SCARLATTI, Domenico
b Naples, 26 October 1685
d Madrid, 23 July 1757, aged seventy-one

He studied first with his father Alessandro, then in 1701 became organist and composer at the royal chapel in Naples. In 1708 he went to Venice for further study and became a firm friend of Handel there. In 1709 he entered the service of the Queen of Poland in Rome. In 1714 he became maestro di cappella to the Portuguese Ambassador and, in 1715, was also maestro of the Cappella Giuliana in the Vatican. He resigned in 1719, and in 1720 or 1721 became maestro at the royal chapel in Lisbon. He returned to Italy in 1724, then moved to Madrid in 1729, where he spent his remaining years as music-master to the Queen of Spain. For his long services to the Spanish royal family he received a Spanish knighthood in 1738. More than half of his numerous harpsichord sonatas were composed during the last six years of his life.

1703 (18)

fp Ottavia ristituta al trono, opera fp Giustina, opera

1704 (19)

fp Irene, opera

1710 (25)

fp La Sylvia, opera

1711 (26)

fp Orlando, opera fp Tolomeo e Alessandro, opera

1712 (27)

fp Tetide in sciro, opera

1713 (28)

fp Ifigenia in Aulide, opera fp Ifigenia in Tauride, opera

1714 (29)

fp Amor d'un ombra, opera

1715 (30)

fp Ambleto, opera

1718 (33)

fp Berenice, opera

1738 (53)

p Essercizi per Gravicembalo

1739 (54)

p XLII Suites de pieces pour le clavecin Scarlatti also wrote over 550 single-movement harpsichord sonatas.