Dinko Fabris - Music in Seventeenth-Century Naples - Francesco Provenzale (1624-1704) - Routledge (2007)

MUSIC IN SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY NAPLES
Taylor & Francis

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Music in Seventeenth-
Century Naples
Francesco Provenzale (1624–1704)
DINKO FABRIS
University of Basilicata, Italy
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Fabris, Dinko.
Music in seventeenth-century Naples : Francesco Provenzale (1624-1704)
1. Provenzale, Francesco 2. Composers – Italy – Naples – Biography 3. Music – Italy
– Naples – History – 17th century I. Title
780’.9.2
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Fabris, Dinko.
Music in seventeenth-century Naples : Francesco Provenzale (1624-1704) / Dinko
Fabris.
p. cm.
Includes a list of Provenzale’s works (p. ), bibliographical references
(p. ), and index.
ISBN 0-7546-3721-2 (alk. paper)
1. Provenzale, Francesco, 1624-1704. 2. Music–Italy–Naples–17th century–History and
criticism. I. Title.
ML410.P875F33 2004
780’.945’7309032–dc22
2004011394
ISBN-13: 978-0-7546-3721-9KEN

Contents
List of Music Examples vii

List of Tables ix
List of Figures x
List of Abbreviations xii
Preface xiv
Acknowledgements xviii
1 La città della festa 1

A Visitor’s Tour Through Seventeenth-Century Naples 1
Mapping Neapolitan Musical Institutions 15
Difficult Decades 31
2 The Age of Provenzale 50

Leading Composers and Teachers in the Age of Provenzale 50
Provenzale and his Family 65
3 The Four Conservatoires 79

Teachers and Students 79
Provenzale in S. Maria di Loreto 81
Provenzale in S. Maria della Pietà dei Turchini 84
Educational Systems 90
4 A Composer for the Church 95

The Missa defunctorum 95
Vespers and other Works Connected with the Oratorio dei
Girolamini 102
Two Dialoghi della Passione by Provenzale 113
Melodrammi sacri composed for ‘li figliuoli’ 122
La colomba ferita (1670) and other melodrammi sacri 131
5 Provenzale and Opera in Naples 154

The Beginnings 154
Lo schiavo di sua moglie 161
Stellidaura vendicante 167
vi Contents
6 Chamber and Instrumental Music 187

The Chamber Cantatas and Related Forms 187
Neapolitan Instrumental Music in the Age of Provenzale 202
7 Hope and Disillusion 210

In the Service of the Fedelissima Città and the Tesoro di S. Gennaro 210
The Real Cappella 220
8 Conclusion 235
The Pange lingua and Provenzale’s Legacy in the Eighteenth Century 235
Provenzale and the Economic System 242
Catalogue of Provenzale’s Works 250

Figures 262
Bibliography 278
Index 302
List of Music Examples
1.1 Pietro Antonio Giramo, Il pazzo (c.1630) 12
2.1 Giovan Maria Sabino, Repleatur os meum laude (Venice, 1625) 53

2.2 Bonaventura Cerronio, Gaudeamus omnes (Naples, 1639) 57
2.3 Giovanni Salvatore, Beati omnes a 5 (Venice, 1645; repr. Naples,
1650) 61
2.4 Giovanni Salvatore, Litanie a 5 voci per la Beata Vergine
Maria (MS in I-Nf) 62
4.1 Francesco Provenzale, Missa defunctorum, ‘Dies irae’ (MS in I-Nc) 99

4.2 Francesco Provenzale, Missa defunctorum (MS in I-Nc), solo
bass and Kyrie final 101
4.3 Francesco Provenzale, Vespero breve (MS in I-Nf), Lauda
Jerusalem, bars 88–91, 95–98 107
4.4 Cristoforo Caresana, Vanitas vanitatum (MS in I-Nf) 110
4.5 Anon. (Francesco Provenzale?), Exulta jubila (MS in I-Nc) 111
4.6 Francesco Provenzale, Magnus secundum nomen (MS in I-Nf) 112
4.7 Francesco Provenzale, Dialogo per la Passione (I) (MS in I-Nf),
‘Ferito mio bene’, aria, Maria (S) 115
4.8 Francesco Provenzale, Dialogo per la Passione (I) (MS in I-Nf),
‘Angioletti di là su’, duet (A, T) 116
4.9 (a) Francesco Provenzale, Dialogo per la Passione (I) (MS in I-Nf),
‘Tutti a 5’ 117
(b) Anon., Oratorio della Settimana Santa, ‘Madrigale a 5’ (MS
I-Rvat, Barb. Lat. 4199) 118
4.10 Francesco Provenzale, In conspectu angelorum (MS in I-Nlp),
section 3 124
4.11 Francesco Provenzale, Sui palchi delle stelle (MS in I-Nc),
bars 14–19 126
4.12 Cristoforo Caresana, La tarantella a 5, ‘coro a 5’ (MS in I-Nf) 130
4.13 Francesco Provenzale, La colomba ferita (MS in I-Nc), Act I,
final trio 137
4.14 Francesco Provenzale, La colomba ferita (MS in I-Nc), Act III,
scene 6 141
4.15 (a) Francesco Provenzale, La colomba ferita (MS in I-Nc),
Act I, scene 7 142
viii List of Music Examples
(b) Francesco Provenzale, La colomba ferita (MS in I-Nc),

Act I, scene 3 143
5.1 Francesco Provenzale, Lo schiavo di sua moglie (MS in I-Rsc),

Act III, scene 8 166
5.2 Francesco Provenzale, Lo schiavo di sua moglie (MS in I-Rsc),
Act III, scene 7, duet (Ippolita and Theseo) 167
5.3 Francesco Provenzale, Stellidaura vendicante (MS in I-Rsc),
Act II, scene 11, ‘Le pene, i tormenti’ (Armidoro) 177
Act II, scene 15, ‘Cupido se fido’ (Stellidaura) 178
Act II, scene 11, ‘Amanti chiangiti’ (Giampetro Calabrese) 179
6.1 Francesco Provenzale, Amarilli crudel, fiero mio bene

(MS in I-Mc), aria 2, ‘Riedi ch’il prato’ 189
6.2 Francesco Provenzale, Care selve, amati orrori (MS in I-Mc),
recitative, ‘Ahi rimembranza’ 192
6.3 Francesco Provenzale, sinfonia from Lo schiavo di sua moglie
(MS in I-Rsc) 203
6.4 Francesco Provenzale, sinfonia from La colomba ferita
(MS in I-Nc) 204
7.1 Francesco Provenzale, O Jesu mea spes from Mottetti

(Naples, 1689), bars 48–59 215
7.2 Francesco Provenzale, Angelicae mentes from Mottetti
(Naples, 1689), bars 91–111 216
7.3 Francesco Provenzale, Cantemus psallamus from Mottetti
(Naples, 1689), bars 5–17 217
8.1 Giovanni Salvatore, Stabat Mater ‘a 5’ (MS in I-Nc) 241

List of Tables
1.1 Structure of the several offices in the Government of Naples

(from Comparato 1974, tables 1–2, modified) 16
3.1 Content of I-Nc 45-I-65 (MS c.1700) 86
4.1 Scoring of Provenzale’s Missa defunctorum 96

4.2 Francesco Provenzale, Missa defunctorum: general structure 98
4.3 Characters in La colomba ferita and La mejor flor de Sicilia 134
6.1 Scheme of the cantata Amarilli crudel (MS in I-Mc) 188

6.2 Scheme of the cantata Care selve, amati orrori (MS in I-Mc) 190
6.3 Content of the MS I-Nc, Cantate 112 196
6.4 Popular tunes quoted in the cantata Squarciato appena havea
(MS in I-Nc) 199
7.1 The rolls of the Tesoro di S. Gennaro, c.1660–80 211

7.2 The rolls of the Neapolitan Real Cappella, c.1680–84 223
8.1 General structure of Provenzale’s Pange lingua a 9 voci

(MS in I-Nc Rari 1.9.17) 237
8.2 Giovanni Salvatore, Portas coeli (MS in I-Nf), general structure 238
List of Figures
1 Pierre Miotte, The city of Naples with patron-saints, copperplate

Rome, 1648), Naples, Istituto Suor Orsola Benincasa, Raccolta
Pagliara 262
2 Map of the city of Naples, based on the ‘Duca di Noja’ map (c.1770) 263
3 a) Simone Coya, L’amante impazzito (Milan, 1679), 18: ‘Canta la

Sfacciata alla Napolitana’
b) Simone Coya, L’amante impazzito (Milan, 1679), 24: ‘Tarantella’ 264
4 Pianta del piano nobile del Palazzo Reale, drawing, I-Nn, MS C.

G. Ba 5A/2, by permission of Ministero Beni e Attività Culturali 265
5 Title page for La colomba ferita (Naples, 1670), copy in I-Mb, by

permission of Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense 266
6 Title page for Lo schiavo di sua moglie (Naples, 1672), copy in

I-Moe, by permission of Biblioteca Estense 267
7 Title page for Stellidaura vendicante (Naples, 1674), copy in

I-Nn, by permission of Ministero Beni e Attività Culturali 268
8 Title page for Mottetti (Naples, 1689), copy in I-Nc 269
9 Naples, Chiesa dell’Incoronatella (Turchini), Battesimi, II, 1624,

f. 281v 270
10 Naples, Archivio Storico Diocesano, Sacra Patrimonia, 188 N.3167:

autograph signature by Francesco Provenzale dated 5 January 1660 270
11 Fragment of an autographed letter by Francesco Provenzale, I-Nc,

Lettere 275 (1695?) 271
12 Francesco Provenzale, La colomba ferita, MS score in I-Nc

Sala Riviste 35, cor. 20, f. 1 272
List of Figures xi
13 Francesco Provenzale, Missa defunctorum, eighteenth-century
score in I-Nc, MR 1797 (seventeenth-century MS parts in I-Nc,
MR 1797b) 273
14 (a) Francesco Provenzale, Dialogo per la Passione (I), copyist ‘Vitus’,

1686, MS in I-Nf AMCO S.M. 432.2 (last page)
(b) Francesco Provenzale, Dialogo per la Passione (II), copyist
‘Vitus’, 1685, MS in I-Nf AMCO 698.10 (last page) 274
15 Francesco Provenzale, Sui palchi delle stelle, copyist not

identified, MS in I-Nc Cantate 39, f. 165 275
16 (a) Francesco Provenzale, Amarilli crudel, Cantata con violini,

MS in I-McNoseda P 1-20
(b) Francesco Provenzale, Care selve amati orrori,
Cantata con violini, MS in I-McNoseda P 1-21 276
17 Francesco Provenzale, Pange lingua a 9, eighteenth-century MS

score in I-Nc Rari 1.9.17 277
18 Anon. (attr. to Francesco Provenzale), Pange lingua a 2,

eighteenth-century MS score in I-Nc MR 1798 277
List of Abbreviations
AS = Naples, Archivio di Stato
ASBN = Naples, Archivio Storico del Banco di Napoli. Provenzale Francesco:

Pandetta 464, Libro Mastro 464
Sp.S. = Banco dello Spirito Santo
S.S.= Banco di S. Salvatore
S.G.= Banco di S. Giacomo
B.P.= Banco del Popolo
A.= Banco dell’Annunziata
P.G.C.= Banco dei Poveri
P.= Banco della Pietà
ASD = Naples, Archivio del Seminario Diocesano
Nc = Naples, Conservatorio di Musica S. Pietro a Majella

Loreto = Fondo Antichi Conservatorii: S. Maria di Loreto
14 = Libro Maggiore, 1668–78
166 = Conclusioni, 1665–99
168 = Conclusioni, 1665–1763
Turchini [!] 31 = Loreto: Libretto Maggiore, 1670–78
Turchini = Fondo Antichi Conservatorii: S. Maria della Pietà dei Turchini
29 = Introito ed Esito, 1668–70
33 = Registro di pesi (S.Anna), 1685 (–86)
35 = Introito ed Esito, 1685 (–87)
40 = Polizze, 1690–91
41 = Polizze, 1693–95
255 = Polizze, 1684–87
Nf = Naples, Congregazione Oratoriana dei Padri Filippini (Girolamini)
Nn = Naples, Biblioteca Nazionale

List of Abbreviations xiii
N7dolori = Naples, Chiesa di S. Luigi, Archivio della Confraternita dei Sette

Dolori
37. =Conti del Razionale, 1686–1711
Tesoro = Naples, Archivio del Tesoro di S. Gennaro

30/22-39 = Spese mensili per la Chiesa 1684–99
66/1603 = Conclusioni 1673–85
66/1604 = Conclusioni 1686–1746
103–4 (2124) = Giornale dalli 6 Maggio 1678 per tutto li 22 Decembre 1692
SSP = Naples, Biblioteca della Società Napoletana di Storia Patria

