Edward O. D. Downes, Die neapolitanische Tradition in der Oper/The Neapolitan Tradition in Opera, in International Musicological Society Eight-Congress Report. New York 191, (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 191), 1: 13-8, 2: 132-; and Hellmuth Christian Wolff, The Fairy Tale of the Neapolitan Opera, in Studies in Eighteenth-century Music; a Tribute to Karl Geiringer on His Seventieth Birthday, ed. H. C. Robbins Landon, in collaboration with Roger E. Chapman (New York: Oxford University Press, 1970), 01-.

26 opera. 7 This perspective is well illustrated by the opinion of Michael Robinson, who in his thorough study of Neapolitan opera maintains that Neapolitan training, taste, even intellectual theory, tended to encourage the composition of vocal music. 8 The purpose of my study is to challenge this traditional view. New documentary evidence emerged during my research that revealed a multifaceted context for the Neapolitan musical scene. The relevance of vocal music in Naples, far from being denied, needs to be reconsidered in association with a significant cultivation of instrumental music. Burney s remarks on Neapolitan music did include a few considerations about the characteristics of instrumental music and performance practice: But though the rising generation of Neapolitan musicians cannot be said to possess in a supreme degree either taste, delicacy, or 7 Among the major studies on Neapolitan keyboard tradition there are: Willi Apel, Neapolitan Links between Cabezon and Frescobaldi, The Musical Quarterly 2 (1938): 19; Idem, Die Suditalienische clavierschule des 17.Jahrhunderts, Acta Musicologica 3 (192): 128-1; Ulisse Prota Giurleo, Giovan Maria Trabaci e gli organisti della Real Cappella di Palazzo di Napoli, L'Organo 1 (190): 18-9; Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini, Riflessioni sull'arte tastieristica napoletana del Cinque e Seicento, in Musica e cultura a Napoli dal XV al XIX secolo, ed. L.Bianconi and R.Bossa (Firenze: Olschki, 1983), 11-1; Klaus Fischer, La posizione di Ascanio Mayone e Giovanni Maria Trabaci nello sviluppo del ricercare, in La musica a Napoli durante il Seicento, ed. Domenico Antonio D Alessandro and Agostino Ziino (Rome: Torre d Orfeo: 1987), 22 83; Frederick Hammond, Girolamo Frescobaldi and the Hypothesis of Neapolitan Influences, Ibid., 217 3; Wolfgang Witzenmann, Rapporti fra la musica strumentale di Trabaci e quella di Frescobaldi, Ibid., Michael Robinson, Naples and Neapolitan Opera (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972), 1. 7

27 expression, yet their compositions, it must be allowed, are excellent, with respect to counterpoint and invention; and in their manner of executing them, there is an energy and a fire, not to be met with perhaps elsewhere in the whole universe: it is so ardent as to border upon fury; and from this impetuosity of genius, it is common for Neapolitan composers, in a movement, which begins in a mild and sober manner, to set the orchestra in a blaze before it is finished... 9 The two qualities that Burney underlined in his description appear to be the distinctive traits of Neapolitan instrumental tradition: the adoption of a learned, contrapuntal style, and the virtuosic approach to performance practice. This fiery genius as Burney described it in the passage quoted in the epigraph of this chapter attracted the attention of aristocrats and audiences in European capitals and secured fame and success for the Neapolitan virtuosi. CHOICE OF THE REPERTORY A comprehensive study of the entire repertoire of instrumental music produced in Naples would be beyond the scope of this work. The vast amount of instrumental music from sonatas to sinfonie as well as concertos for any sort of 9 Charles Burney, The Present State, 28. 8

28 instruments associated with Naples and still preserved in libraries scattered all over the world would make a thorough investigation a difficult task. Hence, I chose to focus my attention on string sonatas, a rather obvious choice in view of the wide dissemination and popularity achieved by this genre in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The standard literature on Baroque sonata has shown a striking lack of knowledge of the developments of string sonata south of Rome, despite the prominence of this genre in Italy. In his classic study on The Sonata in the Baroque Era, William S. Newman noticed the heavy concentration of composers of sonatas in northern Italy with surprisingly few names to list in such great musical centers as Rome and Naples. 10 In the most recent work on The Italian 'Trio' Sonata, Peter Allsop yet again has emphasized the minimal level of information about the sonata in Naples and the need for further research, with the correct assumption that a lack of data does not necessarily imply a lack of activity. 11 While the sonata repertory in Rome, both before and after the years of success of Arcangelo Corelli, and in other centers has received much scholarly attention in the last few decades, the existence of a well-established instrumental 10 William S. Newman, The Sonata in the Baroque Era th ed. (New York: W.W. Norton, 1983), Peter Allsop, The Italian Trio Sonata from its Origins until Corelli (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992), 21. 9