By the 1690s, Scarlatti was writing operas and serenatas at a prolific pace, owing mainly to the requirements of his position. By this time he had scored a great success in Rome with his first opera, Gli equivoci nel sembiante (1679), and with subsequent ones, along with many cantatas and oratorios.Īt Naples, he was appointed maestro di cappella at the Viceregal Chapel, under the Viceroy of Naples, Marquis del Carpio. He served in this post until 1684, when he departed for Naples. Around this time the composer became the maestro di cappella for Queen Christina of Sweden, an arts patron who had founded two academies at her palace in Rome. In April 1678, Scarlatti married Antonia Anzalone, who would bear him ten children, though only half would survive to adulthood. He may have studied with Carissimi there until 1674, when the older composer died. At the age of 12 he was sent off to a relative in Rome. Virtually nothing is known of Alessandro Scarlatti's early musical education, though he likely became a choirboy at a local church and may have studied the rudiments with the choirmaster.
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Another son, Pietro, also became a composer of some distinction. His importance in music is further bolstered by the fact he was the father of Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757), who in the keyboard realm was among the most individual and influential composers of his day. Oddly, his historical position declined after his death and his reputation was not rehabilitated until the early twentieth century. He composed over 600 cantatas, more than 100 operas, many oratorios, serenatas, sonatas, and other instrumental pieces. He is credited with establishing the Neapolitan school of opera in the eighteenth century, rapidly improving the predominantly provincial state of music in Naples into a sophisticated and enduring tradition.
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Alessandro Scarlatti was among the most important Italian composers of opera from the late Baroque period.