MS XXV Q.1–4: Riassunto de’ regali Ordini rimessi nella Regale Camera della
Sommaria da’ principj del XVII secolo sino all'anno 1722 divisi in Tomi IV,
Manoscritto per Biaggio Giuliano Segretario di essa Regale Camera dal 1685
sino al 1704, e pel di lui successore Segretario continuato sino al 1722
D. = Ducati
FP = Francesco Provenzale
All the documents quoted here are to be found in various archives and libraries in
Naples, for the most part in the Archivio Storico del Banco di Napoli, where the
research has been conducted in a systematic way. I wish to thank Anna Nappi and
the former director of the Archivio Dr. Edoardo Nappi for their kind collaboration.
Note that for the years 1650–79 and 1701–04 there is no record of Provenzale in
the accounts of the Banco del Popolo. In 1997–98 the books by Poveri and
Salvatore were not entirely accessible to the public, but it seems that there are no
references to Provenzale there either. For other library abbreviations, the RISM
siglum has been adopted. The dates are given in arabic (day) and roman (month)
styles. The asterisk indicates folios not numbered in the original documents.
Preface
Naples has played an essential role in the history of early modern Europe. In a
similar way, music and musicians from Naples were among the protagonists of the
history of European music, in particular between the fifteenth and nineteenth
centuries. However, until now extensive and systematic research on Neapolitan
music has been limited to the fifteenth century (Allan Atlas’s book on the Aragonese
court (Cambridge, 1984)) and to opera in the eighteenth century (among others,
Robinson 1972a). No books are available on music during the two centuries of
Spanish domination in Naples, albeit a few unpublished dissertations, short articles
and three conference proceedings (Musica e cultura a Napoli dal XV al XIX secolo
(1983); La musica a Napoli durante il Seicento (1987); Fonti d’archivio per la storia
della musica (2001)).
When I set about this work, I intended to conduct a systematic research into music
during the whole two-century-long period of Spanish rule in Naples (1503–1707).
Fascinated and inspired by the classic historical enterprise launched by Fernand
Braudel in 1949, I was very keen to approach over the longue durée, the origin and
persistance of phenomena and dynamics in this area of the Mediterranean, whose
fruits would mature later during the eighteenth century.1 And it was a priority for me
to discover the urban ‘soundscape’2 of such an important capital as was Naples
during this pivotal period in the history of European society. From the beginning I
adopted the methods and perspectives of anthropological history to make sense of the
heterogeneous documents and information collected over several years.
Nevertheless, the imbalance between the few documents surviving from the sixteenth
century and the enormous bulk of information from the seventeenth forced me to
reduce my investigation to the seventeenth century alone for the purpose of the
present work. But even by reducing the time span to 100 years, the mass of
documents and music to be examined and organized was discouraging.
For this reason, I have chosen to focus on the case-study of a typical composer and
teacher active in seventeenth-century Naples, Francesco Provenzale. Provenzale can
be considered no ordinary musician, however; this analysis will bear witness to the
widespread opinion of his day that he was the most important Neapolitan composer
and teacher of his age. This assessment resulted not only from the impressively high
quality of his surviving music, but also from his role as a highly influential teacher
and, to a certain extent, as an impresario, that is, a leading organizer of the musical
activities in late seventeenth-century Naples.
Provenzale’s personality is set in its natural ‘soundscape’ of Spanish Naples, the
densely populated city that precisely during the long life-time of the musician
(1624–1704) faced some of the worst episodes in its tormented history, including
Preface xv
the Masaniello Uprising, the plague, the eruptions of Vesuvius, and the revolution
in Messina. I was able to exploit the notable bibliography on Naples during the
seventeenth century,3 a period rediscovered in particular by art historians
following the exhibition Civiltà del Seicento a Napoli (Naples, 1984). I then
started to divide the historical ‘sources’ into two groups of documents which, in
line with Peter Burke, I have called ‘outsiders’ and ‘insiders’.4 By adopting the
methodologies of social anthropology, one can gain insight into what life must
have been like in seventeenth-century Naples. The ‘New History’5 has reversed the
usual perspective, considering the ‘alien eye’ (i.e., the testimonies of foreign
travellers) as the preferred source compared with documents produced by
‘insiders’. This is a recent consequence of intuitions in the field of structural
anthropology.6 But at the same time it is not possible to disregard the ‘inside eye’,
not only because foreign travellers were not neutral and faithful observers, but also
because documents produced within offer circumstantial evidence of the local
conception of the world. Also music and spectacle were important elements in
Italian society during the Renaissance and Baroque ages for both insiders and
outsiders alike. The perspectives adopted by Peter Burke (who included
Masaniello’s Naples among the case-studies in his book on early modern Italy)7
are reflected in this work in the first chapters, where the meticulous descriptions of
the Neapolitan feasts reported in 1632 by the French traveller Jean-Jacques
Bouchard are compared with the local awareness of their institutions and their
traditions characterizing Neapolitan writers (Capaccio, the journalists Confuorto
and Fuidoro, and music theorists). In both cases, the external as well as the
internal viewpoints share in defining the history of mentality,8 a territory rarely
explored as yet in musicology.
During Provenzale’s age, Naples was like an island, where the dynamics of
patronage and production and the consumption of music and spectacle were part of
an entropic and self-sufficient mechanism with few or no links with the main
Italian or European cultural centres.9 Before the election of Alessandro Scarlatti as
maestro at the viceregal court in 1684, music and musicians from Neapolitan
territories never circulated abroad (with a few exceptions, including Provenzale’s
early operatic activity linked to Venice). And the reverse is similar, with only
occasional cases of foreign musicians coming south: the only important non-
Neapolitan composers active in Naples were the Venetians Caresana and Ziani.
The chain of maestri that I describe as the core of the teaching system during the
seventeenth century was composed entirely of Neapolitans: Sabino, Salvatore,
Raimo and Provenzale and his pupils. The musicians trained in the four
conservatoires and the music written by their teachers was therefore destined by
the system to remain unknown beyond Neapolitan territories (with a few
exceptions). This, plus the self-awareness of Neapolitans of being naturally
disposed to music (the ‘sons of the siren Parthenope’), provoked that sensation of
diversity recorded in every traveller’s description of the music in Naples.10
It is well known to historians that the main problem of using local documents is
that ‘insiders are rarely conscious of their own cultural codes. They take for
granted much of what the historian most wants to discover’.11 By collecting
external and internal information, it has been possible for me to reconstruct many
xvi Preface
common or extraordinary feasts of the Neapolitan civil and liturgical calendars,
but very little information, if any, is available on the technical aspects of the music
or on the lives and personalities of composers and players.12 Also the musical
iconography of seventeenth-century Naples is extremely poor: no portraits appear
to survive of Provenzale, despite his being one of the most eminent musicians of
the century. Moreover, after his death not a single obituary appeared in the
Giornali di Napoli, which are usually so full of references to musical events.
Given the lack of information available by way of traditional channels, I turned
my attention to two series of documents involving Francesco Provenzale as
primary sources: first, his own surviving music, which has been fully examined for
the first time and organized into a catalogue raisonné, and secondly, the
impressive mass of about 600 documents, mostly unpublished and relating to his
financial activities preserved in the Archivio Storico del Banco di Napoli (which I
have edited in full in Appendix A of my doctoral thesis).13
Further scrutiny of this kind of material in relation to other musicians or
institutions might in the future shed more light on the peculiarities of this
economic system. I am well aware of the dangers of exploiting documentary
fragments to explain the past.14 The historical facts gleaned from this collection of
documents, which concern more than forty years of Francesco Provenzale’s
professional activities, can never provide an exhaustive or necessarily true
economic or social history of Neapolitan music. I have made no attempt here, for
example, to compare the financial and social status of this composer with the
standard models traced for Spanish Naples by such historians as Calabria or
Muto.15 Nevertheless, documents of an economic nature have doubtlessly been
useful—apart from making a biographical contribution—in recognizing the special
network of complex relations established by Provenzale with a plethora of
Neapolitan musicians and the main musical institutions in the city. For similar
reasons, I have devoted a preliminary comparative study of the handwriting of
Provenzale and of many of the copyists among his collaborators, which is only in
part reflected in this work.
This case-study of Provenzale is at all times strictly bound to the urban context
in which he operated, coherent with the anthropological nature of this work.16 It is,
therefore, an attempt to go beyond the more classical ‘life and work’ approach. In
recent times, Royal Holloway has been a point of reference, not least for its study
group on ‘Urban Musicology’, with the participation of colleagues from Spanish
and Italian universities. The first results of its activities have been published over
the last two years.17 I should like the present work to be considered as a partial
contribution to this new perspective in musicological studies, dedicated to cities
and their music.
Preface xvii
Notes
1
See Braudel 1949. The longue durée is with histoire globale one of the topics of the
Annales School. See Braudel 1958.
2
The word ‘soundscape’ has recently entered into usage, in particular for a musicologist
adopting anthropological methods, following the influential book by Reinhard Strohm,
Music in Late Medieval Bruges (Oxford, 1985; rev. 1990), whose first chapter is
entitled ‘Townscape-Soundscape’. See Carter 2000c.
3
See an early retrospective bibliography in Cochrane 1986.
4
Burke 1987, Chapter I.2, 15–25.
5
See Stoianovich 1976; La nouvelle histoire 1979; New Perspectives on Historical
Writings 1991.
6
Lévi-Strauss 1983; see also Carter 2000c.
7
Burke 1987, Chapter III.14, 191–206.
8
French historians have proposed important links with ethnology. See Le Goff 1974.
9
The word ‘consumption’ in music must be considered in the sense pointed out in
Andrew Wathey’s contribution to the conference Produzione, circolazione e consumo:
per una mappa della musica sacra dal tardo Medioevo al primo Seicento (Venice,
Fondazione Levi, 28–30 October 1999). See also Claudio Annibaldi, preface to La
musica e il mondo: mecenatismo e committenza musicale in Italia tra Quattro e
Seicento (Bologna, 1993), 9–42 and Annibaldi 1998.
10
On diversity as an ethnological topic see Beattie 1972. See also Lévi-Strauss 1961.
11
Burke 1987, 15.
12
On the danger of the realistic reinterpretation of interdisciplinary sources, see Carter
2000c.
13
See Fabris 2002b, Appendix A 322–88.
14
See Le Goff 1978.
15
Calabria 1991; Muto 1980, 112–13; Muto 1994.
16
For further guidelines on an anthropological analysis of Neapolitan society, see Galasso
1982; Niola 1995 and 1997; Pardo 1996.
17
The group has organized and participated in numerous conferences on this topic in Italy
(Bari, 1996; Venice, 1999), France (Versailles, 1998), England (London, 1996 and
1998) and Spain (Avila, 1996 and 1998; Ubeda, 1996, Zaragoza, 1996–98; Valencia,
2000). Among the first results are Miguel Ángel Marín Lopez’s PhD diss. (Royal
Holloway, University of London, 1999; cfr. Marín 2002) and Music and Musicians in
Renaissance Cities 2001.
Acknowledgements
This book is the fruit of a dozen years of research, the last of which were
concentrated in the form of a PhD thesis at Royal Holloway, University of London
(awarded in 2002), and foremost thanks therefore go to my professional guide, Tim
Carter, who consistently supported my project. Patient and caring, he generously
offered me guidance, encouragement and his extensive knowledge of Italian
seventeenth-century music. On the other hand, this work could not have been
completed without my fifteen or so years of collaboration with Antonio Florio,
founder and conductor of the Cappella della Pietà dei Turchini in Naples, which has
performed the greater part of the previously unknown music by Francesco
Provenzale and his Neapolitan contemporaries that I have been studying and editing.
This experience is very rare and precious for a musicologist. I am certain that the
international tours of concerts and the dozens of CDs of Neapolitan music recorded
by Florio and the Turchini will allow for proper recognition of the importance of
Provenzale. As the object of my research, Naples has played the most important role
and it is difficult to list all those people who at different times have given me help. I
am grateful to staff in the archives and libraries of Naples, including the Archivio di
Stato, the Biblioteca Nazionale (and Sezione Lucchesi Palli), the Soprintendenza
Archivistica, the Soprintendenza ai Beni Artistici, the Biblioteca Oratoriana, the
Biblioteca del Seminario Vescovile and many other private and ecclesiastical
libraries. My gratitude must be expressed in particular to padre Giovanni Ferrara,
curator of the musical collection housed in the Biblioteca dei Girolamini where many
of Provenzale’s autographs are preserved, who generously made available to me the
Archivio Musicale, which had previously been inaccessible as a consequence of the
1980 earthquake; and to Vincenzo De Gregorio, present director of the Conservatorio
di S. Pietro a Majella, the heir to the four seventeenth-century conservatoires, whose
impressive library is one of the richest in the world. Thanks to the collaboration of
the librarian Francesco Melisi, and of the vice-director Patrizio Marrone, I had access
not only to the important musical collections there, but also to the registers of the
ancient conservatoires, which today have been ordered and catalogued by the
Soprintendenza Archivistica di Napoli (my research was in fact completed before
this work facilitated access to these sources). More recently, an electronic catalogue
of the library, including digital reproductions of the autograph manuscripts, has
begun under the supervision of Agostina Laterza, but again this initiative was started
too late for me to benefit from its results. A similar situation applies to the Archivio
del Tesoro di S. Gennaro, which I was able to visit years ago thanks to the courtesy
of Prince Carlo di Somma and Prince Francesco d’Avalos, before the recent project
of cataloguing the entire archive (still in progress) by Paologiovanni Maione and
Acknowledgements xix
Marta Columbro. One of the central sources for my research has been the
economic documents preserved in the Archivio Storico del Banco di Napoli, where
my work was facilitated by the kindness and knowledge of the previous director
Eduardo Nappi. Suor Teresa Maria and Suor Maria Immacolata were my guides in
discovering the Monastero di S. Teresa in Massalubrense, where Provenzale’s
daughter was living. Important in defining the general context of Naples during the
Spanish age were many interdisciplinary discussions with such scholars as
Giovanni Muto, Marino Niola, Franco Mancini, Renato Ruotolo and Nicola
Spinosa. There is also a younger generation of scholars of Neapolitan music whom
I wish to mention, including Mauro Amato, Rosa Cafiero, Federica Castaldo,
Marta Columbro, Cesare Corsi, Francesco Corticelli, Gianluca D’Agostino,
Domenico Antonio D’Alessandro, Tiziana Grande, Paologiovanni Maione, Marina
Marino, Guido Olivieri, Francesca Seller, Lucio Tufano and others. I am also
pleased to express my thanks to a few of the many persons who helped me along
the way in different countries: Roberto Pagano, Paolo Emilio Carapezza, Antonella
Balsano, Giuseppe Collisani and Anna Tedesco in Palermo; David Bryant and his
group of researchers at the Università Ca’ Foscari in Venice; Lorenzo Bianconi in
Bologna; and Francesco Degrada in Milan. I have benefited significantly from
discussions at the University of Zaragoza and at several conferences organized in
Spain, with Juan José Carreras and his staff of young collaborators, including José
Maximo Leza, Miguel Angel Marin, Andrea Bombi, Pablo Rodriguez, Giacomo
Stiffoni, Giulia Anna Romana Veneziano. An ‘accion integrada’ between Spain
and Italy in 1996 in part supported my research for travelling to Madrid,
Valladolid-Simancas, Valencia, Zaragoza and Barcelona. Further grants were
awarded by Royal Holloway, University of London. For France, my gratitude is
addressed to two dear colleagues now deceased, François Lesure and Jean Lionnet.
The latter made available to me the resources of the Centre de Musique Baroque de
Versailles, directed by Jean Duron. I should mention my discussions in the U.K.
with Tess Knighton, Iain Fenlon, Peter Holman, Annegret Fauser, Tim Crawford,
Andrew Wathey, David Charlton, Frank Dobbins, Michael Talbot, Reinhard
Strohm and the late Malcolm Boyd; as well as with Metoda Kokole in Ljubljana
and John Griffiths at Melbourne University in Australia. In the United States, I was
particularly helped by the experience and enthusiasm of Hanns-Berthold Dietz in
Austin, Steven Shearon of Middle Tennessee State University and Anthony Del
Donna in Washington D.C. To these I have to add the staff of all the collections I
have visited, following the dispersal of Neapolitan sources elsewhere in European
libraries: the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Département de la Musique; the
British Library, Senate House Library and the Warburg Institute in London, in
addition to the research library of Royal Holloway in Egham; the Biblioteca
Nacional de Madrid and Archivo Historico de Simancas; the Bibliothèque du
Conservatoire Royal in Brussels; the Civico Museo Bibliografico di Bologna; the
Biblioteca del Conservatorio di Milano and Ufficio Ricerche Fondi Musicali;
RISM Zentralredaktion in Frankfurt and the office in Harvard University,
Cambridge, Mass.; the Archivio di Stato di Venezia, the Biblioteca Nazionale
Marciana and Fondazione Giorgio Cini. Last, but not least, I wish to acknowledge
Anna Di Giglio (University of Foggia) and Casa Piccinni, seat of the Department of
xx Acknowledgements
Early Music of the Conservatorio di Musica di Bari, as well as Antonio Volpe and
the microfilm collections of the Istituto di Bibliografia Musicale di Puglia. My first
two seminars as lecturer in history of music at the University of Basilicata,
Potenza, were devoted to aspects related to this present work.
My colleague Marco Della Sciucca has generously supported me with his
competence in preparing the music examples. I express my gratitude to Janet Wing
of the University of Bari, who carefully read the last draft of this work with patient
competence, and to Janie Cole, a research fellow at the Medici Archive Project in
Florence and a fellow PhD graduate from Royal Holloway, University of London,
who has translated into English the original quotations in old Italian and
Neapolitan and given a final editorial overview to the entire book.
Chapter One
La città della festa
A Visitor’s Tour Through Seventeenth-Century Naples
The ‘Grand Tour’ of Italy was an essential item in the cultural formation of every
young Northern gentleman from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries. The main
itinerary covered Northern Italy down to Rome: Naples and the South were much
more rarely visited, and normally as an extension to the Roman part of the trip,
usually out of some particular curiosity.1 Travelling to Naples was certainly not
undertaken for the sake of the art or architecture—the city was little esteemed even
in ancient guidebooks—but perhaps for its climate, for its nature and for the
beauties of its gulf. But from the sixteenth century onwards, Naples also became a
‘city of music’, thanks not least to the fascination of its musical myth of the singing
siren Parthenope.
Eighteenth-century travellers were to be enthusiastic in describing music
experienced in Naples, although in some cases their reports make clear the
disappointing gap between their experience and their expectations of what was
thought to be the musical capital of Europe.2 However, one cannot deny the
identification of Neapolitan music with the nation’s language that seems to have
cancelled the difference between social classes, suggesting that all Neapolitans
belonged to a common culture.
Since the first decades of Spanish domination, Naples had become a place of
fascination for Spanish writers and artists: Miguel de Cervantes speaks of ‘Nápoles
la ilustre’, and the heroes of seventeenth-century picara literature, such as
Stefanello González, dream of dying in ‘Napoli la bella’.3 There are also numerous
diaries by English travellers to Naples.4 However, it is French sources which best
describe the Neapolitan ‘soundscape’ during the earlier years in the life of
Francesco Provenzale.
On the evening of 17 March 1632, a French traveller and his companions arrived
in Naples, entering through the Porta Reale. They took lodging in an inn near the
Via Toledo, the great street built by viceroy Don Pedro de Toledo in the first half
of the sixteenth century to join the Palazzo Reale with the decumani of the city.
This traveller, Jean-Jacques Bouchard, was to be the writer of one of the most
important descriptions of Spanish Naples, since during the eight months which he
spent in the city he noted down all his impressions in his diary. In order to
construct the ‘soundscape’ familiar to Provenzale as a child, I will use this
outsider’s view in parallel with other contemporary sources such as Neapolitan
guides for travellers,5 used by foreigners such as Bouchard in order to prepare for
their visit.6
2 Music in Seventeenth-Century Naples
The traveller tends to record eagerly everything that constitutes ‘diversity’ and
‘exoticism’ regarding the unique atmosphere of a place and in comparison with his
previous experiences. In Naples, however, a native awareness of this ‘diversity’
also existed, for many ‘festivities and popular gatherings of our country’ are
proudly described in the city’s guidebooks. These Neapolitan festivities, in which
social classes appear to be united, are chiefly fixed points in the liturgical
calendar:7
The festivities gave rise to much admiration for their pomp and richness, at times
surprising for religious functions, especially on the night of Christmas both in the
Cathedral and the chapel of the royal palace ... Likewise the functions of Holy Week
should be seen and admired, as well as the various representations of the Holy Sepulchre
and all the Quarantore in the city on those days as indicated in the calendar. On the feast
of Pentecost and the following day we are permitted to view the enjoyable spectacle from
the Ponte della Maddalena and beyond, of the huge crowds returning from Montevergine
and from the Madonna dell’Arco.
The main feasts are Christmas, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost with its octave (the
procession of the Four Altars), the feasts of S. Antonio Abate, S. Giovanni and S.
Gennaro, plus Corpus Christi, Piedigrotta, Battaglino and many others. Added to
these are such civil celebrations as Carnival, and occasional festivities such as
royal birthdays and name-days, political celebrations and even funerals. An early
directory of typical Neapolitan festivities had been provided by the anonymous
Storia de cient’anno arreto attributed to Velardiniello Musico (widely diffused
even before its earliest appearance in print in 1590),8 including the evening of S.
Giovanni celebrated near the sea, the feasts at Formiello, S. Giuliano and the Easter
celebrations at Posillipo, Mergellina and S. Pietro alle Due Frati.9 Other such later
lists were to be much more extensive.
Franco Mancini’s adoption of a clear distinction between civil and religious
festivities, and fixed and occasional ones, is straightforward but too rigid (Mancini
1968). Instead, I propose to follow Bouchard, surveying the annual calendar of
Neapolitan celebrations in both categories, examining the main festivals
diachronically. The reader may find it useful to consult a map of the city’s
institutions (see Miotte 1648, Figure 1). Bouchard’s 1632 journal does not cover
the entire calendar year, but it is unusually detailed in describing the daily round of
Neapolitan religious and civic festivities, of which there are a remarkable number.
His entries give the impression of having been made directly from experience in
the field, from the public squares to the churches, from the Palazzo Reale to the
villages outside the city. Bouchard’s account can also be considered a reliable
witness to the city’s traditions and practices that continued more or less unchanged
during the two centuries of Spanish domination.
From Lent to Holy Week
Bouchard arrived in Naples when Lent was in full swing; this was one of the
richest periods in the liturgical year in terms of public festivities. His first entries
follow the rhythm of the festivities celebrated in the main churches (‘voir les
La città della festa 3
festes, dont il y eut entre autres trois fort belles’, Bouchard 1977, 182): 19 March,
S. Giuseppe, in the church of the same name and in S. Maria La Nova; 21 March,
S. Benedetto and S. Severino (and S. Sossio); 25 March, Annunciation, in the
Santa Casa dell’Annunziata.
Bouchard notes that ‘les festes, en cette villa, sont plus solennelles encore et
superbes qu’à Rome’, and that all is carried out with the greatest pomp and with
spectacular apparati and displays of silverware, in particular in services celebrated
by monks (pp.182 f.). But he probably arrived in Naples too late to see the most
splendid Baroque apparati of Lent, focused, as in Rome, on the Quarantore.10 We
do not know precisely when this typical Counter-Reformation practice was
introduced to Naples, but it was not earlier than the last decades of the sixteenth
century. According to Mario Borrelli, it was a Neapolitan invention, adopted for
the first time in the Ospedale degli Incurabili and then in the Casa Filippina soon
after its opening: ‘From Naples [the Quarantore] was introduced in Rome on the
last three days of Carnival, and from Rome the usage spread across Italy and
abroad, particularly under the auspices of the Compagnia di Gesù.’ It may have
replaced earlier Neapolitan rites: ‘A stately and rich altar setting was introduced
with a multitude of lights and other ecclesiastical ornaments, many more than was
the custom in Naples, which accompanied the acts of devotion with several
sermons and various consorts of music made up of voices and instruments.’11
Already in the first years of the seventeenth century, there is substantial evidence
of these Neapolitan devotional celebrations, which were in fact magnificent
occasions to display rich colours, lights and sounds.12 The golden age of the
Neapolitan Quarantore is recorded up to the middle of the seventeenth century,
when the fashion for polychoral writing prompted a new way of composing the
‘Quarantore with music for four choirs, an invention by Father Raimo di Bartolo.’13
After Lent, Bouchard moves on to describe the preparations for Easter,
characterized, like all the city’s social life, by a remarkable disregard for the
conventional restrictions during Lent and Holy Week (as, for example, in terms of
food). Holy Week begins on Palm Sunday (in 1632, on 4 April). Court convention
required the viceroy to ‘aller en cavalcade prendre la palme’ to Monteoliveto, but
in 1632 he was ill. The first powerful moment in the Neapolitan soundscape during
this period was on Ash Wednesday, with the musical rendition of Tenebrae by the
Real Cappella in the viceregal palace (‘la plus belle musique que se fasse’; p. 186).
But in 1632, entrance to the chapel was reserved only for the ladies in the
entourage of the vicereine. Instead, Bouchard was able to attend earlier that same
evening a performance of Tenebrae at the Oratorio di S. Giovanni dei Fiorentini,
which involved most of the musicians of the Real Cappella: ‘La musique fut assez
bone, mais courte, car ils ne chanterent que les respons et antienes et une seule
leçon’.
On Maundy Thursday, his attention shifted to the direct competitors of the
viceregal musicians, the cappella of the archbishop’s palace, where ‘se fait une
grande solennité’. In general, the celebrations of Holy Week followed closely the
pattern of Spanish court ceremony.14 However, the Maundy Thursday ceremony,
wherein the viceroy in person washed the feet of twelve paupers in the
archbishop’s chapel, was full of symbolic significance for the city. In this period,
too, Naples was full of battenti (flagellants), whether individuals or groups, who
created a strongly theatrical and dramatic atmosphere.15 Bouchard was also dazzled
by the lights around the tombs in the churches, and he was struck by the musical
execution of Tenebrae in the Gesù Nuovo, ‘où les Jesuites ont attiré tant de
noblesse que les six dernieres leçons furent chantées par six princes. La musique
fut fort bone’ (p. 187).
On Good Friday, Bouchard delighted in discovering the rich apparati and
silverware adorning the tombs of several churches (S. Chiara, Gesù Nuovo, S.
Paolo Maggiore, Monteoliveto). That evening, he managed to hear the Real
Cappella perform Tenebrae in the ancient residence of Castelnuovo, even if ‘la
musique fut assez mediocre, horsmis à la fin, qu’il y eut un echo repetant trois et
quatre fois, qui fut excellent’ (p. 187). It was a long day: after the Office, Bouchard
spent the night walking through the streets to observe the most remarkable
procession of Naples, the Misterij della Passione, with statues carried by 1,000
members of the Spanish Confraternita della Solitaria in a throng of torches and
choruses of voices with musical instruments.16
Perhaps in part because of his antipathy to Spanish traditions, Bouchard
considered this famous procession less moving than the one called ‘della
Resurrectione’ or ‘del Battaglino’, held on the following day, Saturday, by the
Reggente of the city (pp. 190–91). This was a spectacular and very expensive
display of colour and astonishing light and sound (pp. 192–93):
la magnificence estoit en la quantité de cierges et de musiciens et joueurs de toute sorte

