The Scarlatti family was the most famous musical family in Italy in the late 17th and early 18th century. Pietro Alessandro Gaspare Scarlatti, known as Alessandro Scarlatti, was born on May 2, 1660, in Palermo, and died on October 24, 1725, in Naples. Alessandro was the father of composer Guiseppe Domenico Scarlatti and the uncle of Giuseppe Scarlatti.
Alessandro Scarlatti is noted for developing Italian opera in the Baroque style to its highest level. He is known for founding the "Neapolitan School." He wrote his first opera in Rome in 1679, while studying under Carissimi. His early operas conformed to the style conventions of the Baroque era concerning their musical structure and the stylized words and thought of the era expressed in the libretti, but in his later period, after 1684, his operas demonstrated more freedom of dramatic expression and more harmonic (less contrapuntal) melodic lines.
Most of Alessandro Scarlatti's 115 operas were written in Naples, where he served the court from 1684-1702, from 1708-1718, and from 1722-1725. About 70 of these operas survive. He established the "da capo" aria, employed first in his opera "Theodora (1693), and other stylistic innovations. His operas, popular in Naples from the beginning of his tenure there, became popular in Rome late in his career, once the Church lifted its objections.
He wrote approximately 800 cantatas, 40 oratorios, and 30 serenatas, in addition to his operas. Many of these works were commissioned by aristocratic patrons in Rome. He established relationships with the aristocracy at the beginning of his career and maintained these ties for the rest of his life. From 1684 on, he alternated between Rome and Naples, holding court and church appointments.
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