SCARLATTI, Alessandro
b Palermo, 2 May 1660
d Naples, 25 October 1725, aged sixty-five

Very little is known of his early life. He married in 1678 and had ten children, of whom Domenico, also a composer of importance, was the sixth. Queen Christina of Sweden was his first patron. In 1684 he was appointed maestro di cappella of the royal chapel in Naples and, with leave of absence, he went in 1702 to Florence with Domenico, to enjoy the patronage of the Medicis; then, after a few years in Rome as maestro at Santa Maria Maggiore, he returned in 1709 to his old position in Naples. He was made a 'Cavalier', a secular church honour.

1679 (19)

fp Gli equivoci nel sembiante, pera

1683 (23)

fp Pompeo, opera

fp Psiche, opera

1690 (30)

fp Gli equivoci in amore, opera

1694 (34)

fp Pirro e Demetrio, opera

1698 (38)

fp Flavio cuniberto, opera

fp La donna ancora e fedele, opera

1699 (39)

Two Sonatas for flute and continuo

1706 (46)

Il sedecia, re di Gerusalemme, oratorio

1707 (47)

fp Mitridate eupatore, opera

fp Il trionfo della liberta, opera

c1710 (c50)

Est dies tropael, Motet

Informata vulnerate, cantata

1715 (55)

fp Tigrone, opera

Twelve Sinfonias

Four quartets for two violins, viola and cello, without harpsichord

1718 (58)

fp Telemaco, opera

1719 (59)

fp Marco Attilo Regolo, opera

1720 (60)

fp Tito o sempronio gracco, opera

1721 (61)

fp Griselda, opera

Scarlatti also composed over a hundred other operas, five hundred chamber cantatas, two hundred masses, and fourteen oratorios.