d’instruments, dont il y avoit au moins 15 ou 16 gros choeurs … pour cette grande
multitude de liminaires et musiques qui fait dans les tenebres de la nuit un effet mille fois
plus admirable que l’on ne sçauroit s’imaginer, l’on peut dire que cette procession ci
merite d’estre mise au nombre des choses [les] plus remarquables et singulieres de
l’Europe.
The origins of this procession—which one viceroy called ‘the most grandiose,
sumptuous and majestic to be celebrated in all of Italy’,17 perhaps for its similarity
to state ceremonial—are well known. In 1616 Pompeo Battaglino, a member of the
confraternity of the Santissima Concezione a Montecalvario, decided to organize
an imposing procession which was so impressive that it took his name. 18 In order to
maintain the reputation of this popular event, it was necessary to obtain public
funds: by 1653, Philip IV of Spain himself decided to guarantee an annual payment
of 600 ducats in order to retain this procession (the same amount was donated by
his successors until the middle of the eighteenth century). Occasionally the
Battaglino procession was exceptionally held in summer (in addition to the one at
Easter), as for example in 1630,19 to celebrate the arrival in Naples of the King of
Spain’s daughter Margaret en route to Hungary.
Returning to Bouchard’s journal of 1632, on Easter Sunday (11 April) there was
another Spanish procession to the Palazzo Reale, plus the massive pilgrimage by
most of Naples’s inhabitants to the Madonna di Pugliano, on the road to Mount
Vesuvius some six kilometres from the city. Bouchard notes the multitude of boats
full of people elegantly dressed, and also the role of musicians and singers similar
to the Spassi di Posillipo in summer (pp. 194–95):
Ce n’estoit autre chose que dances, festins, musiques de guitarres, cornemuses et hautbois,
foires et autres resjouissances, qui paroissoint d’autant plus belles qu’elles se faisoint
parmi les ruines qu’a causé le Vesuve tout autour de cette eglise.
The days following Easter were equally full of smaller celebrations in rapid
succession: Bouchard (p. 196) tends to give only the title of each one, including on
Monday 12 April, the Madonna dell’Arco, and on Tuesday 13 April, a feast at
Posillipo, S. Maria al Faro and the Chiesa di Nazaret. It is curious that Bouchard
had so little interest in one of the most famous festivities in Naples, that of the
Madonna dell’Arco.20 He seems to have been more attracted by less important
events characterized by popular dances with traditional instruments, such as he
describes at the Chiesa di Nazaret on the Collina di Camaldoli opposite Posillipo:
Ce n’estoint que musiques, banquets et dances que les païsans font se mettant dix ou
douse en rond, se tenant les uns aus autres avec de longues servietes, et vont ainsi tout du
long du chemin faisant mille figures devant leurs dames qui precedent, montées sur de
petits annes qu’elles bardent la plus part de tapis de Turquie.
May and June
The festivities in the month of May begin with the second of the three celebrations
dedicated to the patron-saint of Naples, S. Gennaro (on the first Saturday of the
month). This feast, associated with the ‘Traslazione della testa di S. Gennaro’
(‘translation of S. Gennaro’s head’), started with a procession paid for in turn by
each of the seggi (seats) of the city: in 1632, the responsibility fell to the Seggio di
Portanuova. The most spectacular moment of the feast once again took place in the
evening, after supper: in the interior of a temporary ‘theatre’ an altar was built on
which was placed the head of S. Gennaro (a silver bust) and those of twelve other
patron-saints of the city. The archbishop finally offered the relic of the saint’s
blood to be kissed by the viceroy and his wife ‘après quelques motets chantez par
la musique du viceroi’ (p. 201). Bouchard also compares this ritual with that of the
other feast of S. Gennaro in September and describes the ‘fameus miracle du sang’.
The month of May is dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and ‘Tous ce mois il passe en
semblables allegresses spirituelles’ (p. 204). Still more solemn were the festivities
organized in the countryside around Naples. In the first few days of May, among
other less impressive events, Bouchard records the procession organized by the
Santa Casa dell’Annunziata—shifted exceptionally from 25 March because of the
clash with Easter in 1632—with its declared aim of finding husbands for the girls
protected by the Santa Casa.
June 1632 began with festivities for Pentecost. On the Monday after Pentecost
came the event on the Collina di Poggioreale known as the ‘Acqua della Bufala’,
during which countrywomen would dance separately from men.21 In the same day
in the city of Naples, there were two other festive processions, one to Madonna di
Costantinopoli and the other to Spirito Santo, the latter procession consisting of
nuns and virgins like that of the Santa Casa dell’Annunziata. More important was
the Thursday after the first Sunday of Pentecost, Corpus Christi. This was one of
the most important celebrations in the Neapolitan liturgical year, consisting of a
procession that was strongly symbolic (repeated on the octave). The focus of the
rite was a pallium borne on six spears (like a baldachin) carried by the five
representatives of the noble seggi and one by the Eletto del Popolo. The procession
ended in front of a temporary altar similar to a triumphal arch, called the ‘Catafalco
di Pennino’ (or ‘di Pendino’), in Piazza di Sellaria.22 The procession lasted six
hours and included the archbishop and the viceroy on foot. The procession on the
octave (one week later) was richer still and ended at the Palazzo Reale, where the
viceroy reviewed his soldiers on parade. The same evening the Spaniards made
another smaller procession with luminarie around the national church of S.
Giacomo.23 This kind of procession ‘s’en fit tous les jours de la semaine de fort
belles’ (p. 399),24 in particular those organized by single confraternities. ‘Tout le
reste du mois de Juin’—says Bouchard—‘se passe en semblables processions’.
The last festivity of June was the vigil and feast of S. Giovanni Battista (23–24
June). In every street temporary stages were built for ‘plusieurs belles
representations de jeunes enfants qui dancent et chantent vestus en anges, ou en
deitez antiques’. Needless to say, the scenes represented included the Gulf of
Naples with its sirens,25 which in connection with the beheading of S. Giovanni is
another typical mix of all the symbolic elements of a Neapolitan feast.
More explicit than Bouchard, in this case, is a local reporter who registered the
exceptional sonic impact of the feast of S. Giovanni in 1624:26
And among the other noteworthy things a catafalque was created with many choruses of
angels, which were accompanied by flutes and other musical instruments all in harmony
with the voices of the angels and by spiritual hymns which deafened the place. And once
the song of the first set had finished, a cloud opened from which other angels likewise
came down singing and playing. And once they had descended all the while continuing
their harmonious sound, we saw the first angels who had sung rise up on the cloud. In this
way, whilst in the presence of His Excellency [viceroy Duke of Alba] and his entourage,
they continued to play their music, continually offering various innovations.
In Naples, the catafalco was not restricted just to Corpus Christi. During the
seventeenth century, it became the main architectural and visual focus of several
festivities characterized by popular devotion.27 The effect was magnified by
machines, lighting and the participation of choirs of voices and instruments, paid
for by young students of the Neapolitan conservatoires. Among the musicians who
wrote compositions for this summer festivity was Alessandro Scarlatti, who took
part at least in the celebration of 7 June 1701:28
On Thursday for the eighth day of Corpus Domini they held the usual procession of the
Spanish nation in their own church of S. Giacomo, which was more pleasing, rich and
sumptuous than usual ... The music was equally impressive, with a famous serenade by
the illustrious Scarlatti, maestro di cappella, with selected voices and noble instruments.
The Spassi di Posillipo
The summer months of July and August (officially, from the first Sunday after S.
Giovanni to the Natività della Vergine in September) are characterized by the great
festivals by the sea, known since the sixteenth century as the Spassi di Posillipo.
According to Bouchard they were ‘la chose la plus magnifique de Naples, et qui
luy est presque singuliere’ (p. 423). An early description of these festivals is found
in Tommaso Costo’s Le otto giornate del Fuggilotio.29 Following the outline of
Boccaccio’s Decameron, Costo describes a week of festivities in the year 1571.
The location is the highly symbolic ‘villa della sirena’ (where Palazzo Donn’Anna
was later built), the protagonists a gathering of noble interlocutors all hiding
behind academic names. The sea is crowded with boats carrying singers and
musicians engaged in musical duels.30
During the seventeenth century, the Spassi (referring to the long coastal walk
from Naples to the headland of Posillipo) took place on Tuesdays, Thursdays and
Sundays from sunset to midnight, and could be repeated on the evenings of all
public festivities. A rigid ceremonial protocol prevented any problems created by
the crowds of nobility: only aristocratic ladies could use coaches to reach the
shoreline, while the men arrived by sea on boats (feluche) whose flags revealed the
degree of their nobility. Bouchard recognized two large boats beside those around
the galley of the viceroy, from which Italian musicians of the Real Cappella
engaged in a musical contest with Spanish musicians in the personal service of the
viceroy:31
dans la troisième [galera] estoit un choeur de musique italiene: car celuy qui estoit dans la
barque mesme du viceroi, estoit de musiciens espagnols, qui chantent beaucoup mieus et
avec plus de grace que les napolitains, ayant un air reglé, suivi, posé, dous et
melancolique, ce qui touche fort. Le chant napolitain est tout au contraire; et à dire le vrai
les musiques de Pausilypo, au moins celles qui se firent cette année là [1632], sont fort
mediocres. On dit que les autres années elles furente meilleures et en plus grand nombre.
It was said of the severe viceroy, the Duke of Alba (c.1622), that ‘he did not want
much conversation, but he liked the music and the Spassi di Posillipo’.32
Some seventeenth-century Neapolitan musical prints survive that can be
associated with the Spassi di Posillipo. For the most part they contain villanellas or
canzonettas of the type already cited by Costo, as, for example, Girolamo
Montesardo’s I lieti giorni di Napoli: concertini italiani in aria Spagnuola a due, e
tre voci (Naples, Gargano and Nucci, 1612), Orazio Giaccio’s Armoniose voci:
canzonette in aria spagnola, et italiana, a tre voci (Naples, Carlino, 1613: only the
third edition of 1620 survives) and Laberinto amoroso: canzonette a tre voci
(Napoli, Gargano and Nucci, 1618), plus similar collections by Biffi, Lambardi and
Trabaci,33 as well as dance books such as the guitar tablature collection printed in
Naples by Foriano Pico in 1608 (a questionable date and probably a misprint for
1658 or 1668).34 Giaccio’s second book begins with a typical ‘canzonetta da
feluca’—‘Su la riva del mare, / belle ninfe e sirene, / mirate la mia Filli’—while
another canzonetta, ‘Vienni bella Lavinia, / a rallegrart’ in questo lieto giorno’
(from his first book of 1613), is subtitled ‘Invita la sua Donna a goder le bellezze
di Posillipo’.
The most remarkable in this set of sources is the collection of Giuseppe Biffi da
Cesena entitled Della Ricreatione di Posillipo a tre, a quattro, et a cinque voci
(Naples, Sottile, 1606).35 By simply following the sequence of titles in this
collection one may recreate an academic musical evening in Posillipo of the kind
described by Costo a few years before and typical of early collections of villanelle
alla napolitana designed for meetings of academies. An opening song offers an
invitation to dance and sing (‘Vogliam cantar, signori’, ‘Seguite il canto mio’,
etc.), followed by references to the cries of animals (pig, parrot, duck, ass, dog,
hen), and ‘balletti cantati’, songs in Neapolitan sometimes with allusions to
instruments playing, all concluded with a classical madrigal, Io son ferito ahi lasso,
judged ‘artificioso, si canta a misura larga’.36
Some seventy years later, when Provenzale was already at the height of his
career, Pompeo Sarnelli, a famous clergyman, published in the appendix
of his collection of tales Posilecheata (Naples, Bulifon, 1684), a Scompetura
[= Conclusion] de la Posilecheata overo Festa de Posileco de 26 de luglio 1684.37
This is one of the most detailed descriptions of the new spectacular taste
introduced during the Spassi by the viceroy Gaspar de Haro Marquis del Carpio.38
Sarnelli’s description, in the first person singular, documents the route completed
by a feluca to Posillipo. As in the case of Bouchard, Sarnelli is astonished at the
impressive crowd there that seems to have left Naples completely deserted. Before
the famous Palazzo Donn’Anna, which at that time would have acted as a summer
theatre and the ideal place for courtly serenatas during the Spassi,39 there appears in
the sea the first ‘triumphal float’, with sea-horses ‘who seemed alive’. Around it
are the usual sea-monsters, nymphs and gods, ‘le quale co varie sorte de stromiente
sonavano e cantavano de museca che a l’àjero sereno de la sera facevano
n’armonia de stopore’ (‘who with various kinds of instruments played and sang
music which created such admirable harmony in the tranquil air of the night’).
A little further ahead, at Mergellina, there appeared to all the public ‘na
machena granne in forma de teatro’ (‘a large machine in the form of a theatre’),
overflowing with vegetables. The viceroy’s galley, surrounded by two others,
corresponds exactly to the earlier description by Bouchard. There is a final surprise
to break the enchanting moonlight: a firework display that reminded those present
of an eruption of Vesuvius.40 As Bouchard concludes, ‘En somme, je ne crois pas
qu’il y ait aujourdhui lieu plus delicieus et où se facent plus de galenteries que
cette coste de Pausilype’ (p. 425).
The other summer festivities also took place close to the sea, often including
boat races as in Venice, to Chiaia (15 August) `and to Posillipo (24 August, for the
feast of S. Bartolomeo),41 and on the feast of S. Lucia (the first Sunday of
September). Marking the end of summer, the most imposing of the popular
festivities was that of the Madonna di Piedigrotta (8 September) ‘où la mattinée
tout le peuple de Naple concourt, dansant, jouant’. On the afternoon the place was
crowded with coaches since ‘toute la noblesse de Naples vient par terre’. There is
evidence for this feast already during the Aragonese age, but it was even more
prominent during the Bourbon period around the middle of the eighteenth
century.42
September and October
With Piedigrotta, the Neapolitan summer and its Spassi came to an end.43
Bouchard does not describe the other festivities for the Natività della Vergine on 8
September (and its octave on the 15th). But he resumes his narrative for September
with a description of the solemn celebration of the martyrdom of S. Gennaro on the
19th, a further opportunity for the customary veneration of the saint’s head and
blood just as in May. Bouchard does not mention music in the context of this feast,
although it was a favourite occasion for musical performances of sacred dramas.
As an example, in 1662, and in spite of an archiepiscopal prohibition ‘to represent
in public the actions of the saints with voices’, floats were prepared full of
allegorical characters (such as Catholic Religion, Faith, Hope, Charity,
Martyrdom), ‘all represented with sweet melodies by the musicians … the
martyrdoms, death and miracles of the saint’.44 Similarly, in 1664 a sacred drama
concerning the martyrdom of S. Gennaro, produced by the Conservatorio di
Loreto, probably marked Francesco Provenzale’s début in the genre of oratorio.
According to the journalist Fuidoro, the new manner of celebrating the main
patron-saint of Naples with stage works focusing on special effects (lights,
machines and music) had been introduced in 1660, the year in which Cosimo
Fanzago’s obelisk bearing the statue of S. Gennaro was erected. The festivities of
1663 were also described by Fuidoro:45
On the feast day of the saint, the viceroy went to the archepiscopal Palace at the 24th hour
to kiss the saint’s precious blood which had already liquified ... there was a very stately
theatre where the spire with the bronze statue of the saint stood, for which the city had
paid some 3,000 ducats the previous year. And every night there were more than 4,000
lights and 140 wax torches at the spire with two choirs of music, in front of which were
wooden seats where nobles, common people and citizens seated themselves wherever
they wished.
Music and illuminations continued to have equal importance on the three

evenings of September celebrating the patron-saint. As late as 1713, Provenzale’s
pupil Nicola Fago delivered a gold medal to the castrato Nicolino Grimaldi, who
had sung on all three evenings of the feast, in the name of the Governatori del
Tesoro di S. Gennaro.46
The first procession in October, dedicated to the Vergine del Rosario, was in fact
the historical commemoration of the victory over the Turks at Lepanto in 1571,
celebrated by the court on 7 October both in S. Giacomo, the Spanish national
church, and with a public procession by the Confraternità della Trinità degli
Spagnoli.47 This procession was formed by girls dressed as angels or saints, in
several groups starting with statues of the misteri, behind which ‘ces fillettes vont
chantant chansons spirituelles en italien’, passing between ranks of soldiers firing
arquebuses, ‘et ce meslange de voix feminines et d’arquebuses, come aussi de filles

et de soldats, fait une belle vue et done grande consolation’ (p. 437).48
November and December
Bouchard left Naples with his companions at the beginning of November, but
fortunately enough the main festive events of the successive weeks can be followed
by way of another contemporary source. In 1632 the feast of the Immacolata
Concezione (8 December) was judged memorable by the compiler of the Etiquetas
of the viceregal court, José Raneo. The celebration for the vigil had been
established during the viceroyship of the Count of Monterey, with the active
collaboration of his wife. The day’s procession finished late and for this reason,
during the evening festino in the Palazzo Reale there was no time to represent a full
comedia but just three intermedii ‘dos de Italianos y uno de Españoles’ (p. 86).
On the Feast of the Immaculate Conception there was a service and sermon in
the presence of the Eletti della Fidelissima Città in the convent of S. Maria La
Nuova, while in the afternoon there was a procession of the nobility with horses
and coaches, the vicereine’s being followed by royal trumpeters. Second Vespers
was celebrated instead at the Palazzo Reale, in a less solemn but equally
spectacular form, with the erection of the Quattro altari. No Neapolitan aristocratic
lady would be absent ‘por ser la fiesta tan grandiosa’. The following procession
with the icon of the Virgin ended in the square in front of the Palazzo Reale with
fireworks, artillery fire and finally a serenata and ball (‘sarao’) inside.
Bouchard’s departure deprives us of any extensive information about the main
festivities of the months between Advent and Lent: the feasts of S. Niccolò da Bari
(6 December) and S. Lucia (13 December), the third feast of S. Gennaro (16
December), the Christmas cycle through to Epiphany and finally the feast of S.
Antonio Abate (14 January), marking the beginning of Carnival. Also, the
festivities discussed above do not include all the occasional events that both before
and after 1632 filled the Neapolitan calendar with still more celebrations. I shall
summarize these additional feasts subdividing them into three categories: Carnival
itself, political and civil festivities for special saints, and occurrences celebrated by
the viceregal court.
Carnival
By the time of the viceroyship of the Marchese del Carpio Gaspar de Haro, Naples
had acquired a widespread reputation beyond its borders, not just for its summer
serenatas but also for Carnival: in 1687 city journals emphasized the arrival of the
Duke of Modena in order to observe ‘le cose curiose di questa città e godere li
spassi carnavaleschi’.49 As in almost all Southern Italy, the Carnival season began
in Naples on the feast of S. Antonio Abate (17 January) and it reached a climax on
the last Thursday, last Sunday and last Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. It was
down to the viceroy and his court to begin the feast in the district of S. Antonio
Abate (with its splendid fourteenth-century church),50 while at the same time
processions of maskers and coaches set off from the Porta Capuana. Fixed
elements of the Neapolitan Carnival during the Spanish age were masks, both
satirical and lascivious, and above all the pillage of carts bearing food, prepared at
the expense of the city’s guilds. By the late seventeenth century, these cuccagne
had been transformed into veritable temporary stages that were to attract both the
astonishment and the disapproval of eighteenth-century travellers.51 An episode
narrated in the city’s journals exemplifies the ‘foolish’ excesses of the Neapolitan
Carnival. In 1680, ‘the mad people from the Incurabili appeared at the Palace in
masks and led by Master Giorgio, who went in an open carriage elegantly dressed;
they performed several dances of their kind, that is to say mad’.52
This reflects a typical Neapolitan topos during the Renaissance and Baroque
periods, the relationship between popular celebration and madness. In his eight
months spent in Naples, Bouchard (p. 268) gained the impression that:
Tous les Napolitains sont estrangement escervelez, et ont tous un grain de folie. C’est une
espece d’esprit justement come ceus de Gascogne, et ne vis jamais deus nations mieus se
ressembler que ce deus là.
Madness seems particularly present in the world of the Neapolitan musicians. An

example is Peter van Harleem, an organist of Flemish origin active in the Santa
Casa dell’Annunziata at the end of the sixteenth century:53
Pietro Flamengo, who by adverse fortune became delirious and foolish of mind, did not
lose his skill in playing for a living despite such an infirmity, for virtue holds such power
(despite unjusts and ignorants).
Half a century later, Neapolitan journals record a new case:54
Onofrio Gioioso, one of the foremost musicians of our time who sang tenor, such as only
God could create, suffered a delirious frenzy and became melancholic and said that he
was dead and therefore no longer wished to sing and yet he lived.
The Naples lunatic asylum called the Incurabili was famous, and its residents
played a significant role in Carnival festivities. In the third decade of the
seventeenth century a song collection appeared entitled L’hospedale degli infermi
d’amore by Pietro Antonio Giramo. The author gained some notoriety for his airs
about being ‘mad for love’, with cantatas bearing such titles as La pazza and Il
pazzo.55 The tradition had earlier literary roots in the works of Ariosto and in the
academic games (veglie) typical of Siena. This Renaissance heritage was widely
diffused in Europe during the seventeenth century by commedia dell’arte troupes
representing the madness of Lelio, Delia, Cintia, Flaminia and Leonora, all
deriving from the role of the pazza of which Isabella Andreini was the pioneer (this
tradition also influenced operatic finte pazze). Giramo’s Il pazzo, datable to around
1630, summarizes the elements typical of Neapolitan Carnival games. After having
tried to solfeggiare—in the typical formula of the villanella (‘Voglio cantar à la
Napoletana e n’autri poco à la Calavresella’)—the protagonist asks for a ‘ballo de’
pazzi’ to be performed (See Ex. 1.1).
Ex. 1.1 Pietro Antonio Giramo, Il pazzo (c.1630)
Quite apart from any anthropological implications of this comic scene (the songs
and dances performed in order to cure the madness recall the musical rituals of
tarantismo), it is interesting to note that Giramo’s model was imitated, some
decades later, by another Neapolitan, Simone Coya.56 In his collection L’amante
impazzito (Milan, 1679), Coya introduces songs to be performed to dance patterns
‘alla napoletana’, ‘alla siciliana’, ‘alla pugliese’ and so forth.
But the Neapolitan Carnival was not just a period of madness. The soundscape of
this Neapolitan season is in many respects analogous to that of religious festivities.
On the floats sponsored by the various guilds, for example, there were invariably
young students of the different conservatoires, often dressed as angels or flying in
special machines: witness the ‘figliuoli of Loreto’ on the float of the butcher’s
guild (1681), or the musicians playing on a float (1686), elaborating upon the
traditional topos of the maritime foundation of the city:57
There followed a triumphal float simulating the sea with Neptune seated on top
surrounded by many sirens and nymphs, and upon arriving below the balconies of His
Excellency [the viceroy] and singing several motets in his praise, they began throwing
down great quantities of various kinds of fish which supplied many for Lent.
In 1618, a group of musicians dressed as shepherds (‘bellissima musica de’

pastori’) danced with Pan while a cupid sang. In 1653, the mascherata was
arcadian in theme, with some 300 shepherds and nymphs playing various
instruments listed in detail by chroniclers.58 But most of the references in
contemporary accounts are generic, just citing ‘cori di musica’.59 Drawings of the
period, such as those of Carl’Antonio Sammarco, who provides us with pictures
from the 1708 Neapolitan Carnival (the arrival of the new Austrian viceroy), are
also of significant value.60
Saints’ days
The early seventeenth century saw a remarkable increase in collective devotion in

Naples. Between 1630 and 1699, twenty-one new patron-saints were added to the
traditional eight of the city.61 Moreover, every religious order present in Naples
tried, for the purposes of propaganda, to institute great public festivities for their
own saints, even if they were not included in the official liturgical calendar. It
seems that Neapolitans could not (and indeed cannot) stand aside from spectacular
celebration, even if the religious propagandists tried to limit it. Almost every new
festivity became accepted and transformed, often as a sign of the identity of one
small community or quarter, in a process of appropriation drawing from the local
to the city as a whole. In 1624 in the church of S. Maria della Salute, the
Dominicans introduced the practice of singing collectively the ‘Rosario a chori’.62
An imposing ‘Rosario a chori’ was sung at the Madonna del Carmine by thousands
of popolani in order to celebrate Masaniello’s death in 1648.63 On 29 May 1629 the
feast of S. Francesco di Paola was celebrated with choruses of children with
musical instruments:64 it was the prelude to a practice that from the middle of the
seventeenth century would become typical of the appearance in processions of
paranze of young students of the conservatoires.65 Even a straightforward
beatification such as that of Francesco Saverio on 27 November 1619 was
celebrated with great magnificence and elaborate musical accompaniment. Other
solemn festivities gained particular renown in the second half of the century:66 for
the beato Gaetano Thiene (1654 and 1660),67 S. Pietro di Alcantara (1669), S. Rosa
da Lima (1671), S. Francesco Borgia (1671),68 S. Francesco Xaverio (1657 and
1688)69 and S. Pasquale Baylon (1691).70 The year 1662 saw the institution of a
new festivity in S. Maria La Nova, conceived this time by the viceroy:71
The viceroy held chapel at Santa Maria Nuova, where he instigated the festivity with
music and preaching for eight days in recognition of the pope’s ratification of the dispute
of the Immaculate Conception.
The organization of the festivities for the many saints of each quarter was in the
hands of the respective confraternities who had assumed the protection of the area.
Here is the description of one of these as seen in the Chiesa di S. Giuseppe in Via
Medina by a successor of Bouchard, Grangier de Liverdys (19 March 1661):72
Mass was sung with great solemnity during which delightful music never ceased; this was
accompanied by organs and other instruments which created a fascinating harmony. This
Mass was heard by the Joiners, who were present in ceremonial dress, and there were lit
candles which made the silverwork shine wonderfully.
Celebrations of power
The occasions celebrated by the viceroy and his court multiplied during the
seventeenth century, as they did throughout the Spanish dominions. These
festivities were on a par with those dedicated to Spanish saints and masterpieces of
power propaganda, celebrating the birthdays and name-days not only of Spanish
monarchs but also of several members of the royal family.
In Naples these festivities, already listed in the Etiquetas di Raneo of 1634,73
increased noticeably after the end of the Masaniello Uprising in 1648.74 The name-
days and birthdays of the dauphin, later King of Spain Charles II (1661–1700),
were festive occasions of primary importance.75 Viceroy Peñaranda was the first to
introduce the celebration of Charles’s name-day, 6 December. The significance of
the feast of S. Anna, the name both of the Queen and of the Queen Mother, was
noted by Pompeo Sarnelli when describing a festivity at Posillipo on 26 July 1684
organized by viceroy del Carpio:76
In this place, he [viceroy del Carpio] ordered there to be two wonderful feasts each
summer at the sea for name-day celebrations of both queens, mother and ruler.
Celebrating S. Anna by the seaside at Posillipo must have been introduced no

earlier than 1663, but the feast appears to have become widespread by 1665,77 and
in 1666 it was celebrated in the church of the Gesù Nuovo:78
The feast of S. Anna was celebrated with music for four choirs and rather sumptuous
apparatus ... And in many other churches in Naples, a feast was celebrated so that there
was less music in many churches not withstanding the large number of musicians in
Naples.
Less fortunate were Peñaranda’s attempts to encourage the celebration of

comparable feasts for the members of his own viceregal family.79 But such
festivities connected to the court, even though not traditional, became more or less
fixed, and were in time a significant part of the Neapolitan calendar.80
Other celebrations were instead episodic and unrepeatable. To this category
belong weddings of monarchs or members of the royal family,81 funerals of the
same or of important figures of the Neapolitan aristocracy, rejoicings for recovered
royal health82 and finally military and political events such as the repression of the
Masaniello or Messina uprisings,83 the capture of Belgrade and Buda84 and the
signing of treaties and dynastic successions.
The celebrations of funerals in Naples involved a highly spectacular ritual,85 with
the erection of catafalchi (great Baroque machines) around which were processions
with choruses of singers and instrumental music. At the most important funerals
paraded ‘soldati vestiti a bruno e trombetta con la sordellina dentro’ (1686), while
for the royal esequie of 1691 there were ‘buglers who played the pipe and muffled
drums and black banners’.86 Visits of important figures and ambassadors87 at least
partly compensated for Neapolitan frustration at not having seen a Spanish
monarch after the visit of Charles V in 1535–36 until Charles V visited the city in
1702 to great rejoicing.88 Francesco Provenzale, in his position as Scarlatti’s
substitute as maestro della Cappella Reale, was witness to these festivities, which
were also the last of the period of Naples’s Spanish dominion.
Mapping Neapolitan Musical Institutions
Baroque Naples was different from other European capitals, chiefly because of the
absence of a stable prince-governor. The viceroys changed so frequently that it was
very difficult or even impossible to establish consistent patterns of patronage
associated with a single individual. The musical institutions situated close to the
seat of viceregal power were only partially affected by the predilections of
successive viceroys, for all that they benefited from their position. Thus, for
example, the Cappellano Maggiore had undisputed authority in the matter of
recruiting singers and instrumentalists for the various official duties at the Palazzo
Reale and the Castelnuovo. The only obvious case of significant interference of a
viceroy, in the appointment of new musicians and of the maestro of the Real
Cappella in 1683, led to a strike by some singers faithful to Francesco Provenzale,
whom, they felt, had been unfairly excluded from the competition in favour of
viceroy Del Carpio’s candidate, Alessandro Scarlatti, for all that Provenzale in fact
dominated civic musical life. But in general, respect was paid to the rule of merit:
musicians who held the most important positions tended to have the most power.
The more important maestri were also often allocated positions in lesser chapels or
on an occasional basis. This is not to say that the system worked by way of
privilege or that musicians’ careers were controlled excessively by extra-musical
concerns. Rather, as notarial documents reveal, power was accumulated in the
hands of a few maestri according to well-defined systems, as we shall see in the
case of Provenzale.
The pyramidal organization of the political power of the time (see Table 1.1) is
also reflected in the organization of Neapolitan musical bodies and of musical
events. At the top, the most important musical institution was the one in direct
contact with the viceroy, that is, the Real Cappella. Similarly, the most prestigious
events were those relating to the court in the Palazzo Reale: festini, balls, comedies
and operas, plus religious celebrations, birthdays, marriages and occasional
ceremonies.
The other steps of the pyramid reflect the status of the institutions involved in the
government of Naples: the Duomo with the archbishop as the religious leader of
the city; the Eletti, holding five noble ‘seats’ (seggi) and one popular; the most
important religious institutions connected to different orders always in competition
with each other (Jesuits, Filippini, Theatines, Dominicans, Franciscans, etc.); then
charitable institutions (from which emerged the conservatoires), confraternities and
other popular devotional or lay associations. The city’s theatres also take their place
Table 1.1 Structure of the several offices in the Government of Naples

(from Comparato 1974, tables 1–2, modified)
In Spain: KING
Ļ
Consiglio di Stato
Ļ
Consiglio d’Italia
____________________________________________________________
In Naples: VICEROY
Ļ
Segreteria del Viceré
§ ·
Consiglio di Stato Consiglio Collaterale
§ § ⏐ · ·
Sette Uffici Uffici di Palazzo Tribunali Militari Sacro R. Consiglio R. Camera Sommaria
⏐
Gran Connestabile Protomedico Scrivania di Razione
Gran Camerlengo Tesoreria
Protonotario ÆNotai Notaro di Corte Ruota dei Conti
Gran Siniscalco Corriere Maggiore
Gran Giustiziere Montiero Maggiore
Gran Almirante
Gran Cancelliere Cappellano Maggiore

