A city with a crucial role in eighteenth-century international politics, Naples in the Baroque era was one of the centres of culture, art, and refinement. The presence of international nobility brought wealth and prestige, patronages and opportunities; this in turn fostered the development of a musical “school” which had a twofold role. On the one hand, it concurred in establishing at the local level the role of Naples as a capital of Baroque music; on the other, it created a repository of talent and expertise ready to be exported Europewide. As we will see, many protagonists of this Da Vinci Classics album emigrated to the most important European capitals, obtaining not just personal success and fortune, but also the dissemination of the Italian – and especially of the Neapolitan – musical style in these countries.
The lives of the musicians whose works are performed here intertwine on several levels – family, teacher/disciple relationships, but also rivalries and competition.
For instance, there is an uncle/nephew relationship connecting Pietro Marchitelli with Michele Mascitti. Neither was born in Naples; both came from Villa Santa Maria in the Abruzzi region.
Marchitelli is considered as the pillar, the foundational element of the Neapolitan violin school. Marchitelli, as many others, is one of the impressive fruits of the system of the Neapolitan Conservatories, where music was practised at the highest levels and children were provided with a thorough musical education. He studied at the Conservatory “Santa Maria di Loreto” under the guidance of Carlo de Vincentiis, whom he succeeded in the orchestra of the Royal Chapel (1677). He would later be appointed concertmaster there, and hold this position until his death. He also cooperated for years with the Teatro San Bartolomeo, and, at the dramatic change of rule – from Spain to the Habsburgs – undergone by the Kingdom of Naples in 1707, he became the governor and treasurer of the Confraternity of the Court Musicians.
Marchitelli became a very wealthy gentleman, demonstrating that an excellent musician could ascend the social pyramid rather easily. His patrimony included a collection of Amati violins and of other similarly valuable instruments, as well as jewels and rare paintings. His musical output is numerically limited (some thirty works), mainly constituted by Sonatas.
His nephew Michele Mascitti was his junior by some twenty years, and followed in his footsteps. In Naples, where Mascitti studied with Marchitelli, he also made his first experiences as a freelance musician; thanks to his uncle he began his cooperations with orchestras including, probably, that of the Royal Chapel. It is doubtful whether Mascitti studied with Corelli or not, but he certainly knew Corelli’s style well and was likely personally acquainted with him. (When Corelli visited Naples in 1702, Marchitelli allegedly overcame him in a kind of musical duel). In that same year Mascitti left the city, embarking on a long tour through the Italian Peninsula, Germany and the Netherlands, finally settling in Paris. The date of his arrival in the French capital is unknown, but by 1704 he was already firmly established there, to the point that he was granted a printing privilege for eight years. This was attributed only to successful authors, and Mascitti had already earned a reputation through his performances in the presence of the King, of the Dauphin and of the entire court. His first printed collection of Sonatas had an extraordinary success, as is witnessed not only by his contemporaries, but also by the dissemination of surviving copies throughout Europe and the presence of (pirate) reprints realized in Amsterdam and London. In the following years, it is probable that the profits earned by Mascitti through this publication and that of the later collections (eight in total) allowed him to earn his living without seeking employment as a performer. However, he dedicated one of those collections to Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni, in the likely hope of being assigned the post formerly given to Corelli. Another important patronage for Mascitti was that of the Crozat family, an immensely rich household in whose home Mascitti spent the last twenty years of his very long life, and to whom he dedicated his op. VIII. In his last years, Mascitti composed no more; he had obtained the French citizenship and had married, very late in life, a French lady, Marie-Anne Labattue.
Mascitti’s role in transmitting the Italian musical idiom in France was pivotal; thanks to his music and his reputation, he effectively managed to make Italian music an integral part of French culture.
In the same Conservatory of Santa Maria di Loreto where Marchitelli had studied, we find the first testimonies about Angelo Ragazzi’s musical activity. And, like the former two musicians discussed here, also Ragazzi was a member of the Royal Chapel since 1704. Such was his reputation, that he was selected for the Barcelona Royal Chapel; when the archduke moved from Barcelona to Vienna in order to receive the Imperial crown, Ragazzi followed him. After a decade in Vienna, Ragazzi obtained a leave and returned to his native city of Naples, in the hope to become the chapel master there; however, as we saw in the preceding lines, this post was assigned to Marchitelli instead of him. Ragazzi would succeed Marchitelli at the older maestro’s death in 1729. His life includes also a time served in jail, in 1734, followed by his readmission to the Imperial Chapel in 1736. In Vienna he was also very active and appreciated as a composer, in particular of church music. However, he issued just one printed collection in his lifetime, i.e. that of the twelve Sonate a quattro published in Rome in 1736 with a dedication to Emperor Charles VI.
The same Conservatory of Santa Maria di Loreto was also the musical home of Nicola Fiorenza, who taught there for two decades before being dismissed due to complaints voiced by the students against him. And, like the others, he was also a violinist in the Royal Chapel of Naples, ending up as concert master. His surviving output consist mostly of orchestral works, such as concertos and sinfonias, and a handful of vocal pieces.
By way of contrast, the fame of Nicola Porpora is bound forever to his operas, typical of the florid and luxuriant Neapolitan style. He was also an appreciated teacher of singing, having formed many of the greatest soloists of his time – Farinelli to name but one. A teacher at another of the Neapolitan conservatories, that of Sant’Onofrio, he also had similar posts at the Venetian Ospedale degli Incurabili, before taking a job at the Conservatory of Santa Maria di Loreto. In the meanwhile, he spent some years in London, where he was famously the rival of Handel (whilst in Vienna he was Hasse’s fiercest competitor). In Vienna he also taught Franz Joseph Haydn, who held his teacher in great esteem. In his final years in Naples, Porpora taught again at S. Onofrio and was chapel master in the Cathedral church; in spite of all of these achievements, he died in poverty.
Together, these musicians – some of whom are very well known, others much less than they deserve – concur in demonstrating the extraordinary vitality of the musical life in Baroque Naples and the affective power of the music created and played there.
Chiara Bertoglio © 2024
Affetti Napoletani: 18th Century Neapolitan Music