·
Regii Studi di Napoli Cappellania
Collegi dei Dottori REAL CAPPELLA

↓
Cappellano Maggiore
↓
Consultore del Cappellano
§ § ·
Procuratore Fiscale Mastrodatti
Sagrestano della cappella
6 Cappellani
2 Altri Cappellani
2 Diaconi di cappella
Maestro di cappella
c.20 Cantori + c.12–14 Musici
on the map of Neapolitan institutions—even though their activities were limited to

the traditional opera seasons (Carnival and spassi estivi)—at the interstices of
various social layers and networks.
It is clear that only a few Neapolitan musical institutions were closely linked to
the centre of viceregal power; the greater part of them seem instead to reflect the
identity of the city, providing the popolo with an image of notable prestige. The
many public festivals, with processions and performances that filled the Neapolitan
calendar, were occasions to exhibit the prestige gained by different institutions,
also providing opportunities for a direct comparison of, and competition between,
the maestri and their musical forces. We must remember that popular institutions
(charitable institutions like the conservatoires and the confraternities or the
separate chapels of churches and convents) were supported almost entirely by
private donations from the faithful; thus public display was crucial to encouraging
and further increasing such support
This discussion, of course, only reveals an over-simplified collection of data,
which may constitute a danger. There are indeed, however, advantages to be
gained from the scrutiny of longer-term social and economic phenomena, as is the
case with Spanish-dominated Naples. All the same, one disadvantage of so flexible
a system was the frequent change in taste and styles during the rapid evolution and
the natural cyclical structure of single institutions whose own history lies
embedded within the macro-history of the city. An investigation of a socio-
anthropological type covering the whole of such institutions would imply the need
to verify it also in terms of economic history. Thus the concepts of production,
commissioning, consumption of music and relevant costs cannot be based on
sample evidence alone, for all that such sampling has provided the only exhaustive
data available to date.89 For present purposes, however, I shall summarize the most
important information on the internal history of the principal Neapolitan musical
institutions so as to construct a tentative map of musical production and
consumption in seventeenth-century Naples.
On observing the location of the most important musical centres in the city
(Figure 2), it is immediately clear that there is a division between the institutions
associated with the viceroy—all located around the Castelnuovo and the Palazzo
Reale—and the religious institutions associated with the opposing power of the
Palazzo Arcivescovile, all located in an imaginary quadrangle radiating outwards
from the Duomo. The houses of the most important religious orders (Girolamini,
Jesuits, Theatins, Franciscans, Dominicans) face each other. The five institutions
devoted to musical instruction occupy crucial points within this quadrangle, with
the exception of the Conservatorio dei Poveri di Gesù Cristo, situated close to the
Duomo and to the Oratorio dei Girolamini. The Conservatorio di Loreto and the
Conservatorio di Sant’Onofrio (the latter close to the Santa Casa dell’Annunziata),
lie farthest away towards the edge of the city, while the one closest to the centre of
viceregal power is the Conservatorio della Pietà dei Turchini. This map therefore
gives us an immediate sense of the dynamics and connections of musical
institutions vis-à-vis the centres of civic power.
The Real Cappella90
The structure of the most prestigious musical institution in Naples, the Real
Cappella, remained almost unchanged over the centuries, remaining close to its
model, the Aragonese court in the fifteenth century. The musical ensembles of the
Aragonese kings comprised the singers and ‘ministriles’ (instrumentalists) of the
royal chapel and the wind-instrument players of the Castelnuovo, to which were
added other instrumentalists in the most solemn ceremonies. These ensembles did
not suddenly disappear with the collapse of the dynasty in 1503, even if few
documents concerning the singers of the Real Cappella survive for the first half of
the sixteenth century. In 1540, the Real Cappella was moved by viceroy Pedro de
Toledo into the new Palazzo Reale built close to the Castello.
The surviving documentation concerning the continuing activity of the Real
Cappella improves from May 1555, when it was probably re-established by the
viceroy with the title ‘di Palazzo’ to distinguish it from the older cappella of the
Castello.The first maestro of the new cappella was the Spaniard Diego Ortiz, who
arrived with other Spanish musicians at the court of Pedro de Toledo with the title
of ‘homo d’arme’.
Ortiz’s successor in 1570 was also a Spaniard, Francisco Martinez de Loscos (d.
1583), while the subsequent maestri of the Real Cappella were two Flemings:
Bartolomeo Roy (d. 1599) and Jean de Macque (d. 1614).
The destruction of the Tesoreria account books in the Archivio di Stato in Naples
prevents us from knowing the precise composition of the cappella in this period,
but Salvatore Di Giacomo compiled a list of at least ninety-three musicians for the
years 1555–1603.91 At the time of viceroy Duca di Alba, in 1558, the Real
Cappella directed by Ortiz (and including as organist the famous Spanish theorist
Francisco Salinas)92 counted at least fifteen members, at an annual cost of 834
ducats. In 1592, the ensemble comprised twelve members (costing 958 ducats per
annum, including the Cappellano Maggiore).
On the death of Macque in 1614, Giovan Maria Trabaci was elected as the first
Italian maestro. The cappella then comprised twenty-six singers (seven sopranos,
four altos, four countertenors, six tenors, six basses) and twelve instrumentalists
(six players of the viola da braccio plus players of the cornet, trombone, lute and
harp and two organists). Apart from a reform (to reduce costs) introduced by
viceroy Cardinal Zapata in 1621,93 the structure of the Real Cappella (which had in
the meantime moved into the new viceregal palace built in 1602) remained more or
less the same until the time of Scarlatti. We have reasonably full details of the
cappella for the period of the next maestri, the Neapolitans Andrea Falconieri (d.
1656) and Filippo Coppola (d. 1680) and the Venetian Pietro Andrea Ziani (d.
1684). Its duties were of course associated primarily with the activities of the
viceregal court but only in part linked to the viceroy’s tastes and habits, for the
ceremonial rules were strictly applied: court manuals (such as the Etiquetas copied
by Raneo in 1634) and travellers’ accounts (for example, Bouchard’s of 1632) give
us clear information on the participation of the cappella or its individual members
in the various ceremonies of the Neapolitan liturgical or civic calendar; so do
journals, civic proclamations, letters and descriptions. Often, the prefaces of opera
librettos reveal the involvement of members of the Real Cappella in theatrical

productions not only in the Palazzo Reale but also in the Teatro S. Bartolomeo and
elsewhere in the city. Still more frequent was the participation of the cappella in
public ceremonies in the city’s churches and squares.
Throughout the seventeenth century, the cappella consistently comprised some
twenty singers compared with twelve to fourteen players, with one keyboard player
(organ and harpsichord). The average pay ranged from a minimum of 12 ducats per
annum for a singer to about 180 ducats for the maestro di cappella. The most
radical changes to the cappella occurred in the last years of the seventeenth
century, in response to the need for it to take ever more frequent part in
performances of opera.
On Ziani’s death, in 1684, Alessandro Scarlatti was elected maestro.94 He had
arrived in Naples one year before, summoned by viceroy del Carpio. Scarlatti was
often absent from his post directing the cappella, lured by the attractions of an
international career and by the need to improve both his own and his family’s
fortunes. But he was always re-admitted as maestro whenever he returned.
Francesco Provenzale became, in the last years of his life, Scarlatti’s substitute and
often took over the direction of the cappella during Scarlatti’s lengthy absences.
The Fidelissima Città, the Tesoro di San Gennaro and the Cappella del Duomo95
For all that the city of Naples was under viceregal control, it had an autonomous
body of self-government comprising the six Eletti. The responsibilities of the Eletti
included the organization of public feasts, whether sacred or secular, of the
Fidelissima Città, including processions, the allegorical carri and Carnival
celebrations. The music that accompanied such ceremonies—the most important of
which were the three evenings in September for the feast of S. Gennaro—was
delegated to a maestro di cappella elected expressly for the occasion. Thus in 1665
Francesco Provenzale was elected as ‘Maestro di cappella della Fidelissima Città’.
He held the office until 1699, when he was replaced by his pupil Gaetano Greco.
The Eletti also supervised in part the celebrations of the rite inside the Duomo, in
the famous Cappella del Tesoro di S. Gennaro (inaugurated in 1646). The earliest
information about the cappella of the Tesoro, which was created expressly for the
celebrations of the saint, dates from the 1660s when the maestro di cappella was
Filippo Coppola. The Duomo had its own music chapel, dependent on the
Archbishop of Naples, which clearly was in direct competition with the Real
Cappella.96 Moreover, just as the viceroy had his maestro and his musicians ‘di
camera’, so too did the archbishop for private use in his palace. For example, in
1673 the archbishop’s maestro was Giacomo Guastoni, who was also in service at
the Conservatorio de’ Poveri di Gesù Cristo. In the Duomo, there was an organ on
each side of the nave; the earliest was constructed by the Neapolitan organ-builder
Giovan Francesco De Palma in 1548, with doors painted by Vasari; the other was
made in 1652 by the Neapolitans Pompeo and Martino Di Franco, with doors
painted by Luca Giordano.97 This supports the notion that music for two choirs was
a regular feature of celebrations in this church. The Duomo’s maestri di cappella
always enjoyed great prestige, from Stefano Felis at the end of the sixteenth
century to Angelo Durante at the beginning of the eighteenth. However, we lack a

complete history of the cappella.
The Annunziata98
The Santa Casa dell’Annunziata was a charitable institution founded in the

sixteenth century to accommodate and educate orphans or abandoned children.
Gradually, thanks to the favour of noble patrons and music-lovers, the Annunziata
specialized in the musical education of children and in the performance of music
within the church. A first maestro di canto is documented as being there from
1557; in 1561–68 the choir comprised just eight singers. In 1563 Giandomenico
Del Giovane da Nola was appointed maestro di cappella, together with six more
singers. In 1580 the cappella, still directed by Nola, now had between eighteen and
twenty-four singers, with three organists and players of the trombone, cornet and
viola da gamba. On Nola’s death in 1592, Camillo Lambardi became maestro, and
the cappella was expanded still further to host some of the best musicians active in
the city, in particular the organists Jean de Macque and Scipione Stella, succeeded
by Giovan Maria Trabaci and Ascanio Maione. In the same period, the teaching
activities of the Annunziata intensified, with music being taught not only to the
(male) orphans but also to the girls and the nuns of the female section. But this also
coincided with a period of financial difficulty, and the cappella was reduced to
using occasional musicians (‘sabbatarii’) brought in just for the most important
ceremonies, who were usually members of the Real Cappella. In this way, we
should note that Macque and Trabaci, after their office in the Annunziata, became
maestri in the viceroy’s chapel. In 1604 there were just nine singers and two
organists, with five ‘sabbatarii’. However, the Annunziata continued to employ
some of the best known (and most published) Neapolitan musicians, as well as the
first castratos in the city.
After the death of the last famous maestro Filippo Coppola, in 1680 the musical
establishment at the Annunziata went into crisis due to financial difficulties (the
Banco dell’Annunziata would eventually crash in 1702) and competition from the
conservatoires: the cappella was reduced to a small group of singers and string
players, with other musicians bought in just on an occasional basis. The duties of
the maestro di cappella also became reduced, limited to the direction of music
during the most important feasts, and in 1700 the post of maestro di canto
gregoriano was abolished.
The Casa Filippina dei Girolamini99
The Philippine oratory in Naples was founded in 1586 at the express request of
Filippo Neri, and from its earliest years its musical activity was of some
significance, not least because of the presence (until 1596) of the Roman composer
Giovenale Ancina. In 1612, after years of disagreement, the Neapolitan Casa
Filippina finally separated itself from the one in Rome, taking a different name
still in use to the present day, the Oratorio dei Girolamini. From 1632, the
liturgical services with music were regulated by precise rules, under the direction
of a musicae praefectus.
Soon, and in addition to its charitable and didactic activities, the Girolamini
would have a musical cappella able to compete with the most important civic
musical institutions. It also employed extra musicians for the most solemn
ceremonies: in 1694, payments were made for ‘quattro chori de musica, quattro
organisti, diciassette voci, cioè cinque soprani e quattro per ciascuna altra sorte di
voce, sette violini, due viole, uno contrabasso, uno arcileuto, due fagotti’.100 The
Girolamini supported the publishing of numerous collections of laude and frottole,
plus the staging of oratorios and of sacred musical dramas. Its activities also
expanded by virtue of its close relations with the nearby Duomo and the Tesoro di
S. Gennaro, and also the Conservatorio dei Poveri di Gesù Cristo. One of its most
famous maestri, Erasmo Di Bartolo (‘Padre Raimo’), is considered the instigator of
four-choir writing in Naples; he strongly influenced his followers Salvatore and
Provenzale.
The confraternities101
In common with other important Italian cities, several confraternities were

established in Naples in the period immediately following the Council of Trent,
providing mutual aid for various groups of artisans. These included the first
confraternity for musicians, the Congregazione di S. Maria degli Angeli, founded
in the Chiesa di San Nicola alla Carità alla Regia Dogana in 1569. This included
thirty-two musicians, among them five wind players from the Castelnuovo. Its
capitoli were renewed at the beginning of the seventeenth century, and the
confraternity benefited from the strong leadership of the lutenist and theorist
Scipione Cerreto. But only later in the seventeenth century did the practice extend
to embrace the whole community of professional musicians in Naples. Another
musical confraternity, dedicated to ‘Gregorio Magno e Leone, et di S. Cecilia’, was
created in 1644 in the church of Santa Brigida dei Padri Lucchesi (close to the
Palazzo Reale, and not only in spatial terms) by the Roman Giacomo Caproli and
with an initial enrolment of nineteen musicians.102
However, this confratenity seems to have ceased activity in 1649. In this year
Domenico Cenatiempo from the Order of the Padri Pii Operai founded a larger and
more representative Congregazione de Musici in the church of San Giorgio
Maggiore, located at the point of a triangle encompassing the major musical
institutions of the city, including the Duomo and Tesoro, the Girolamini and the
Conservatorio dei Poveri di Gesù Cristo. It was reorganized in 1655, with a
membership of some 150 musicians, but in the terrible plague of 1656 more than
half lost their lives. The Jesuits tried to oppose this powerful assembly with its own
congregation, but without any success. It was perhaps the very large number of
musicians in the Congregazione di San Giorgio that prompted a split in 1667
between the ‘Maestri sonatori di corde’ and the ‘Sonatori di fiato e di tromboni’;
the latter transferred to the Chiesa di San Nicola alla Carità, adopting the chapel of
the original musical confraternity of 1569. This division was reasserted in 1681
and in 1721 (winds) and 1723 (strings).103 Even the musicians of the Real Cappella
had their own exclusive assembly, dedicated to S. Cecilia, for which

documentation exists from 1655 (according to old Spanish practice, the musicians
of the Palazzo took revenues from silk or tobacco). There was also a congregation
for the makers of strings for lute and other stringed instruments. It seems that many
Neapolitan musicians remained associated with San Giorgio Maggiore at least until
1701, the year in which an oratorio was performed by a member of the
confraternity, Nicola Sabino, on the most important feast of musicians, S. Casimiro
(4 March).
Apart from these professional confraternities, to which all the most important
non-aristocratic musicians in Naples belonged, there were numerous artisan
confraternities that patronized musical performances in their churches or religious
centres or during public processions. Some of these had their own cappelle and
maestri, while others relied on bringing in musicians, whether professionals or
students from the conservatoires. It was one of these confraternities, that of the
Cavalieri di San Luigi di Palazzo, that led to the commission of certainly the most
famous sacred composition by a Neapolitan, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater (1736),
which marked the climax of the tradition of using this particular sequence in
Naples.
Other churches104
There were many other Neapolitan institutions, chiefly religious ones, that were
active in music, especially from the end of the sixteenth century. They included
churches associated with the foreign communities, in particular S. Giacomo degli
Spagnoli (which, together with the other Spanish chapels of S. Diego and of the
Solitaria, was responsible for one of the most important processions of the city
with music and torches),105 and also those of the different religious orders: the
Chiesa del Gesù Nuovo and the Collegio Gesuitico dei Nobili,106 S. Domenico
Soriano, the Carmine Maggiore, S. Gregorio Armeno (which still owns an
important collection of music),107 the convents of S. Maria la Nova (seat of a
flourishing music school which included among its teachers Giovanni Piscione de
Avellis and Attanasio da Pisticci) and of SS. Severino e Sossio, of S. Chiara and of
Monteoliveto.108 Even the smallest chapels of the some 500 churches in Naples
would seem to have used music if we are to believe the number of surviving
organs.
Theatres and stanze di commedia109
During the first half of the seventeenth century, Naples had only theatres for
spoken plays (stanze di commedia), where both Italian and Spanish companies of
the commedia dell’arte performed comedies. Around 1618 the Ferrarese troupe of
Pier Maria Cecchini inaugurated the Teatro della Commedia Nuova ai Fiorentini
(later known as Teatro de’ Fiorentini), while the Neapolitan Silvio Fiorillo (the
creator of the character of Pulcinella and father of the first Scaramouche) was
active in North Italian theatres. In the following decades, the Teatro de’ Fiorentini
often hosted Spanish companies, receiving the name of ‘Commedia spagnola’.
There were also other stanze in the city, never used for musical performances: S.
Giorgio dei Genovesi (destroyed in 1620), the ‘Stanza della Duchesca’, the
‘Giardino di Porta Capuana’, and the ‘Stanza della Porta della calce’.110 In
competition with the Fiorentini, in 1621 the governors of the S. Casa degli
Incurabili opened the Teatro di S. Bartolomeo, where they offered plays by
Neapolitan authors, often in Neapolitan. The Incurabili had the jus repraesentandi,
receiving official support for its activity similar to the situation of the corrals in
Madrid. From 1654 the Teatro S. Bartolomeo began to offer ‘opere in musica’,
only after the opening of the Palazzo Reale to this kind of musical spectacle. In the
case of works written for other non-Neapolitan opera houses, it was usually
necessary to rework the original structure, in order to introduce the elaborate
machines used by such scene-directors as the ‘architetto’ Giovan Battista Balbi and
his Neapolitan followers, the members of Delle Chiavi family. When it was
destroyed by fire in 1681 (its first fire), S. Bartolomeo had a typical rectangular
structure, with three levels of boxes. It was rebuilt in 1682, then in 1696 (this time
to be made larger and to increase the rows of boxes to five), and again in 1699
under the supervision of Ferdinando Galli-Bibiena. S. Bartolomeo served as the
only opera theatre in Naples until the opening of the new Teatro de’ Fiorentini for
opera in around 1707, and it was demolished just before the opening of the Real
Teatro di S. Carlo in 1737.
The Palazzo Reale hosted the first attempts in opera in Naples in 1650, when
viceroy Oñate invited the company of Febi Armonici to participate in the festivals
after subduing the Masaniello uprising in 1648. The performances were given in
the ‘Palonnetto’ pavilion, transformed into a theatre with boxes. Until the
beginnings of the Bourbon age (1734), both the theatre in the Real Palazzo and S.
Bartolomeo offered opera seasons. A seasonal open-air theatre in the Largo di
Castello hosted comedies and later, parodies of melodrammi, sometimes involving
puppets.
Apart from the theatres which opened to a paying public, there were private
performances in palaces and gardens of the Neapolitan nobility. Indeed, the first
real opera performed in Naples, Galatea by the Roman Loreto Vittori, was given in
1644 in the palace of the Prince of Cariati. The Villa Cicinelli of Prince Cursi, in
the seafront of Mergellina, was the site of the première in 1674 of Provenzale’s
Stellidaura vendicante. Many other similar performances in private palaces are
reported in the Giornali di Napoli.111
Musical instrument makers112
This specific subject requires a more extensive discussion than is possible here.
Except in the case of singers, musical instruments are the tools of the professional
musician; thus evidence of instrument makers in Naples can reveal a great deal
about musical life in the city.
Stefano Romano has produced a useful catalogue of organs built in Naples
before 1700, of which only a small number survive.113 One can make a simple
calculation. Given that no Neapolitan church was without an organ—and, after
1600, most had two, opposite each other—it seems that there were some 500
organs being used in the city. Organ-building had flourished in Naples since the
Aragonese period, leading to the diffusion of Neapolitan organs throughout the
Spanish dominions. As for other instruments, research is still in progress. The
forty-four harpsichord makers and twenty surviving Neapolitan instruments of the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries catalogued by Francesco Nocerino represent a
very incomplete list given the wide diffusion of such instruments in private houses
and even in the convents and monasteries.114 There were also in Naples famous
makers of lutes, guitars and other stringed instruments (in the early seventeenth
century some of them were German).115
During the seventeenth century, the ‘Mastri fabbricatori di corde armoniche’
convened in an assembly to save their tradition in a moment of crisis due to the
high costs of animal catgut and silk.116 Every cappella had people enrolled to
maintain and repair instruments: an organaro and a cembalaro in the Real
Cappella, but also a violinaro and a trombonaro in the conservatoires (in particular
S. Onofrio and the Turchini).117 As for the importance of wind instruments during
the seventeenth century, we need only mention the famous ‘Musici di
Castelnuovo’, a band of wind players (‘Sonatori di tromboni, ciaramelle e
cornetti’) for the most part members of the same family, the Anzalonis.118 Other
important traces of wind instruments in Neapolitan society are the ‘Suonatori delle
galee’, heard by Bouchard in 1632, and the diffusion of the sordellina (the
Neapolitan pipe).119 The lack of systematic in-depth research into musical
iconography in Spanish Naples prevents any comprehensive evaluation of the
typology and diffusion of instrumental ensembles. We can reconstruct the latter, in
part, only through documentary evidence (payments and rolls of the main chapels).
Music teaching120
Music teaching took place in three forms in Naples: privately in the home; within
religious institutions (including the seminaries); and in the conservatoires. They
coexisted even as the conservatoires took shape in the first decades of the
seventeenth century, but the latter never totally dominated. The legal wording of
contracts for private teaching between a master and one or more pupils was also
used—with some variations—within the conservatoires.
Keith Larson lists twenty-nine surviving contracts or payment registrations
(1506–1640) for private music teaching in Naples.121 Just fourteen of these come
from the seventeenth century, five dating from before the death of viceroy Pedro de
Toledo; thus we do not have a representative enough sample to discern long-range
trends. But we can get some idea of average fees paid to musicians by nobles or
richer members of the middle class to teach their own children or relatives.
Between 1551 and 1559, the payment ranged from 13 carlini to 15 ducats for one
year’s lessons.122 The following years saw this rate increase significantly: in 1579
lessons cost 6 ducats per month; in 1612 the annual total was 40 ducats (and in one
case was 30 ducats for five months, i.e., almost 70 ducats per annum).
Church-based music schools emerged in Naples, as elsewhere in Italy, as a
consequence of the Council of Trent, but they also had an immediate impact on the
production of civic music in ways that contrast significantly with other Italian and
European cities. The seminary in Naples, annexed to the Duomo, was founded in
1568 with a maestro di canto (paid 54 ducats per annum plus a room); it had fifty-
five to sixty young pupils aged twelve or more, with a ‘large room in which to
teach singing and music lessons, and for academies and recreation’.123 We lack
documents on music in the seminary prior to 1647, the year in which the maestro
di canto was paid 60 ducats. In the following decades, there was both a maestro di
canto and a maestro di musica, paid respectively 48 and 36 ducats per annum.124
Here, as in many other Neapolitan religious institutions, the study of music was
just part of a more general education linked to the training of individuals destined
to take a leading role in the Neapolitan Curia. The term ‘seminary’ was, oddly
enough, used also to indicate the music school in the S. Casa dell’Annunziata from
the second half of the sixteenth century, even if in this great institution there
coexisted private teaching between maestro and pupil and lessons given to poor
girls and nuns. From the end of the sixteenth century, all the most important
religious houses (the so-called ‘ordini riformati’) opened similar schools that also
provided the study of music or at least of singing. The most famous examples are
the Oratorio dei Filippini, the various Jesuit institutions (in as early as 1603,
sixteen young pupils of the Jesuit school in Naples performed and sang intermedi
for a Latin tragedy) and the Franciscan convent of S. Chiara and the monastery of
S. Maria La Nova. In the latter was employed Giovanni Piscione de Avellis, the
author of the most important Neapolitan musical treatise of the seventeenth
century, printed posthumously in Rome in 1657.125 Piscione’s successor as maestro
in S. Maria La Nova, Attanasio da Pisticci, also wrote treatises on music theory
and thus reinforced the significance of this institution as a centre for music
teaching.126 This church and its annexed monastery were part of the numerous
Franciscan buildings in Naples. This religious order was the most common among
the sixty or so chapels in which musical activity is documented. It is not surprising
that the authors of the surviving musical treatises published (or compiled) in
seventeenth-century Naples were for the most part members of the Franciscan
Order.
From the middle of the sixteenth century some of the many charitable institutions
called conservatorii (orphanages, or hostels for reformed prostitutes and spinsters)
began to specialize in teaching music, perhaps following the success of the S. Casa
dell’Annunziata. This may have been encouraged by the fact that the increasing
levels of musical activity in the city—not least because of the building of new
churches and chapels—created a demand that exceeded the supply of available
professional musicians. This soon fundamentally changed the nature of these
conservatoires, which in turn began to accept non-orphaned boys sent by families
from throughout the Kingdom of Naples in the hope that they would enter a musical
career and thus have some security in a period of significant economic crisis. It is no
coincidence that, similarly, the number of those taking up a religious vocation in
Naples increased significantly, such that by the early seventeenth century priests and
other religious people numbered some 30,000, roughly 10 per cent of the entire
population. In addition to the aforementioned S. Casa dell’Annunziata, there were
four conservatorii that gained a special reputation for music, although there were
others, including several for women, that await further research.
The oldest was the Conservatorio di Santa Maria di Loreto,127 where payments
were made for musicians already in 1545–49, even if the first maestri seem to have
been appointed only in 1586–88. A maestro di cappella is recorded only from
1633, while there are payments for maestri of the cornet and violin from 1634.
This institution had 104 ‘figliuoli’ in 1586, even if we cannot say that they were all
music students. Most of the early maestri di cappella are obscure, but Francesco
Provenzale held the position from 1663 to 1675. The success of the Conservatorio
di Loreto under Provenzale was such that in 1667 no new pupils were admitted
because the number of those enrolled exceeded 100, although by 1670 there were
150. From 1658 to 1703, the surviving registers list over 600 students, even if not
all of them completed their studies.
The ‘convittori’ in the Conservatorio di Loreto paid some 10 ducats per annum
until 1668, when the amount increased significantly to 30 ducats and then was
reduced (after 1685) to about 23–25 ducats. Many students sought on the grounds
of indigence a reduction in the fees (which was always granted).
The maestro di cappella was paid on average 10 ducats per annum from 1650;
Provenzale received 12, with his two successors (who split the position) being paid
6 each. Besides the maestro di cappella, payments were made to other maestri, of
which there were always at least two: one for wind instruments (in the first half of
the century, for trumpet and trombone, then cornet or bassoon), and the other for
violin (in some years also for lute and violoncello). Only rarely do we find other
salary payments for maestri di canto and other specialists.
At the beginning of the seventeenth century the Conservatorio di S. Onofrio a
Capuana128 was founded by the confraternity of the same name which dated back to
1578. We have no information on specific musical activity before 1653, when
eleven paying students and one ‘mastricello’ were registered, and when the first
maestro di canto helping the maestro di cappella appears. Its early maestri were
not very distinguished, but later in the century S. Onofrio was able to compete with
the other conservatoires thanks to maestri such as Ziani, Caresana and Fago. In
addition to the maestro di cappella we find maestri of the violin and cornet. During
the seventeenth century, the Conservatorio di S. Onofrio specialized in providing
young students with the opportunity of taking part in civic processions and in the
performance of oratorios. Most of the registers and similar documents are lost,
preventing a detailed statistical study as might be carried out for other Neapolitan
conservatoires.
The Conservatorio di S. Maria della Pietà dei Turchini129 originated as an
orphanage in 1583, in the Chiesa dell’Incoronatella. By the end of the sixteenth
century, rooms had been acquired close to the church to accommodate young
students, and the institution’s musical development from the early seventeenth
century was quite exceptional. The first maestro di musica was just a priest, but his
successor took on the mantle of official maestro di cappella: Giovan Maria Sabino
was first in a succession of prestigious composers and teachers including, among
others, Francesco Lambardi, Giovanni Salvatore, Provenzale and Fago. Like the
other conservatoires, the Turchini had just one maestro for stringed instruments
(usually a violinist save for the occasional presence of a lutenist), and one for all
the wind instruments.
The average period of study was similar to that of the other conservatoires, and
also to the figure given in 1770 by Charles Burney with reference to Niccolò
Piccinni: students were generally accepted from the age of eight onwards, and they
stayed for about ten years, entering their professional career around the age of
twenty. It was possible for older students (up to the age of twenty) to enter, but in
such cases, as today, they had to demonstrate that they had already acquired
significant musical skills. The size of the student population can be gauged by a
curious piece of information, the number of shoes ordered by the administrators. In
1682 there were 105 children ‘to provide shoes for’, and in 1684, 80. But it is not
clear when and if the children had new shoes provided for them as they grew. The
annual fee for the tuition in Turchini ranged from 12 ducats (in 1688) to 20 ducats
(1711). At least 169 children were admitted from 1677 to 1713, to judge by the
surviving contracts.
Since its foundation in 1599, the Conservatorio dei Poveri di Gesù Cristo130 was
the only one subject to the direct control of the Curia Arcivescovile in Naples
which initially considered it to be a seminary.131 The first music teacher was
Giovanni De Antiquis in 1606, but it is only from 1633 that this position appears to
have been stable. Around 1644 the conservatoire had a yearly budget of about
1,000 ducats for ‘various music and processions, esequies and services of the
children’ (‘diverse musiche et processioni, esequie et servitii de’ figlioli’). From
that period the maestri were famous enough to resist competition from the other
conservatoires in Naples. Its strategic position, opposite the Chiesa dei Girolamini
and close to the Duomo with the Cappella del Tesoro di S. Gennaro, supported a
continuous artistic exchange. Here, too, there was just one maestro for stringed
instruments and one for wind. The average number of students (again based on the
purchase of shoes) for the years 1673–78 increased from about fifty to seventy
(with an interesting distinction between the ‘provided shoes for forty big ones and
eighteen small ones’ (‘calzata di 40 grandi e 18 piccoli’ in 1675), up to ninety in
1692.132
There were other musical institutions similar to the main conservatoires but their
activity was somewhat episodic and less influential. The most interesting case is
the so-called Conservatorio di S. Gennaro dei Poveri, a poorhouse established by
the viceroys after the 1656 plague and in which from 1670, there was also a
‘seminario’ of music for poor children that lasted just a few years. It was closed by
1702, and its students were transferred to the (non-musical) Conservatorio di S.
Gennariello. Around 1673, fifteen children ‘who had come out of the
Conservatorio di S. Gennaro’ (‘usciti dal Conservatorio di San Gennaro’) were
admitted to the Conservatorio dei Poveri di Gesù Cristo, presumably to get better
training in music.133
We currently know very little about the female conservatoires in Naples, or
music teaching in the female convents and other charitable institutions.134 But there
is evidence to suggest that the phenomenon existed, if not on the scale of the more
famous examples in Venice. For example, during the seventeenth century music
was taught and performed in the conservatoire for girls close to the Chiesa dello
Spirito Santo, a charitable institution managed directly by one of the most
important Neapolitan public banks, the Banco di Santo Spirito, which in turn
depended on the rich and influential Confraternità dei Bianchi. Keith Larson notes
that in the first decades of the seventeenth century in Naples, there were twenty-
one similar conservatoires for girls, and for some of them we know of musical
activities,135 despite the not uncommon scandal connected to musical activity in the
convents.136
Historical studies of the cost of living in the Kingdom of Naples during the
Spanish age have not yet focused significantly on music and musicians. However,
we do have some incomplete data. For example, an analysis of the finances of the
Conservatorio dei Poveri di Gesù Cristo for the years 1673–78 reveals 1,387
‘servizi musicali’ (performances), half of which were for churches and chapels in
Naples and its environs, 30 per cent for chiefly civic institutions, and 20 per cent
for monasteries and convents, with an infrequent number also in private houses.137
Most involved singing Mass and, to a lesser extent, Vespers and motets. In the 30
per cent of cases we find the participation of children in processions; a few
examples refer specifically to theatrical performances.
The places of performance in effect proceed around the whole map of sacred
institutions in Naples and in nearby cities. Performances were commissioned by 26
Neapolitan institutions, and they took place in 106 locations, and this, it should be
emphasized, represented the activity of only one of four Neapolitan conservatoires
over a six-year period. Documents published below, related to Provenzale and his
circle, offer a preliminary contribution to the understanding of the role and value of
a musician in Neapolitan society.
Music publishing138
The total number of the musical editions printed in Naples during the two centuries
of Spanish domination is 244, excluding reprints, lost or undatable editions,
chantbooks commissioned by the Curia (including a series of liturgical books
edited by Matteo Dello Schiavo in 1684–85) and the numerous editions by
Neapolitan composers or dedicated to Neapolitan patrons issued elsewhere (until
1600, chiefly in Venice).
The general data offered by Angelo Pompilio reveal the relative insignificance
of Neapolitan music prints compared with the 4,232 music books printed in
Venice from 1551 to 1650.139 But the figure for Naples becomes more important
given that the total of non-Venetian Italian music prints for this same period is
just 1,284.
The Neapolitan output comprises 122 secular titles (108 in the years 1601–50)
and 75 sacred ones (61 in 1601–50), plus 25 prints of instrumental music (13 for
1601–50) and 22 of music theory (16 for 1601–40). We have only 30 Neapolitan
music prints from before 1600,140 200 from the first half of the seventeenth century
and 16 from between 1650 and 1700. Of course, other music books were available
in Naples; quite apart from the normal mechanisms for book distribution
throughout Italy in this period, a number of Venetian printers had their own official
representatives in Naples (the reverse also occurred). It is clear that the
predominance of editions of secular vocal music (villanellas and madrigals) until
the sudden decline in 1634141 is due chiefly to the presence in Naples of a high
number of aristocrats interested in music,142 while the other categories reflect

principally (but not exclusively) commissions from religious and teaching
institutions, which increased significantly during the first decades of the
seventeenth century.
None of the Neapolitan print-shops focused exclusively on music.143 But we
know about fifteen firms printing music during the entire seventeenth century:
Giacomo Stigliola (1593–1600)

Giovan Giacomo Carlino (alone or associated with A. Pace or C. Vitale: 1598–1616)
Giovanni Battista Sottile (1603–08)
Tarquinio Longo (1603–08)
Giovanni Francesco Paci (1656–1702)144
Giovanni Battista Gargano and Lucretio Nucci (1609–21)
Giovanni Domenico Roncagliolo (1610)
Lazzaro Scoriggio (1614–36)
Costantino Vitale (1616–23)
Ottavio Beltrano (1620–47)
Egidio Longo (1640)
Cesare Luciolo (1650)
Pietro Paolini and Giuseppe Ricci (1650–54)
Novello and Giuseppe De Bonis (1679–1700)
Domenico Antonio Parrino and Michele Luigi Muzio (1696–99)
The most long-lived and prolific printers in the age of Provenzale, Beltrano and
De Bonis, were both ‘stampatori arcivescovili’, and they were active in the same
building in S. Domenico Maggiore as their predecessors Roncagliolo and
Bonino.145
We do not have many contracts relating to music printing in Naples. In 1587 the
bookseller Scipione Riccio paid 43 ducats to print in Venice 200 copies of a book
of Mottetti e messe (now lost). In 1689, Francesco Provenzale paid on his own
behalf 42 ducats for 500 copies of his only printed work, the Mottetti a due voci
diverse, dedicated to the Eletti della Fidelissima Città di Napoli as a sign of
gratitude for his nomination as maestro of the Tesoro di S. Gennaro (only two
copies survive).
We must also consider the production and circulation of musical manuscripts,
the most important form of diffusion after the crisis in music printing in the 1620s.
There is only occasional evidence concerning the cost of music paper, payments
for copyists (for the most part pupils and mastricelli of the conservatoires) and,
generally, the role of manuscripts in the musical economy of Naples. Very few
music manuscripts compiled in Naples before 1600 survive (leaving aside liturgical
chantbooks, which should be considered separately).146 We know of two theoretical
treatises, some works scattered in Italian libraries (and abroad) and some
interesting examples surviving in the Archivio della Chiesa di S. Gregorio Armeno
in Naples, including three anonymous polyphonic Masses.
During the seventeenth century, the production of manuscripts would seem to
have increased significantly: there are more than 500 seventeenth-century
compositions now preserved in the Archivio dei Girolamini in Naples, and they are
for the most part autographs of the greatest Neapolitan masters. To these we can
add some hundreds of manuscripts, some preserved in Naples in the Conservatorio
di S. Pietro a Majella, S. Gregorio Armeno and the Biblioteca Nazionale; others at
Montecassino; some in the Milan conservatoire and many others elsewhere in
Spain and the rest of Europe. Most of these manuscripts, inevitably, comprise
sacred music, which was the predominant focus of Neapolitan musical life in the
seventeenth century.
The value of the musician in seventeenth-century Naples
The number of musicians active in Naples in relation to the overall population in

the sixteenth century is impossible to calculate given the lack of any systematic
documentation. For the following century, however, an estimate may be attempted,
based on the more consistent information concerning the various main musical
institutions which has come down to us.
One useful source of evidence is the record of the numbers of people who died
of the plague in 1656. These included 150 of the 300 musicians of the
Congregazione di S. Giorgio Maggiore (50 per cent); 83 out of 100 at the
Conservatorio di Loreto (83 per cent); all 300 of the Conservatorio della Pietà dei
Turchini (100 per cent); and 20 out of 38 members of the Real Cappella del
Palazzo (49 per cent). We can also draw some inferences from the numbers of new
professionals admitted to the musical job-market in Naples. The average student
population of the four conservatoires must have been more than 500 per annum.
New entrants numbered over 100, but many presumably left before completing
their studies (some 40 per cent never completed their eight years). Most of the
professional musicians were priests, a supplementary advantage to finding a job in
a city full of churches, as the autobiography by Bonifacio Pecorone (1729) well
reveals.
As for the value of a musician in the financial setting of late sixteenth- and early
seventeenth-century Naples, the data available are unfortunately so fragmentary as
to provide only a bare indication. Historians who examined the now-lost account
books in the Archivio di Stato in Naples and in other libraries before the Second
World War were more interested in names and musical events than in mere listings
of payments, but some useful information can still be gleaned from their findings.
The total annual budget of the richest ensemble in Naples, the Real Cappella di
Palazzo (including its non-musical members: Cappellano Maggiore, six chaplains,
two diaconi, one sagrestano, two aiuti), was 834 ducats in 1558, 958 ducats in
1591, 8,000 ducats in 1594, 6,400 ducats in 1658 and 5,200 ducats in 1684. A
document entitled Ristretto del bilancio generale dello esatto, e pagato delle
intrate reali del Regno di Napoli per l’anno 1665 (MS in GB-Lbl Add. 20,924, f.
80 ff) shows that out of a total for the kingdom of 2,316,476 ducats, the cost of the
Royal Chapel was just over 6,468 ducats per year. In the same register can be
found the Spesa per il Culto divino e celebratione di messe nelli Castelli di Napoli
e Regno, regie audienze, e Palazzo de Vicaria etiam nella Settimana Santa, for a
total of 1,880 ducats (f. 85v), a significant proportion of the total budget of some
10,000 ducats at the viceroy’s disposal.
Difficult Decades
Provenzale’s career spanned some of the most difficult decades in the entire period
of the Spanish domination of Naples. Between 1630 and 1700 catastrophes of
every type, both natural and military, had severe consequences for the daily life of
the city. Such events also strongly influenced artistic and musical activity and thus
inevitably, the work of Provenzale himself.
In an appendix to the Selva armoniosa. Libro secondo de’ mottetti a due con
varie voci di Gio. Vittorio Maiello maestro di cappella della regal Chiesa di San
Giacomo delli Spagnoli di Napoli ... Novamente dato in luce (Naples, Beltramo,
1632), there is an image of the Virgin Mary, under which is to be found the
following invocation: ‘Virgo Maria per viscera misericordiae tuae libera nos à
bello, fame, peste, & à fulgore, tempestate, & terraemotu’. War, famine, plague,
eruption, storm and earthquake. Although this invocation is modelled on the litanie
delle rogazioni which were popular throughout Southern Italy, the date of
publication of Maiello’s book (1632) has particular resonances with an impressive
series of catastrophes.
Eruption
Just one year after the terrible plague of 1630, there was the most terrifying
eruption of Vesuvius since antiquity (on 16 December 1631), which threatened to
destroy the entire city. This event further established the cult of S. Gennaro, long-
time patron of the city (he appears in the oldest Neapolitan liturgies dating back to
the fourteenth century), who had not been so popular until the eruption. In that
year, for Neapolitan people ‘fulgore’ meant more than just normal lightning,
instead referring to flaming lava. When the lava threatened to destroy the eastern
side of the city, Archbishop Buoncompagni decided to carry the miraculous blood
and head of S. Gennaro in procession. The city of Naples was spared and the
population tended to consider this a miracle by the saint.147 One consequence, and
the most significant for our story, was the creation of the Tesoro di S. Gennaro in
the cathedral, with a musical ensemble purposely formed to add solemnity to the
three annual feasts dedicated to the saint, including one on 16 December
commemorating the eruption halted by ‘glorious Gennaro’. This new feast became
a fixture in the Neapolitan calendar: hymns and polyphonic compositions were
composed and dedicated to the most important patron-saint of the city.
Successive eruptions in July 1660 and 1661 (the latter less strong) did not have
the devastating effect of the one in 1631.148 Nevertheless any new threat from
Vesuvius justified renewed devotion to S. Gennaro. It is no coincidence that S.
Gennaro’s guglia was inaugurated in 1660.149 It was planned by the architect
Fanzago, and (according to Fuidoro) the feasts devoted to the saint in May and
September acquired a renewed importance. Other eruptions in the years 1682,
1685, 1689 and 1694 (and in the following century no less terrible eruptions
occurred in 1707 and 1767) further increased the cult. These events also influenced
Neapolitan literature and the theatre. In Francesco Provenzale’s Lo schiavo di sua
moglie (1672), Sciarra, the Neapolitan gardener, says that he has lost his
grandmother in a recent eruption (I.18):
Vavema è stata accisa My grandmother has been killed

da lo truglio de Vaia ch’è caduto; by the vulcanic lava which has fallen;
et io stongo atterruto and I am terrified
quando veco vecine when I see around me
cose che so’ soggette alle ruine. things that have been brought to ruin.
‘Glorious Gennaro’ was declared patron of the entire Kingdom of Naples in

1663. On this occasion, the Conservatorio di Loreto, directed by Francesco
Provenzale, performed a ‘dramma sacro in musica’ devoted to the saint that came
to be the first in a long series of similar sacred operas (as discussed below).
Storm
Storms might seem less of a danger than volcanic eruptions, but it must be
remembered that a very large part of the Neapolitan lower classes lived almost on
the street without a roof over their heads, while the predominant architecture of the
city, with its buildings four to six storeys high, already noted by Capaccio in 1634
as the highest houses of Europe, was vulnerable to storms and earthquakes,
especially given that these buildings were normally packed with inhabitants.
Storms at sea also threatened supplies that were essential to providing for a large
population crammed between the sea and the mountains. In the Chiesa del Carmine
in 1679, for example, the Eletti della Fidelissima Città organized a solemn
religious ceremony ‘with exquisite music, in gratitude for the storm that had
passed’.150
Earthquake
The Naples area had been famous since Roman times as subject to intense seismic
activity, as is clear in the area of Pozzuoli even today. Vesuvius may have erupted
infrequently, but earthquakes were very common. Scipione Guerra’s Diurnali refer
to three earthquakes in 1622 alone (25 February, 10 April and 6 November) and
then to one on 9 March 1626.
On 5 June 1688 a disastrous earthquake once again sowed destruction in the city
as it was preparing to enjoy the customary summer Spassi.151 Bulifon, after having
meticulously listed the damage to the most important city churches, including the
cathedral and the Casa Professa, adds a description of the festivity that the Jesuits
were nevertheless preparing, quick to claim credit for saving the city from still
worse damage:152
The feast of S. Francesco Xaverio is currently being celebrated with exquisite music,
silverwork of incomparable richness and with all of these fathers’ accustomed
magnificence. To everyone’s wonder, we have truly sensed the power of this honourable
company.
Famine
Famine was not normally a single event that prompted specific festivities dedicated
to celebrating escape from danger; rather, it was a never-ending problem for the
population of Naples during the entire century. There were, however, particularly
critical years caused by bad harvests in the Kingdom of Naples, on which the city
depended, or consequent to wars and other natural catastrophes. The first phase of
the Masaniello Uprising was prompted by high monetary inflation and the
iniquitous taxes applied to all kinds of food. As anthropologists have already
revealed, food plays a prominent role in Neapolitan festivities: carnival processions
and other popular festivities in the city included floats associated with food
providers (butchers, fishermen) and food or wine themselves. Moreover, the
second half of the century saw the first cuccagne, pitiful contests between poor,
starving citizens with food as a prize: it was usual to accompany every display of
power with a generous distribution of food to the population. The commedia
dell’arte character Pulcinella, who is forever hungry, created by the Neapolitan
comedian Silvio Fiorillo at the beginning of the seventeenth century, is emblematic
of a society desperate for food. The image also appears regularly in other secular
and sacred theatrical works.
An intermezzo for an opera performed at the Neapolitan court theatre in 1673
(Boerio’s Il disperato innocente) introduces a typical comic scene based on a
realistic situation (MS in I-Nc Rari, 6.7.3, olim 33.2.22). Of the four characters, the
Calabrese, who as a soldier had fought against the Turks, declares that he is dying
of hunger. While the Neapolitan invites him to lunch, the Spaniard appears and
ruins the feast, triggering off a fight. In the end, the Boy succeeds in fooling all
three, who remain without food.
Plague
The plague of 1630 hit Naples somewhat less severely than cities in Northern Italy.
But the fact that it was followed so quickly by the 1631 eruption of Vesuvius
created a collective psychosis that Naples was being punished for serious offences
against God. This was not unusual. Although the plague in Palermo in 1624–25
was relatively mild, it established the reputation of S. Rosalia as a female patron-
saint of the city. But her cult, concentrated on the great popular festivity in July
(the ‘Festino di Santa Rosalia’ which still takes place today), had to wait for a
further concatenation of events to root itself strongly elsewhere in the Kingdom,
namely the end of the Masaniello Uprising and the liberation from the plague in
1656. Naples was the first city to dedicate specific musical compositions to S.
Rosalia, with the purpose of spreading the cult beyond a Sicilian context; I shall
return to this issue below when discussing La colomba ferita, the oratorio
dedicated to her by Francesco Provenzale in 1670. S. Rosalia was to the plague
what S. Gennaro was to the eruptions of Vesuvius: her power had already been
seen in Palermo, exceeding in 1625 that of so important a saint as Andrea Avellino,
to whom the Theatines had assigned the role of protector. Naples was the ideal
location for confirming the protective role of the Sicilian saint when it was struck
by the plague. The city’s topography invoked all the symbolic elements associated
with S. Rosalia: Vesuvius, already the goal of popular pilgrimages and full of
caves reputed to have magical powers, corresponded to Monte Pellegrino in
Palermo. The reason for her beatification was her withdrawal from the world; she
died not as a martyr but as a perfect example of virginity. Naples already had some
similar, if almost forgotten, saints who provided a model for the cult of the virgin
Rosalia (a fact successfully exploited by the Jesuits, who saw themselves as being
in competition with the Theatines in Palermo). For example, the longest-standing
female patron-saint of Naples was S. Patrizia, a Greek who after a pilgrimage, not
to a mountain but to the Holy City of Jerusalem, died a virgin in Naples, where she
had founded a temple of virgins. The crucial point is that it was easy to merge the
lives of these virgin saint-hermits with the traditional myth of the foundation of
Naples involving Parthenope the virgin siren (who in turn was readily assimilated
to the Virgin Mary).
When in 1656 the plague did indeed assume the dimensions of an unprecedented
catastrophe, Naples promoted S. Rosalia to the highest rank, alongside S. Gennaro
and a saint favoured in Jesuit propaganda, Francesco Saverio. In a painting of 1656
by Mattia Preti (now in the Galleria di Capodimonte, Naples), the three saints
jointly pray to the Virgin Mary for intercession against the plague. The debilitating
length of the epidemic (its acute phase extended from May to December 1656) and
its catastrophic consequences in terms of loss of life had the effect of alienating
these three saints from the affections of the Neapolitans. Francesco Saverio
returned to favour only after 1660, by then mostly considered as a protector from
earthquakes; the cult of S. Rosalia gained renewed strength around 1670, no more
associated with the plague but instead famed for being the prime example of a
virgin; S. Gennaro returned to take care of eruptions, to better effect. Therefore, as
a result of the 1656 plague, the Jesuits missed an opportunity to gain advantage in
their competition against the city’s other religious orders. But Naples lost a great
deal more: nearly two-thirds of its population, some 250,000–270,000 inhabitants
out of a total of 400,000–450,000 died in 1656.153 We have already seen its effects
on Neapolitan musicians.
The Neapolitans attributed the cause of the divine anger that produced the plague
to viceroy Conde de Castrillo’s decision to remove some festivities fixed by long
tradition in the civic calendar. Similar punishment had already been meted out to
those who had tried to ‘cut the court festivities from the calendar’ (‘tor le feste di
Corte dal calendario’). In order to avoid repetition of the danger, a great feast in S.
Maria di Costantinopoli was immediately promulgated to celebrate the definitive
conclusion of the epidemic in December 1656:154 this entered the calendar, adding
one more feast day to an already crowded month.
War
While Northern Italy was not immune to the effects of the Thirty Years’ War, the
Kingdom of Naples had little direct contact with the conflict, for all that it had
contributed significantly to it in economic terms. For the most part, the only
military skirmishes involving Naples were attacks from pirates and bandits, and the
not infrequent clashes with the large Spanish garrison in the city. During
Provenzale’s life, the closest the city came to war was during the Masaniello
Uprising, lasting nine months from 6 July 1647 to April 1648. It was caused by
excessive taxation on food and its origins lay in the popular feast of S. Maria delle
Grazie (7 July).155 The consequences of the uprising for music and spectacle
varied. The musicians of the Real Cappella were unintentional protagonists at its
beginning:156
Counsellor Antonio di Angelo and Fabrizio Cennamo, president of the Camera, were
among those whose homes were burned … The mentioned Cennamo, who had risen
from a lowly origin to so high a rank, was then struck by this mortal tragedy … It
happened that a matter regarding the excise tax on silk, of which Cennamo was a
commissioner, was being discussed in the Camera. The musicians of the royal chapel
were favoured by Genoino, since he wished to hear them sing at his house every day, so
he had the viceroy send them an order that they would be paid in full with revenue from
the excise tax.
Cennamo openly opposed this matter as it would damage those who still had money
invested there; this offended the musicians, especially one called Falconio, an arrogant
man with bad habits and a low way of life, who said that Cennamo could not have a say
because he was suspected by the people, as represented by Falconio and the other
musicians.
Whereupon in order to extricate himself from this obligation, Cennamo, being a
conceited man and eager to take control, together with the Counsellor di Angelo penned a
memorandum to the viceroy, in which they said that their homes had not been burned
down by the people, but by specific enemies who had paid the arsonists and were making
a petition, which would give rise to a trial and would result in appropriate punishment for
whoever had carried out the act.
Two musicians in the service of the Duke of Maddaloni were beheaded by the
rioters.157 Following on the death of Masaniello, an enormous mass of popolani
recited a ‘rosary a Cori’. After his death a cantata was composed in stile recitativo,
to a text by Francesco Melosio (the composer is unknown) which takes as its
subject Masaniello’s wife (Lamento di Marinetta per la morte di Masaniello suo
marito).158 This piece shows some similarities with cantatas and arias attributed to
Provenzale. It is also likely that the Masaniello Uprising forced some Neapolitan
musicians into exile, especially those who had openly associated themselves with
the rioters: the powerful circle of Neapolitan intellectuals and artists in Rome is a
reflection of the situation. One of the most celebrated among them was the painter
Salvator Rosa, who was also a musician raised in the workshop of a Neapolitan
lute maker. Perhaps Provenzale, too, went into exile; this would explain the total
absence of information about him prior to 1658, and also the clear influence of
Roman vocal styles on his theatrical output. The end of the uprising did have some
positive effects on Neapolitan spectacle, since, for example, the festivities that
followed introduced the opera in musica for the first time in Naples. Other
international Spanish successes, including the suppression of the uprising in Spain,
the end of the Thirty Years’ War and the peace concluded with France created
further impetus for Neapolitan festivities. The celebrations for the latter lasted from
1648 to 1650 and were a masterpiece of propaganda on the part of viceroy Oñate,
even though they were officially dedicated to Don Juan of Austria, general-
commander of the victorious army and the natural son of Philip IV of Spain.159
Andrea Falconieri, the new maestro of the Real Cappella who replaced Giovan
Maria Trabaci, who had died as the uprising was in full swing, was one of the
protagonists. In his Primo libro di canzone (Naples, Paolini & Ricci, 1650),
dedicated to Don Juan of Austria, Falconieri published the greater part of the
dances played during the festivities in the Palazzo Reale, with titles in Spanish and
each dedicated to the leading dignitaries of Don Juan’s court.160
Oñate entered Naples in March 1648, coming from Rome, where, as Spanish
ambassador, he had learnt to recognize the efficacy of public spectacles for
political propaganda. The coincidence of the festivities for the wedding of the King
of Spain gave him the opportunity to produce on 4 July 1649, the scenic spectacle
Partenope liberata, a celebration of the viceroy himself who had by now been
liberated of Don Juan’s cumbersome presence (he had been appointed viceroy of
Sicily). From then on, Oñate organized a spectacular event nearly every month; he
was the first viceroy to coordinate the numerous popular festivities of the
Neapolitan year to his own advantage. From 6 April 1650 he established a
celebration in the Chiesa del Carmine to mark the end of the Masaniello Uprising.
Between September and November 1650 the first performance of a Venetian opera
took place at the Palazzo Reale, Didone et incendio di Troia. The pattern was now
established, and in successive decades, save for interruptions owing to the plague,
opera changed the nature of Neapolitan celebration beyond all recognition and had
a profound effect on the careers of the most important Neapolitan musicians. From
then on, the Neapolitan public still participated in battles, but only by way of stage
fiction.
Bandits and pirates, however, remained a constant threat, and the coasts of the
kingdom was particularly prone to attack by Turkish pirates. In 1620 the Turks
occupied Manfredonia for three days, reducing it briefly to slavery; they returned
in 1638, this time to the coast of Calabria. In 1672, during an attack on the coast of
Bari, Turkish pirates captured a number of ships, and owing to the high number of
prisoners they took, viceroy Astorga was forced to establish the Monte di
redenzione dei cattivi to pay their ransom. In popular fantasy, the Turks were to
remain the stuff of nightmares, exorcised in the famous Neapolitan Baroque
Christmas cribs containing Turkish musicians with their characteristic ethnic
instruments. The first masterpiece of the commedia per musica of the eighteenth
century in the Neapolitan language, Li zite ’n galera by Leonardo Vinci (1722),
focuses on a feared invasion by the Turks, ‘che tanta belle cose sanno fare, / e nfra
ll’aute porzì sann’abballare’.161 During the seventeenth century Neapolitans
continued to adopt oriental carnival costume and to perform Moorish dances, as
they had done since the years of Lassus’s stay in Naples earlier in the previous
century. The commedia dell’arte and, later, opera took possession of these
characters and their grotesque transformations so as to produce strong comic
effects. One of the characters in Provenzale’s Lo schiavo di sua moglie (1672)
disguises himself as Selim, a Turkish slave; but a true slave actually served in the
composer’s household.162
Naples’s last contact with war was during the revolt of Messina (1674–78),
which had less effect on daily life than on that of the viceregal court. In 1675 the
situation had reached so crucial a point as to involve the intervention of the French
fleet. Before the war ended, viceroy de Los Velez organized, among other things, a
major propaganda exercise, the first production at the Neapolitan court of an opera
sung entirely in Spanish. This was El robo de Proserpina, with a libretto by
Manuel García Bustamante and an original score by an unknown composer,
probably performed first in Madrid in 1674 and re-arranged for Naples by the
maestro of the Real Cappella, Filippo Coppola (the same work was revived three
years later with the new title of Las fatigas de Ceres, but it did not have any
successors).163 The Spanish victory in Messina was greeted in Naples with huge
festivities that were repeated until 1680, when they coincided with the celebration
of the wedding of King Charles II of Spain.164
Notes
1
On travellers to Naples in the seventeenth century, see Mozzillo 1982; Doria 1984;
Naples. A Traveller’s Companion 1986.
2
See the remarks by Labat, Montesquieu, De Brosses, Burney etc., given in Robinson
1972.
3
See Cervantes’s Viaje de Parnaso (written in 1612) and the Vita e imprese di Stefanello
González uomo di buon umore (1642), as well as Figueroa’s El Pasajero (Doria 1984,
7). Spanish literature of the siglo de oro is full of similar examples.
4
See Naples. A Traveller’s Companion 1986; Capuano 1994; and G. Pagano de Divitiis,
Mercanti inglesi nell’Italia del Seicento. Navi, traffici, egemonie 1990.
5
Take the emblematic title of the guide published by Giulio Cesare Capaccio: Il forastiero
(Naples, Roncagliolo, 1634). Capaccio published no fewer than eight descriptions of
Neapolitan ‘apparati di festa’ from 1613; see Santoro 1986, 109, nos. 460–66.
6
‘Mes principaus auteurs sont Cluverius en son deuxième tome de l’Anciene Italie,
Capacius en son Histoire napolitaine latine, come ausse en son Forastiero, le
Mercurius Italicus et Gio. Antonio Summonte nell’Historia della ci[t]tà et regno di
Napoli’: Bouchard 1977, 237.
7
‘Destano esse [the festivities] moltissima ammirazione per la pompa e la ricchezza,
talvolta sorprendenti delle chiesastiche funzioni, specialmente nella notte del Santo
Natale, così nella Cattedrale che ne la Real Cappella Palatina … Meritano eziandio esser
vedute ed ammirate le funzioni della Settimana Maggiore, le diverse rappresentazioni del
Santo Sepolcro, e tutte le Quarantore della Metropoli nel calendario indicate. La festa
della Pentecoste e del seguente giorno ci porge lo gradito spettacolo di vedere dal ponte
della Maddalena in avanti l’immensa folla che ritorna da Montevergine e dalla Madonna
dell’Arco’: Celano 1692, I, 349; given in Mancini 1968, 11.
8
‘Storia de cient’anne arreto di Velardiniello, stampa popolare (Venezia, 1590)’, 1914.
9
‘Le femmene, la sera de San Gianni, gevano tutte insieme a la marina, a lavarse le
gamme, senza panni, cantanno per la via la romancina’: ‘Storia de cient’anne arreto di
Velardiniello, stampa popolare (Venezia, 1590)’, 1914. This passage disproves
Parrino’s assertion that the first introduction of the feast of S. Giovanni occurred in
1595 to celebrate the arrival of viceroy Olivares (see Mancini 1968, 116).
10
This was a devotional extra-liturgical ceremony consisting of the public display of the
Holy Sacrament for forty hours, divided into three days (the same time as spent by
Jesus in the grave). On the origin and diffusion of the Quarantore in Rome, see Weil
1974.
11
‘A Napoli … fu poi introdotta in Roma li tre ultimi giorni di Carnevale, da Roma poi si
è dilatata per l’Italia, e for d’Italia particolarmente dalla Compagnia di Gesù … Se
introdusse de fare un solenne e ricco apparato di altare con moltitudine de lumi, et altri
ornamenti ecclesiastici, più di quello che era stato solito farsi in Napoli,
accompagnando l’oratione con diversi sermonj e con varij conserti di musica di voce e
de instrumenti’: Borrelli 1968, 358–60. See also Rostirolla 1987, 656.
12
One example, in 1617, shows the typical Quarantore repertory for a performance
attended by the viceroy: ‘Alle 22. hore è venuta [at Santi Apostoli] la signora
Vicereina, e così Sua Eccellenza è uscita ad incontrarla e son venuti insieme dentro la
chiesa con molte dame, e quindi dopo haver sentito un mottetto, se ne sono incarrozzati
la volta di Santa Maria della Vita’ (‘At 22 hours the vicereine came to Santi Apostoli,
and thus His Excellency came out to meet her and they went into the church together
with many ladies, and then after having heard a motet they went by carriage towards
Santa Maria della Vita’) (Zazzera, Giornali, 26 February 1617, given in D’Alessandro
1983, 157).
13
‘Quarantore con musica a quattro cori. Invenzione che fu del Padre Raimo di Bartolo’:
Fuidoro 1934–39, I, 210 (1664).
14
See Raneo 1634, introduction by A. Paz y Meliá, 6.
15
See De Maio 1971; Niola 1995; Niola 1997. On a modern survival see Faeta 1989.
16
On the Spanish ‘Processione della Solitaria’, see Mancini 1968, 111–12.
17
‘La più grandiosa, sontuosa et maestosa che si celebri in tutta Italia’, according to
viceroy Oñate in the middle of the seventeenth century (see Mancini 1968, 112).
18
See Fiordelisi 1904; Mancini 1968, 112.
19
Bouchard 1977, 193.
20
On the celebrations for Madonna dell’Arco, one week after Easter, see De Simone
1979, 75 ff. (on traditional and popular dances); Rak and Giardino 1989 (on devotional
rituals).
21
Bouchard 1977, 397.
22
See Capaccio 1627.
23
This procession is named ‘Quattro Altari’, because all four important religious orders
took part in it: Filippini, Dominicans, Theatines and Carmelites (see Mancini 1968, 111
ff.).
24
The only remark of musical interest on this feast refers to the procession on the
occasion of the octave of S. Sacramento. It takes place at the port where all the
warships are moored ‘sonants leurs trompettes et cornets’ (Bouchard 1977, 401).
25
Bouchard 1977, 401.
26
‘E tra le altre cose degne fu, che alla rua Francesca si fé un catafalco con molti cori di
angeli, che con flauti ed altri istrumenti musicali accordavano quelli a’ canti degli
angeli, che con inni spirituali assordavano quel luogo. E, finito il canto de’ primi, si
vide aprire una come nube, da dove calarono altri angeli similmente cantando e
suonando. E, discesi quelli e continuando la loro armonia, si videro inalzare nella nube
i primi angeli che avevano cantato. Ed in tal modo, mentre assisté S. E. [viceroy Duke
of Alba] con sua comitiva, continuarono la musica, sempre mutando cose nuove’:
Diurnali di Scipione Guerra, 23 June 1624 (f. 81v), quoted also by D’Alessandro 1983,
158.
27
For Neapolitan catafalchi see Mancini 1968, 110–11.
28
‘Giovedì per l’Ottava del Corpus Domini si fè dalla Natione Spagnuola nella propria
chiesa di S. Giacomo la solita Processione, che più dell’usato riuscì vaga, ricca e
suntuosissima … Non vi mancò la Musica, in una famosa Serenata del Regio Maestro
di Cappella Scarlati, con scelte voci, e nobili strumenti’: Gazzetta di Napoli of 7 June
1701, quoted by Griffin 1983, 338–39; Griffin 1991, 3 (no. 144). It has not been
possible to identify this cantata in the established catalogue of Scarlatti’s works.
29
Naples, Carlino and Pace, 1596; repr. Venice, 1600. See Cardamone 1981, I, 118–20;
Rak 1994, Chapter 1, ‘La città musicale’.
30
Costo’s Fuggilotio had thirteen reprints from 1600 to 1788. A modern edition of only
the Prima giornata, ed. by E. Imparato, was published in 1979; the full text is edited by
C. Calenda (Rome, 1989). I consulted the Venice reprint, Barezzi 1602 (copy in GB-
Lbl).
31
Bouchard 1977, 423. Bouchard gives more information on music in the rituals of
Spassi: ‘sitost que la barque du viceroi paroist, toutes les autres s’escartent en mer, luy
donant le bord de la marine, come aussi toutes les musiques cessent quand, le viceroi
passant, la sienne chante; autrement, deus choeurs de musiques se rencontrans, ils font
à l’envi à qui chantera le plus haut et le mieus; il y a aussi grand debat à qui approchera
le plus près de la barque où sera un choeur de musique, laquelle [en] tirera quelquefois
des cinquante et cent autres barques après et autour de soy, si fort serrées les unes
proches des autres qu’il semble que ce ne soit qu’un corps; et c’est un plaisir de voir et
ouir le tumulte des mariniers et des rames quand la barque de la musique veut tourner,
ou qu’il faut faire largue au viceroi’ (p. 424); ‘C’est un plaisir indicible de voir toutes
les marines, les promontoires et les escueils mesme de ceste coste bordez de ces petites
gens, dont les uns banquettent, les autres chantent, autres dansent’ (pp. 424–25).
32
‘Non volea molta conversazione, ma gli piacquero le musiche, e gli spassi di Posillipo’:
Capaccio 1634; quoted from the modern edition, Capaccio 1989, II, 371.
33
A complete list of villanella and canzonetta books printed in Naples is in Larson and
Pompilio 1983. To this we should add such manuscript sources as B-Bc MS olim
17062, Canzonette italiane, e spagnole a tre, et quattro voci di Gio. Maria Trabaci,
maestro della Cappella Reale di Palazzo, con alcun’altre spagnole de diversi Autori
(cited in Larson 1983, 66).
34
See Fabris 2003.
35
According to Nuovo Vogel 1977, I, 369, the only surviving copy in I-Bc is limited to
two out of five partbooks (canto 1 and 2).
36
This corresponds to Palestrina’s five-voice madrigal printed in 1561 (Palestrina Werke,
XXVIII-OC), already celebrated by Vincenzo Galilei in 1568 (Fronimo, Venice, 1568):
‘Quella mirabil canzone di quel grande imitatore della natura, Giannetto da Palestina,
qual comincia Io son ferito’.
37
Critical edition by Enrico Malato (Rome, 1986).
38
See Griffin 1983 and Griffin 1991 on the new Roman taste for serenatas and cantatas
introduced at the time of Alessandro Scarlatti. On the artistic patronage of del Carpio
see also the exhibition catalogue Capolavori in festa 1997.
39
On the Palazzo Donn’Anna as a theatre on the sea see Schipa 1969, 177–85; Cantone
1984, 349–53; Ciapparelli 1987, 401–04.
40
In the modern edition of Posilecheata (1986) E. Malato refers to Imbriani’s edition of
the same work (Naples, 1885) in which was quoted a second feast in Mergellina on the
following 25 August 1685, from a now lost reprint of Posilecheata.
41
On 24 August 1686: ‘Il signor viceré fece festa a Posillipo con musica e fuochi
artificiati (conforme ha fatto ogn’anno nella festività di detto santo) con grandissimo
concorso non solo di cavalieri e dame, ma di popolo civile e minuto’ (Confuorto 1930,
I, 157: italics mine). The first opera theatre in Naples is also dedicated to ‘San
Bartolomeo apostolo’.
42
According to Mancini 1968, 120, this feast ‘non ebbe alcun peso sulla evoluzione
dell’apparato festivo trattandosi di una parata militare’ (‘had no bearing on the
development of the festival apparatus as it consisted of a military parade’).
43
‘En este mes se dispiden las falucas que se han tomado [for the viceroy and his court]
para el passeo de Possilipo’ (Raneo 1634, 71).
44
‘di rappresentare in publico con voci l’attioni de’ santi … il tutto rappresentandosi con
dolce melodia da’ musici … si rappresentarono da’ musici i martirij, morte, e miracoli
del santo’: Notizia di quanto è occorso in Napoli dall’Anno 1662 … scritta dal Dottor
D. Andrea Rubino, III, pp.102, 112, quoted by D’Alessandro 1983, 159.
45
‘Il giorno della festa del Santo il viceré alle 24 ore andò all’arcivescovato a baciare il
suo prezioso sangue, già liquefatto … dov’è posta la guglia con la statua di bronzo del
santo, era un solennissimo teatro, nel quale l’anno passato furono spesi dalla Città
docati tremila in circa; e vi erano più di quattromila lumi e centoquaranta torcie di cera
ogni sera alla guglia con due cori di musica, avanti la quale erano scanni di legno,
dov’erano sentati nobili, popolari e civili a loro senno’: Fuidoro 1934–39, I (1663),
quoted by Strazzullo 1978, 183.
46
Strazzullo 1978, 195. See also Shearon 1993.
47
Raneo records a more recent military celebration: ‘Su Magestad, por su Real carta, ha
mandado çelebrar á los 7 deste mes fiesta en esta Ciudad de Napoles y por todo el
Reyno, por memoria de la Vittoria que tal dia como este tuvo el Serenisimo Señor
Cardenal Infante Don Fernando de Austria en Orlingue quando passava S. A. á Flandes
… y S.E. la començó á celebrar año 1635 en la Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de
Constantinopla’ (Raneo 1634, 71).
48
On the symbolism of resonant signals in Baroque society (‘applausi, spari, fuochi
d’artificio, etc.’), see Stefani 1974, Chapter 1: ‘La Festa’.
49
Confuorto 1930 (1687), quoted by Mancini 1968, 166 (description of ‘carri e
maschere’).
50
Bulifon, on 17 January 1670: ‘secondo il solito si diede l’apertura al Carnevale nel
borgo di S. Antonio Abate con un carro trionfale fatto dalla piazza del Popolo ben
guarnito di pane, con coro di musica sopra … carro trionfale alla Porta Reale, detta
dello Spirito Santo, a Palazzo, carico di cori di musica’ (‘According to the usual custom
Carnival began in Borgo S. Antonio Abate with a triumphal float moving from Piazza
del Popolo, well bedecked with bread and with a chorus of music on top ... a triumphal
float at the Porta Reale, called Spirito Santo, at the Palace, laden with choirs of music’).
Quoted also by Mancini 1968, 171.
51
‘Le Carnaval que je passai à Naples [1776] fut peu brillant. J’en vis cependent assez
pour juger les plaisirs de la nation, et la nation par ses plaisirs’: Sade 1996. He seems
the only one not to be enthusiastic about the Neapolitan carnival. In the words of Sara
Goudar: ‘L’étranger que le hasard, le commerce, ou la curiosité a attiré à Naples pour
jouir du Carnaval est saisi d’étonnement. L’Allemend admire. L’Anglais qui, jusque–là
a cru qu’il n’y a rien en Europe au dessus de la mascarade de Hey Market, cède à celle
de Naples. Le Français convient que les bals de l’Opéra de Paris sont inférieurs à ceux
de S. Charles: et tous conviennent que ce spectacle est un des plus superbes que la
magnificence moderne ait encore présenté aux fastes du siècle’: Sara Goudar, Rélation
historique des divertissements du Carnaval de Naples ou lettre de Madame G. sur ce

sujet (Lucca, 1774), quoted in Naples/Napoli. Ville spectacle du XIVe au XIXe siècle
1999, 92.
52
‘li pazzi degli Incurabili mascherati a Palazzo, guidati da Mastro Giorgio, quale andava
in galessa scoperta galantemente vestito, e fecero ivi alcuni balli da quello ch’erano,
cioè pazzi’: Confuorto 1930 (21 February 1680) and already Fuidoro 1934–39, (17
February 1667). See Mancini 1968, 90.
53
‘Pietro Flamengo il quale preso da contraria fortuna divenne farnetico e scemo di
cervello, né per tal infirmità gli venne meno l’arti del sonare con che si guadagnava il
vivere, tal possanza tiene la virtù (mal grado d’iniqui et ignoranti)’: L’Esercitio de
Nicolò Taglia Ferro (1608), MS in I-Nf SM.XXVIII.1.66, f. 60.
54
‘Venne una frenesia ad Onofrio Gioioso, musico delli primi di questo tempo che
cantava da tenore, che simile Idio lo può creare, et era d’umore melanconico, e diceva,
che lui era morto, e perciò non voleva più cantare, e pur viveva’: Fuidoro 1934–39, I
(June 1660).
55
Pietro Antonio Giramo is described as ‘napoletano’ in his musical sources. Apart from
two compositions in collections printed in 1619–20, all his surviving monographic
prints are preserved together in I-Fn: Arie a più voci … primo libro di varie partite, op.
2 (Naples, Beltrano, 1630 on the colophon); Il pazzo con la pazza ristampato et uno
Hospedale per gl’infermi d’amore (post 1630). The two cantatas, reprinted together in
the last print cited, gained a certain reputation as La pazzia, for it is copied in several
Roman manuscripts compiled around 1640: US-E MS Mus.1 (‘Pazzia venuta da Napoli
del Giramo’); I-Rvat Chigi Q.VI.86; and F-Pn Rés. Vm7 59/102, II, f. 47 (Chi non mi
conosce dirà, text by M. Savioni).
56
Simone Coya was possibly a relative of Donatello Coya, a famous castrato singer of the
Neapolitan Real Cappella, killed by the plague of 1656. Simone was born in Gravina
(in Apulia) and for a while he was imprisoned in Rome. He published L’amante
impazzito (Milan, Camagni, 1679) and Mottetti a 1 e 2 voci con violini, op. 2 (only a
manuscript copy survives in F-Pn Collection Brossard).
57
‘Seguì un carro Trionfale fabbricato da Marinari a somiglianza del mare su la cima del
quale sedeva il Dio Nettuno attorniato da molte Sirene, e Ninfe, e gionto sotto i balconi
di S.E. [the viceroy] dopo aver cantato alcuni mottetti in lode della medesima,
cominciarono a gittar da sopra a basso tanta quantità e diversità di pesci, che molti se
ne provvidero per Quaresima’: Confuorto 1930 (26 January 1681); Parrino, Avvisi, 26
February 1686, 41 (quoted by Mancini 1968, 171).
58
‘Portando tutti strumenti musicali nelle mani, cioè violini, chitarre, lire, cetre, tiorbe,
tamborrini, fischetti, sampogne, e cornetti, accompagnavano con la melodia i balli’
(‘Holding all their musical instruments, that is violins, guitars, lyres, zithers, theorbas,
drums, pipes, bagpipes and cornets, they accompanied the dances with a melody’):
Notizia di quanto è occorso in Napoli dall’anno 1648 […] scritta dal Dr. D. Andrea
Rubino (9 February 1653), 84, quoted together with Zazzera, Giornali (22 February
1618) by D’Alessandro 1983, 164.
59
In the context of the political propaganda of court festivals, full and detailed lists of
musical events were not considered fundamental during the early Baroque age. See
Carter 2000a, 89–104.
60
Carlo Antonio Sammarco, Giornale e sommario del giorno che entrarono in Capua
l’Arme Imperiale con tutto quello che succede alla giornata dalli 11 di luglio 1707 per
tutto la giornata doggi, MS in I-Nn XIII.B.87.
61
The eighth patron, S. Tomaso d’Aquino, elected on 19 January 1605, was the
protagonist of a ceremony in which the Eletti della Città signed a contract with the saint
‘per lo quale si dichiarava ch’essi in nome di tutti gli altri accettavano S. Tomaso
d’Aquino per ottavo protettore; e ciò fatto, con solenne giuramento la moltitudine del
popolo confirma lo stesso con applauso e giubilo universale, cantandosi il Te Deum a
suon d’organi, di campane, d’artiglieria’ (‘which declared that in the name of all the
others, they accepted S. Tomaso d’Aquino as the eighth patron; and thus done, the
populace solemnly swore and confirmed the same with applause and universal
jubilation, singing the Te Deum to the sound of the organs, bells and the shooting of
artillery’) (Cronicamerone di Antonio Bulifon, quoted in D’Alessandro 1983, 154).
62
Neapolitan noblewomen rebelled against this usage, considering it a scandalous
vulgarization of the religion: Niola 1995, 16.
63
Niola 1995, 18.
64
Strazzullo 1978, 182. See also Capaccio 1631; listed in Santoro 1986, no. 466.
65
Paranze and flotte were the typical groups of conservatoire students to be seen during
the procession in Naples. See Chapter 3.
66
Giornali di Francesco Zazzera, quoted in D’Alessandro 1983, 157.
67
La sacra Sirena o vero Partenope festante per la solennità del B. Gaetano Tiene
fondatore della religione di RR. PP. Chierici regolari, celebrata l’anno 1654 a 7
d’agosto 1654; Relatione delle feste celebrate in Napoli nella solennità del glorioso B.
Gaetano Thiene fondatore de C. R. nell’anno 1660 1660; Santoro 1986, nos. 2,477 and
2,236.
68
Breve raguaglio delle feste fatte in Napoli per la canonizzazione di San Francesco di
Borgia 1671, Santoro 1986, no. 360.
69
On S. Pietro di Alcantara see Mancini 1968, 114; Relatione delle solennità fatte in
Napoli in honore di S. Francesco Saverio Apostolo delle Indie (Naples, di Fusco,
1657); Santoro 1986, no. 2,239.
70
Il Campidoglio festivo per la canonizzazione del glorioso S. Pasquale Baylon.
Panegirico ... Giovanni di Santa Maria ... attuale diffinitor generale di tutto l’Ordine
Serafico 1691; Santoro 1986, no. 182.
71
‘Il viceré fu a tener cappella a Santa Maria Nuova, dove istituì la festa con musica e
prediche per otto giorni per la ratificazione fatta dal papa delle altre bolle della disputa
dell'Immacolata Concezione’: Fuidoro 1934–39, II, 109 (1662).
72
Journal d’un voyage de France et d’Italie fait par un gentil-homme français (Paris,
1677), extract translated into Italian in Doria 1984, 11.
73
Raneo 1634, passim. In Diurnali di Scipione Guerra (p. 171) in the year 1625 mention
is made of the ‘festino’ in the Royal Palace for the Infante’s birthday.
74
Before Charles’s birth, his brother’s was already celebrated in Naples with impressive
festivals in 1658–59. See Castaldo [1658]; listed in Santoro 1986, no. 631; Cirino 1659;
Santoro 1986, no. 1,180.
75
Castaldo [1661]); listed in Santoro 1986, no. 628.
76
‘Ordinò egli, in questo luogo, ogni estate, due meravigliosissime feste, sopra il mare,
per solennizzare i nomi delle due Regine, madre e regnante’: Posilecheata di Pompeo
Sarnelli [1684], quoted in Griffin 1983, 90.
77
Fuidoro 1934–39, I, 186 (1663) and 287 (1665). The celebrations for S. Anna would
continue until the end of the century: see Relatione della famosissima festa nel giorno
della gloriosa S. Anna a 26 luglio 1699. Per solennizzare il nome, che ne porta la
Maestà ... Maria Anna di Neoburgo ... fatta celebrare [da] Don Luigi Dela Cerda, e
D’Aragona Duca di Medina Celi ... viceré (Naples, Parrino, Cavallo and Mutii, 1699);
Santoro 1986, no. 2,227.
78
‘Festa di Sant’Anna, con musica a quattro cori ed apparato assai sontuoso...Ed in molte
altre chiese di Napoli fecero festa, a segno che la musica venne meno in molte chiese
non ostante la numerosa quantità di musici che sono in Napoli’: Fuidoro 1934–39, II,
21 (1666).
79
For the birthday of viceroy Peñaranda’s son see I presagi, drama allegorico che si
recita dalla camera de più piccioli nel Seminario de Nobili della Compagnia di Giesù;
in congratulatione del figlio maschio nato all’Eccellentissimo Signor Conte di
Pegnoranda viceré, spiegato col suo argomento e scenario ... [da] Diomede Carafa
d’Aragona (Naples, Passaro, 1661); Santoro 1986, no. 563.
80
In some cases viceroys took the occasion of the name-day of kings or queens to
organize a self-celebration otherwise not appropriate. See La Fenice gloriosa, ovvero
Pusillipo rinato alla venuta del gran Marchese d’Astorga nuovo viceré ... Descrittione
d’una real festa fatta fare il dì 24 1672 di luglio dal Conte D. Orazio d’Elci ... ad
honore del ... nome della Regina (Naples, n.d. [1672]); Santoro 1986, no. 1,166.
81
See the Relazione by Provenzale’s collaborator Castaldo 1680. In addition: Il Sebeto
festante per gli sponsali della Maestà Cattolica di Carlo Secondo nostro Signore con la
Serenissima Maria Anna di Neoburgo ... Conte di San Stefano viceré 1689; Napoli
alata. Introduzione al ballo de la torcia per le nozze regali famosamente celebrate
dall’eccellentissimo Marchese de los Velez viceré (Naples, 1680); Parrino, L’ossequio
tributario della Fedelissima Città di Napoli, per le dimostrazioni giulive, nei regii
sponsali del ... Monarca Carlo Secondo colla ... Principessa Maria Anna di Neoburgo
... Ragguaglio historico 1690; listed in Santoro 1986, nos. 629, 1,875, 2,009 and 2,421.
82
Perrucci, La Sirena consolata. Serenata per la ricuperata salute della Maestà Cattolica
di Marianna di Neoburgo portata in musica da ... Catalodo Amodei 1692; I Regni della
Monarchia del nostro Re Carlo II. Machina festeggiante la ricuperata salute di Sua
Maestà 1696); Santoro 1986, nos. 2,080 and 2,222.
83
See Chapter 5.
84
I giorni festivi fatti per la presa di Buda dall’arme austriache nella fedelissima città di
Napoli dal ... Marchese del Carpio viceré ... e da suoi cittadini l’anno 1868. Descritti
dal Dottor Biagio de Calamo (Naples, Troise, 1687); Santoro 1986, no.183.
85
See Mancini 1968. Some examples are Funerale fatto a ... Violante Blanch marchesa
di San Giovanni dalli ... Governatori della Real Chiesa dello Spirito Santo 1675;
Funerali nella morte del ... Antonio Miroballo celebrati nella Real Chiesa di San
Giovanni a Carbonara 1695; Funerali poetici in morte del Capitano Gennaro Sparano
1647; Pompe funerali celebrate in Napoli nella Chiesa di San Paolo per la morte ...
[di] Antonio Carafa della Spina ... ordinate da Adriano Carafa suo fratello 1694;
Pompe funerali celebrate in Napoli per ... Caterina d’Aragona ... Luigi de la Cerda
duca di Medina Coeli, viceré 1697; Santoro 1986, nos. 1,254–56, 2,145–46.
86
‘trombettieri, che sonavano con la sordellina’ and ‘tamburri scordati e insegne negre’:
Confuorto 1930, I, 140 (1686) and 256 (1691). As late as in 1719 there is record of
‘Trombetti con le sordelline dentro’ (‘Racconto di varie notizie ... dall’anno 1700 al
1732’, ed. G. de Blasiis, Archivio storico provincie napoletane, XXXI (1906), 454). On
these sound signals see Stefani 1974. See also Elogii, inscrittioni, et imprese ... nelli
funerali del re nostro signore Filippo Quarto 1665; Pompe funebri dell’universo nella
morte di Filippo Quarto il Grande Re delle Spagne ... celebrate in Napoli alli XVIII di
febraro MDCLXVI dall’eminentissimo Signore Don Pascale d’Aragona 1666; Santoro
1986, nos. 416, 1,643.
87
In January 1625 the Diurnali di Scipione Guerra (p. 164) record ‘Feste per l’arrivo a
Napoli del Principe di Polonia, Re di Svezia, Duca di Moscovia’; on the arrival of the
Principe di Modena incognitus for the Carnival 1687 see Mancini 1968, 166. An
amount of 30.000 ducats was assigned to prepare for the arrival of the Duca di Savoia
in May 1692: ‘Carta di Sua Maestà del primo maggio 1692. Intorno l’assistenza che
stanno segnalate al Signor Duca di Savoja in questo Regno ordinando Sua Maestà che
per quest’assistenza le accogli S. E. de D. 30.000 ... et anco ordina, che si vende il
prodotto di quell’ importa la mettà, che si è ordinato di scontarsi dalli soldi, che
tengono sopra l’effetti del tabacco li musici, e cantori, che considera siano due mila, e
cinquecento Ducati, che uniti con li 6.660 delli salari delli lettori publici importano
8.560’ (SSP, MS XXV Q 1 (vol. XLV), p. 528).
88
See the reports published by Antonio Bulifon: Giornale del viaggio d’Italia
dell’invittissimo, e gloriosissimo Monarca Filippo V Re delle Spagne, e di Napoli, nel
quale si dà ragguaglio delle cose dalla M. S. in Italia adoperate dal dì 16 Aprile nel
quale approdò a Napoli infino al 16 novembre in cui si imbarcò in Genova per far
ritorno in Ispagna 1702; Lettera di N. N. a N. N. in cui gli dà ragguaglio distinto delle
feste fatte in questa Fedelissima Città di Napoli per l’acclamazione del nuovo
Monarca delle Spagne Fillipo V 1701; Giornale del viaggio di Sua Maestà Cattolica
Filippo V da Napoli a Milano 1702; listed in Mancini 1968, 248.
89
An important example of systematic research on the consumption of music in
Neapolitan religious institutions was conducted by a team of students (from the
Università di Venezia-Ca’ Foscari) under the direction of David Bryant in 1996–97 (I
wish to thank Dr Bryant for providing a print-out of his results).
90
On the Neapolitan Real Cappella, see I-Nn MSS Di Giacomo; Prota-Giurleo 1940;
Prota-Giurleo 1952a; Prota-Giurleo 1960; Pagano 1972; Fabris 1983b; Atlas 1984;
Larson 1985; Fabris 1987a; Krause 1989–90; Krause 1993; Maione and Cotticelli
1993.
91
He had examined the account books before their destruction, and his notes are the only
document surviving: I-Nn MSS Di Giacomo XVII.14, ‘La Real Cappella Palatina.
Ricerche nel R. Archivio di Stato di Napoli (Mandatorum viceregnali—Scrivania di
razione e Ruota de conti)’.
92
Salinas was paid 4 ducats monthly while the maestro Ortiz received 16.6.6 ducats; see
Documentos escogidos del Archivo de la Casa de Alba (Madrid, 1891), 444–46; Larson
1985, 141.
93
The viceroy let some members of the cappella go; see Larson 1985, 141.
94
The changes in the repertory and organization of the cappella were introduced by
Scarlatti, who brought with him six Roman musicians from his operatic entourage; see
Prota-Giurleo 1958a; Pagano 1972, 71–75.
95
The only work available until now on these three institutions, and chiefly connected to
the Duomo, is Di Giacomo 1920 (see also I-Nn MS Di Giacomo XVII.11, ‘Ricerche
nell’Archivio del Tesoro di S. Gennaro’). There are a few bibliographical additions in
Larson 1985, 137–38.
96
There were frequently arguments between the two chapels, e.g., in 1658, when
Cardinal Filomarino ‘voleva, che quando si facevano funtioni col viceré nella sua
Chiesa Catedrale, havesse portata la battuta della musica il suo maestro di cappella, et
non altri’ (‘wanted the music to be conducted by his maestro di cappella and no one
else when functions with the viceroy took place in his cathedral church’). The solution
was first found one year later after ‘col decidersi, che nel far cappella il viceré, tutti due
i mastri di cappella, tanto il regio, quanto l’ecclesiastico, nel medesimo choro insieme
portassero la battuta’ (‘by deciding that when the viceroy held chapel, the maestri of
both the royal chapel and the ecclesiastical chapel would conduct the same choir
together’ (Notitia di quanto è occorso in Napoli dall’anno 1658 per tutto l’anno 1661
scritta dal dottor D. Andrea Rubino, quoted in D’Alessandro 1983, 152–53).
97
Celano 1692 (1970), I, 196–97. On the organs in the Duomo and the Tesoro, see
Romano 1979, 158–79.
98
On the S. Casa dell’Annunziata, see D’Engenio Caracciolo 1624, 399; Francesco
Imparato, Discorsi intorno all’origine, regimento, e stato, della gran’casa della
Santissima Annuntiata di Napoli 1629, 30; C. D’Addosio, Origine vicende storiche e
progressi della Real S. Casa dell’Annunziata di Napoli (Ospizio dei Trovatelli) 1883; I-
Nn MS XVII (MSS Di Giacomo); Di Giacomo 1922; Cammarota 1973, I; Larson 1985,
139–40; Columbro and Intini 2000, 17–27.
99
On the Oratorio dei Girolamini, see Marciano 1693–1702; Di Giacomo 1918; Di
Giacomo 1921 (and S. Di Giacomo, I-Nn MS XVII.6); Pannain 1934; Morelli 1987;
Rostirolla 1987. On the library, see Mandarini 1897; Santoro 1979.
100
Di Giacomo 1921, II: ‘Il Prefetto della Musica’, 133–34 (from Decreta Patrum,
January 1694; documents no longer surviving in I-Nf).
101
Musella 1982, 137–50; Bono 1988, 195–297; Lazzarini 1995, 2 vols. On the
Neapolitan confraternities related to music, see Fabris 1983b; Larson 1983;
D’Alessandro 1984; Larson 1985; Fabris 1987a and 1987b; Fabris 1994; Columbro and
Intini 1998; Columbro and Intini 2000; Costantini and Magaudda 2001.
102
Fabris 1994, 783–84, 795–97.
103
Fabris 1983b.
104
For description of the principal churches and information on music in them, see
D’Engenio Caracciolo 1624; Bouchard 1977; Capaccio 1634; Raneo 1634; De Lellis
1654; Beltrano 1671; Galante 1872; Larson 1985, 118–40; Fabris 1987b; Costantini
and Magaudda 2001.
105
The church was built in 1540 by viceroy Pedro de Toledo and, according to D’Engenio
Caracciolo 1624, was served by ‘una cappella de Musici con buona provisione’. On S.
Giacomo and other Spanish churches and monasteries in Naples, see Croce 1894;
Croce 1968; Nicolini 1934; Borrelli 1903, 41–42; Larson 1985, 136–37; Fabris 1996–
97.
106
Larson 1985, 120–22. See also Rostirolla 1987, 664–83. Since the end of the sixteenth
century Jesuits had started musical and theatrical activity in Naples. As early as in 1603
they staged the first known tragedy with choruses and music, Stefonio’s Crispus; see
Fumaroli 1975. After 1670 many librettos survive referring to dramas performed at the
Neapolitan Collegio dei Nobili by noble students, with music; see for example
Argomento del Ciro che si recita da’ signori del Collegio de’ Nobili in Napoli, sotto
l’educatione de’ PP. della Compagnia di Gesù. Dedicato all’eccellentissimo Signor D.
Pietro Antonio d’Aragona Duca di Cardona, e Sagorbe, Viceré, e Capitan Generale
del Regno 1670 (copy consulted in I-Nn, listed in Santoro 1986, no. 111).
107
The music in the S. Gregorio Armeno archive has been catalogued by Domenico
Antonio d’Alessandro: see D’Alessandro 1987, 529.
108
On music in Neapolitan convents and monasteries, see D’Engenio 1624; Beltrano
1671; Larson 1983; Larson 1985, 122–32; Fabris 1987a and 1987b.
109
Croce 1891 (19163); Prota-Giurleo 1952a; Prota-Giurleo 1962; Bianconi and Walker
1975; Bianconi 1979; D’Alessandro 1984; Ciapparelli 1987; Gianturco 1993;
Ciapparelli 1999.
110
For the companies of Cecchini and Fiorillo, and a map of the stanze in Baroque Naples,
see Ferrone 1993, 71 ff. and passim. See also Ciapparelli 1987, 379.
111
See Griffin 1991.
112
Many archival documents were published in Capasso 1881; Filangieri 1883–91;
Filangieri 1887; Ceci 1900, 81–4; Strazzullo 1955; Prota-Giurleo 1955; Prota-Giurleo
1961; Fabris 1996–97; Nocerino 1998, 1999–2000, 2000 and 2001.
113
Romano 1979.
114
Nocerino 1998. Research on notarial inventories concerning wills and testaments might
provide insight into the diffusion of musical instruments in Spanish Naples. The only
specific attempt until now is referred to in Nocerino 1999–2000 and Nocerino 2000. On
the eighteenth century, see the essays by F. Nocerino and R. Ruotolo published in Il
tempo di Niccolò Piccinni. Catalogo della mostra 2000.
115
See Cervelli 1968; Nocerino 2001.
116
The statutes of this confraternity are reproduced in Fabris 1983b.
117
Fabris 1983b; Pozzi 1990, 918–19.
118
Cerreto 1601, 158: ‘Sonatori eccellenti di Tromboni, di Ciaramelle, e Cornetti, della
Città di Napoli, che oggi vivono: Francesco, Tarquinio, Giovanni & Bartolomeo
Anseloni fratelli Napolitani’.
119
See the source dated Naples 1603, Baldano, Libro per scriver l’intavolatura per sonare
sopra le sordelline (Savona 1600) 1995. In the introduction there are many documents
on the sordellina and on the buttafuoco, another Neapolitan instrument.
120
[A. Putaturo Murano], ‘Napoli musicale alla fine del Cinquecento: gli stipendi dei
maestri’ 1922; Fabris 1988; Larson 1983; Larson 1985.
121
Larson 1985, 964.
122
During the entire Spanish period ducati (D.) were used in Naples as money of account,
always rated at 10 carlini.
123
‘Sala grande per apprendervi lezioni di Canto e Musica, e per Academie e Ricreazioni’:
Naples, Archivio della Pontificia Facoltà Teologica di Capodimonte, Sezione
Seminario, Notizie, f. 247, cited in De Maio 1957, 91.
124
Larson 1985, 119–20.
125
Piscione de Avellis 1657. On this maestro who died in 1640, see D’Andrea 1963.
126
Attanasio da Pisticci or de Pisticcio was maestro in S. Maria La Nova c.1655 and
dedicated to Pope Alexander VII (1655–67) his manuscript and undated treatise Il
teatro musicale (I-Nn MS XVIII.G.57). Pisticci had published at least four books of
Mottetti a 2–3 voci, of which survive just the third and the fourth (Venice, 1633; 1637):
see Larson and Pompilio 1983.
127
On the Conservatorio di Loreto, see Florimo 1880–82; Di Giacomo 1928; Hucke
1961b; Robinson 1972b; Dietz 1972; Del Prete 1999.
128
On the Conservatorio di S. Onofrio see Florimo 1880–82; Di Giacomo 1924; Pozzi
1990.
129
On the Conservatorio dei Turchini see Florimo 1880–82; Di Giacomo 1924; Olivieri
1999.
130
On the Conservatorio dei Poveri di Gesù Cristo see Florimo 1880–82; Di Giacomo
1928; Schlitzer 1939; Pozzi 1985; Pozzi 1987; Pozzi 1990.
131
The Conservatorio dei Poveri di Gesù Cristo was associated with the church of S.
Maria della Colonna, which had a ‘Seminario’ with two teachers, ‘uno di grammatica e
l’altro di canto’ (Aggiunta alla Napoli sacra di Carlo de Lellis, in De Lellis 1977, 453–
54).
132
Pozzi 1990, 919 gives a document on the ‘Assistenza all’Annunziata con 85 figlioli’ to
question the decrease of students in S. Onofrio in the last decade of the century claimed
by Di Giacomo 1924, 51.
133
On the ‘Seminario di Musica’ in S. Gennaro dei Poveri, see Galante 1872, 448–51.
134
A first attempt is Cafiero 1999, II, 753–54.
135
Larson 1985, 126–27.
136
Cardinal Filomarino defended the playing of music in female convents and monasteries
to prevent scandals. Nevertheless we find many episodes like the one quoted by
Fuidoro 1934–39, I, 7 (1658): ‘avvenne nel 1658 ch’essendo venuto in Napoli
monsignor Luigi d’Aquino, chierico di Camera di fresca età … andò un giorno a
visitare le sue sorelle in numero di quattro, ch’erano monache, con dispensa
d’Innocenzo X, nel monasterio, detto la Croce di Lucca e, mentre nel parlare a tempo il
suo cameriere, al quale disse se avesse fatto accomodare il leuto, del quale istrumento
si dilettava il cameriero di sonare, e replicando che quello che già era venuto dal
maestro accomodato, è certo che non poteva portarlo al parlatorio delle monache senza
commando del padrone. O si fusse sonato, o non, non posso affirmarlo, non avendolo
visto’ (‘In 1658 Monsignor Luigi d’Aquino, a young cleric from the Camera, had come
to Naples and went one day with a dispensation from Innocent X to visit his four sisters
who were nuns in the monastery known as the Croce di Lucca; and while he spoke at
length with the person in service, whom he asked if he had set up the lute, an
instrument which the servant enjoyed playing, he replied that it was already ready to
use when it came from the maker, and it was clear that he could not bring it into the
nuns’ parlour without the master’s order. I cannot confirm whether or not it was played
for I did not see’) (cited in Fabris 1987a, 49).
137
Data examined in Pozzi 1987, 634 ff.; Pozzi 1990.
138
Toppi 1678 with additions by Nicodemo 1683; Giustiniani 1793; Lopez 1965; Lopez
1974; Omodeo 1981; Pompilio 1983; Larson and Pompilio 1983; Santoro 1986;
Bellucci 1984; de Nitto 1984; Melisi 1985; ‘Neapel’ in MGG II.
139
Pompilio 1983, 89–94.
140
The reference books are the Annali of Neapolitan printers edited in eight volumes by
Manzi 1968–75 (La tipografia napoletana del ‘500). See also Cardamone 1981
(Chapter 1); Larson and Pompilio 1983.
141
The collapse of music printing as a consequence of the ‘crisi degli anni 1620’ has been
described in Bianconi 1982, Chapters 1, 5, 12 (see also Pompilio 1983, 81).
142
The impressive number of noble musicians or patrons of music in Naples has been
studied by Larson 1983. This phenomenon is limited to the sixteenth century and first
decades of the seventeenth (the age of Gesualdo). Of similar interest is also the role of
the archbishops and religious institutions, while the patronage of viceroys on printing
music books is inconsistent. See also Pompilio 1983, 94.
143
Pompilio 1983, 89.
144
The date of Foriano Pico’s guitar music print as published by Giovan Francesco Paci in
1608 could be a print error, for this printer was active only in the second half of the
century. See Fabris 2003a.
145
Santoro 1986, 50.
146
On the surviving sources of the liturgical repertory see Arnese 1967; Miniatura a
Napoli dal ’400 al ’600 1991.
147
See Di Mauro 1984; Niola 1995, 64–67.
148
See Zupo [n.d. but 1660]; Continuatione de’ successi del prossimo incendio del
Vesuvio (Naples, Paci, 1661), listed in Santoro 1986, nos. 2,755–56.
149
The obelisk in the form of a spire (guglia), also called ‘piramide’, in the Largo
dell’Arcivescovado near the cathedral (today Piazza Riario Sforza), was commissioned
to Cosimo Fanzago by the Deputazione del Tesoro di S. Gennaro soon after the miracle
in 1631. As with many Christian monuments in Baroque Rome, the pretext for the
guglia was an original Roman marble column. Fanzago was able to assume in the
project his previous experience as architect of apparati effimeri during the main
popular feasts in Naples (the Catafalco del Pennino in particular). The guglia was
inaugurated in 1660 and this model was promptly imitated for other similar monuments
erected by the Theatines and the Dominicans; see F. Mancini, ‘L’arredo urbano ovvero
perennità dell’effimero’, Protagonisti nella storia di Napoli. Cosimo Fanzago (Naples,
1996), 54–61.
150
‘Con esquisita musica, in rendimento di grazie per la tempesta cessata’: Confuorto
1930, I, 4 (1679).
151
See Sigillò 1688; Santoro 1986, no. 2,457.
152
‘Presentemente sta celebrandosi la festa di San Francesco Xaverio con musica
esquisitissima, ricchezza d'argento incomparabile, e con tutta la magnificenza a Padri
ordinaria. In che veramente s'è con maraviglia di tutti toccato con mano quanta, e quale
sia la potenza di questa onorevole Compagnia’: Bulifon 1698, III, 78, ‘Ragguaglio del
Tremuoto, successo li 5. Giugno 1688, in Napoli’.
153
See Pasquale 1668; De Renzi 1867; Galasso 1982b, I, 43–50 (‘La peste’); Porzio 1984.
154
Rossa 1661; listed in Santoro 1986, no. 2,307.
155
Donzelli 1647; Giraffi 1648; Amatore 1650; Capecelatro 1850; Villari 1967; Galasso
1982b, I; Fiorentino 1984.
156
‘Erano fra coloro, cui erano state bruciate le case, il consigliere Antonio di Angelo, e
Fabrizio Cennamo Presidente di Camera ... il quale Cennamo, essendo in lui caduta
cotal mortale tragedia, da umilissimo stato salito in cotal grado ... avvenne che si trattò
in Camera un particolare del dazio della seta, di cui era commissario il Cennamo: e
favoreggiando il Genoino i musici della Real Cappella, i quali voleva udir cantare in
sua casa ogni giorno, aveva fatto spedire loro un ordine dal viceré, che fossero pagati
per intero di quello dovevano conseguire sopra le rendite di cotal dazio. Alla qual cosa,
come contro quel che allora si osservava, e perché ne risultava danno agli altri che vi
avevano ancor denaro, vi si oppose apertamente il Cennamo; di modo che offesi i
musici, e particolarmente uno detto Falconio, uomo arrogante, e di pessima e perduta
vita, disse che egli non si poteva aver voto come sospetto dei popolari, del cui corpo
erano esso Falconio e gli altri musici. Onde il Cennamo per torsi da cotal briga,
essendo uomo superbo ed avido di commandare ... insieme col consigliere di Angelo
dierono un memoriale al viceré, nel quale dicevano, che loro case non erano state
bruciate d'ordine del popolo, ma per ordine dei loro particolari nemici, i quali avevano
perciò pagata moneta agl’incendianti, e facevano istanza, che formadosi del tutto
processo, si desse convenevol castigo a chi tale atto operato aveva’: Capecelatro 1850
(July 1647), 166–67.
157
Capecelatro 1850, 86.
158
The true name of Masaniello’s wife was Berardina Pisa. The music is found in I-Bc MS
47, ff. 87v–94v and the text alone, attributed to Melosio (a poet active in Rome), is in I-
Rvat, Chigi MS G.VII.210, ff. 459–62v.
159
See Fabris 1987a, 57–60.
160
Fabris 1987a, 59–63.
161
One of the protagonists asks ‘Oje bello schiavo mio, / famme vedé abballare a la
turchesca’ and the Turk Assan starts dancing; see Li zite ’n galera, III.5 (in the libretto
printed in Naples, Ricciardo, 1722 (copy in I-Nc Rari 10.10.22 (6); listed in Melisi
1985, 1,532).
162
See Chapter 2, ‘Provenzale and his Family’. According to Giuseppe Coniglio: ‘Nella
seconda metà del secolo gli attacchi dei turchi furono meno intensi che in passato,
tuttavia di tanto in tanto essi si presentarono lungo le coste dell’Italia meridionale ed il
2 luglio 1678 sbarcarono a Fasano in terra di Bari, ma furono validamente respinti’
(Coniglio 1967, 312).
163
El robo de Prosperpina, ed. by L. A. Gonzáles Marín (Barcelona, 1996); see also
Fabris 2001c, I, 117–30.
164
Cf. Tributi ossequiosi della fedelissima città di Napoli per gl’Applausi festivi delle
Nozze Reali del Cattolico Monarca Carlo Secondo Re delle Spagne con la Serenissima
Signora Maria Luisa Borbone sotto la direzione dell’Eccellentissimo Signor Marchese
De Los Velez Vicerè di Napoli. Relatione istorica raccolta dal Dottor Giuseppe
Castaldo 1680; Continuacion de las festivas demostraciones por el feliz casamiento del
Rey Nuestro Señor Carlos II celebrades en Nápoles A 18, y 22 de Febrero de 1680
1680.
Chapter Two
The Age of Provenzale
Leading Composers and Teachers in the Age of Provenzale
During the Renaissance, Italian musicians achieved an unforeseen rise in social

status thanks to the patronage of princes and nobles. Naples provided fertile ground
for this phenomenon to flourish. Civic government was carried out by the seggi
(seats), five nobles and one for the popolo, each with their own representative, the
Eletto. It is important not to confuse ‘popolo’ with what in Naples was called
‘plebe’ (populace) or ‘popolo minuto’ (lower class), the lowest and poorest, usually
illiterate stratum of the population. The popolo actually represented the large
middle-class section of society whose well-educated citizens, often dottori
(graduates) with independent financial resources, were employed in various ranks
of the public administration or the civil courts. It was not unusual for this section of
society to aspire to nobility encouraged by the sale of Neapolitan feudal titles
throughout the whole of the seventeenth century, a deliberate policy by the Madrid
government. Of course, most of the musicians operating in Neapolitan society at
different levels came from the populace. The most humble were represented by
strolling musicians, story-tellers and wanderers, banished both by laws and by the
professional musical establishment. On the next step up were the suonatori (players
of wind and other musical instruments) and the singers. But there were also many
kinds of musical patronage by the wealthiest members of the population. The
names of some dottori, employed in the highest ranks of Neapolitan society, are
often remembered in the dedications printed in books of contemporary
musicians’ works.
But the exceptionality of Neapolitan music is represented by the role played by
the aristocracy. The difference between Naples and other European cities during
the Renaissance, in which the court and the upper classes were often in competition
to patronize musical activities, lies in the high percentage of Neapolitan nobles who
made music personally as singers, players, composers or musical theorists. Keith
Larson has identified twenty-seven composers belonging to the aristocratic rank
and working in Naples from 1530 to 1630; this is the highest number for any Italian
or European city.1 The basic problem which makes Naples a unique case among the
great musical cities in Renaissance Europe is the absence of a long-lasting prince
with a stable court: in fact, in the seventeenth century, Naples had no fewer than
twenty-four different viceroys. And of them, only such extraordinary personalities
as Toledo, Lemos or Carpio were able to impose an artistic patronage policy of
their own. It fell, therefore, to the Neapolitan aristocracy to assume the
The Age of Provenzale 51
responsibility of finding a remedy to this situation, and during the sixteenth

century, there were several attempts at organizing princely courts in the most
important civic noble palaces. However, there were more aristocrats in Naples,
both absolutely and proportionally, than anywhere else in Italy, and musical
patronage was more like a paternalistic display of personal power. The sale of
feudal titles, which had increased so much under Philip II, was part of a deliberate
political strategy by the kings of Spain and not only as a way to make money. As a
result, there was such an inflation of aristocrats that the number of titled people in
the Kingdom of Naples doubled in a few decades; for example, while in 1606 there
were twenty-seven princes, the number had grown to sixty-seven by 1640.2 In the
first years of the seventeenth century, music in Naples was totally dominated by the
personality of Carlo Gesualdo, Prince of Venosa.3 The idyllic view of a resonant
city under the patronage of the ‘principe dei musici’, described in 1601 by Scipione
Cerreto,4 faded with the death of Gesualdo in 1613. Some twenty years later,
Bouchard found a completely different situation in Naples (Bouchard 1977, 267):
La musique, la dance, la pinture et autres exercices honestes y sont tellement bannis

qu’après avoir recherché curieusement dans tout Naples, je n’ai pu ouir qu’un meschant
concert de quatre ou cinque pauvres malotrus, et n’y a pas aujourdhuï une seule academie
de musique, soit bonne ou mauvaise.
In the same decades, Ferrante Della Marra attributes ‘the ruin of the noble houses
of Naples’ (‘la ruina delle case nobiliari di Napoli’) to the absence of any practical
interest by young nobles for art, music and literature.5
Gesualdo and Monteverdi represented two very different types of composer in
the early seventeenth century. The Ferrarese poet Battista Guarini, who
collaborated with both composers, ‘non si compiace di affetti moderni’ and seems
to have preferred the Neapolitan, Gesualdo, ‘who writes far away from the
harshness of Monteverdi’ (‘penne come lontane dalle durezze del Monteverde’).6
The Modenese composer and theorbo player Bellerofonte Castaldi, in a letter
written in May 1638, was proud of being the first to introduce Naples to the fame
of Monteverdi: 7
Ho sentito di Roma il musicare, I heard music-making from Rome

che sopr’ogn’altro par si glorii e vanti; In which they boast and glory above all others;
i cantanti per certo non han pare […] The singers certainly have no equal. […]
ma se i compositori non son buoni But if the composers are not good
per quel suo stil ch’è sempre fatto a un Because of their style which is always in such a
modo way
che mi stracca le orecchie, son As to wear out my ears, they are
minchioni. fools.
Non c’è un proceder varïato e sodo, There is not such a varied and sound mode
non un piccante, un garbo, una Nor witty, charming and excellent
eccellenza, As your way of doing things which I so admire
com’è nel vostro far ch’ammiro e lodo. and praise.
Qua in Napoli or mi trovo di voi senza, Here in Naples I found myself without you
predico il vostro nome glorïoso I preach your glorious name
ch’in bocca mia fa la sua residenza. Which resides in my mouth.
At the time of Castaldi’s visit the composers Giovanni Salvatore8 and Gregorio
Strozzi made their débuts,9 and Giovan Maria Trabaci, Giovan Maria Sabino and
Scipione Dentice were already active. These figures provided a most important
musical background for the formation of the young Provenzale.
In 1625, one year after Provenzale was born, Leonardo Simonetti had already
published in Venice his Ghirlanda sacra. Scielta da diversi eccellentissimi
compositori de varij motetti a voce sola, an anthology of sacred monodies by the
most important Italian composers contemporary with Monteverdi. The only
southern author included is ‘Cavalier Don Giovanni Maria Sabino’ with four
motets. Giovan Maria Sabino (Turi, near Bari, 1588 – Naples, 1649) was twenty-
five years old in 1613, the year of Gesualdo’s death, and it is possible that he was
introduced at a young age into the circle of the prince.10 In the anthology Salmi
delle compiete de diversi musici napolitani a quattro voci, printed in Naples in
1620, there are pieces by Gesualdo as well as by Giovan Maria Sabino.11 And some
instrumental music by Gesualdo and Sabino is also preserved together in a
manuscript dated 1623.12 Indeed, Sabino had the chance to break the voluntary
isolation of the composers of the kingdom, and certainly in addition to the motets in
the Venetian anthology, his following monographic prints enjoyed an international
circulation: the editor of his 1627 Mottetti states that Giovan Maria was ‘a person
known for his music in all of Italy’ (‘persona ... per la musica conosciuto in tutta
Italia’).
It is not by chance that the four ‘Venetian’ motets for one voice appear to be
much more modern than the other songs printed by Sabino in the following years.
Their style strongly adheres to that supremacy of the melodic line (cantabile) on a
bass that was described by Giustiniani as singing ‘alla napoletana’, which was
particularly widespread in Rome.
Ex. 2.1 Giovan Maria Sabino, Repleatur os meum laude (Venice, 1625)
Giovan Maria Sabino’s career after 1625 took place entirely in Naples, in an
urban context perfectly corresponding to the area in which young Francesco
Provenzale grew up: the triangle between the Conservatorio di S. Maria della Pietà
dei Turchini (in which since September 1622 Sabino had been the foremost
important music maestro), the Palazzo Reale and the Cappella di S. Barbara in
Castelnuovo (where Sabino was made maestro in 1627). As an organist, Sabino’s
début occurred on January 1622 in the same church, S. Domenico, in which

Provenzale would be maestro in 1667. From 1622 to 1626 he was also the first
important maestro at the Conservatorio dei Turchini, and in the years 1630 to 1634
Sabino was an organist in the Oratorio dei Girolamini and then maestro di cappella
in the S. Casa dell’Annunziata.13
The surviving output of Giovan Maria is for the most part printed. After the first
appearance of some of his compositions in anthologies (in 1620, 1624 and 1625),
between 1626 and 1627 two motet books were printed, one of Salmi de Vespere
(1627), while many manuscripts remain, including motets and psalms. The contact
of Giovan Maria with the ‘Venetian’ surrounding, established by Simonetti’s
edition in 1625, was confirmed by the insertion in Sabino’s Salmi of a Confitebor
by Monteverdi (of which other sources are not yet known).14 Giacinto Ansalone, a
colleague of Sabino, printed in Naples a collection of Salmi ‘a 4’ (op. 3), in which
is inserted another homage to Monteverdi, a Laudate pueri ‘alla veneziana’.15
Neapolitan sacred music anthologies of the time almost always link Giovan Maria’s
compositions with those by the two other Sabinos, Antonino and Francesco. It is
obvious that their contemporaries recognized a common stylistic line between these
related musicians.
Antonino Sabino (Turi, near Bari, 1591 – Naples, 1650) was the youngest brother
of Giovan Maria and like him was an organist and composer (he was also the first
important maestro at the Conservatorio dei Poveri di Gesù Cristo).16 As a
composer, he is known only for his sacred music, copied in the same sources as
Giovan Maria Sabino. Antonino’s pieces, mostly very simple, are full of chordal
and homophonic movement, with a distinctive archaic flavour. A few compositions
by him written in stile moderno, for double choir (‘a 8’) with instruments, are
preserved in the Archivio dei Girolamini.
Francesco Sabino, too, was a near relation of the other two musicians. He was
born in Naples in 1620, son of Giovan Pietro Sabino, a brother of Giovan Maria
and Antonino.17 The first traces of his activity go back to 1655, when he was
elected as governor of the Confraternity of Neapolitan musicians, a sign of
recognized civic authority. In 1660, according to the marriage register, he was
called ‘Maestro di cappella di Palazzo’.18 Like his uncles, Francesco spent his
entire life in Naples, and his remaining manuscript pieces are copied in the same
sources as those of the other two Sabinos. It is interesting to note that it is difficult
to distinguish the author when a piece is ascribed merely as ‘Sabini’. In the
incomplete manuscript anthology of motets in I-Nf AMCO 14/1, the authors are
indicated as Sabino I (Giovan Maria?), Sabino II (Antonino?) and Sabino III
(Francesco?).19 Francesco carried forward in a more radical way the avant-garde
and experimental aspects of his older relatives’ music: he is already at ease in the
use of imitation in concerted motets, while Giovan Maria Sabino had only timidly
touched upon this technique.
The motets for four voices and basso continuo by Giovan Maria Sabino and his
Neapolitan contemporaries correspond to the typology that Jean-Jacques Bouchard
in 1632 recognized as being so similar to the French petit motet:20
Pour les musiques, elles ne peuvent estre comparées à celles de Rome pour ce qui est de la
grande quantité ni de la bonté de voix, n’y aïant de bien excellent qu’une haute contre
nomé Donatello [Coya], et une taille nomé Onofrio [Gioioso]; le rest estant fort mediocre,
sur tout pour les dessus qui ont tous naturellement là une voix eclatante et penetrante,
privée de la douceur de celles de Rome, les haute contre reusissant mieus qu’à Rome
mesme ainsi que l’on a observé au païs. Pour le concert, il n’est ni si bon ni si plein qu’à
Rome; car le plus qui ait paru en tout ce temps là, ç’a esté quatre choeurs, mais fort mal
fournis; et le plus qui se chante d’ordinaire est à quattre voix simples, et encore le plus
souvent à trois et à deus et à une, et c’est là principalement qu’excelle la musique
napolitaine par l’invention de mille fugues, pauses et reprises, et sourtout par les
mouvements bizarres et allegres, chantans la plus part des motets sur des tons gais et
folastres et en airs du païs, qui est une maniere de chanter tout à fait differente de celle de
Rome, qui est molle, melancholique et modeste, avec quelque ordre et suite. Le chanteur
napolitain, tout au contraire, est esclatant et come dur, non trop gai à la verité, mais
fantasque et escervelé, plaisant seulement par son mouvement pront, estourdi et bizarre et
qui tient beaucoup de l’air francçois. Et se peut dire che le chant napolitain est un
composé d’air francçois et sicilien, pour ses mouvements legers d’un costé, et de l’aultre
pour ses souspirs et tirades melancholiques, estant au reste extravagantissime pour ce qui
est des passages, de la suite et uniformité, qu’il ne garde aucunement, courant, puis
s’arrestant tout court, sautant de bas en haut et de haut en bas, et jettant avec effort toute la
voix, puis tout à coup la reserrant; et c’est proprement in hac frequenti mutatione et
reciprocatione latitudinis seu crassitudinis, et exilitatis vocis que se recognoist le chant
napolitain.
Giovan Maria, Antonino and Francesco Sabino seem perfectly integrated into the
highest Neapolitan sacred music production in the first half of the seventeenth
century. Manuscript sources in the Oratorio dei Girolamini in Naples that hand
down a variety of motets and polychoral compositions include alongside their
names those of colleagues active in the most prestigious chapels. MS AMCO 14/1
collects Giovan Maria and Antonino’s pieces with motets by three members of the
Real Cappella: Francesco Ansalone, Giovanni Ferraro and the maestro Andrea
Falconieri.21
Another source in the same library (AMCO 394/1) opens with eight motets by
Alessandro Grandi, and then pieces by the Neapolitans Andrea Falconieri, Giovan
Maria Sabino, Francesco Lambardi, Maranzini, Domenico Santo and Erasmo Di
Bartolo.22
Other manuscripts, dated between 1620 and 1640, mix Sabino’s pieces with a
series of motets by Giovan Maria Trabaci, maestro of the Real Cappella. The most
interesting is I-Nf AMCO 337 (in five partbooks) which opens with a piece dated ‘8
maggio 1634’ and goes on with motets by all three Sabinos, Alfonso Verde,
Domenico Santo, Ansalone, Maranzini and Zarrelli. The manuscript shows the
oldest datable piece concerted for three voices ‘et due violini’ by Antonio Sabino
and some compositions marked ‘concertato’.23
Giovan Maria Trabaci (Montepeloso, now known as Irsina, c.1575 – Naples,
1647) owes his fame to the two keyboard music collections printed in 1603 and in
1615, considered the most important in the pre-Frescobaldi age.24 In 1594 Trabaci
joined the S. Casa dell’Annunziata as a tenor, but a few years later, in 1597, he was
already an organist employed by the Oratorio dei Girolamini. He had long been in
service as an organist since 1601 in the Real Cappella, in which he would spend the
rest of his life. On Macque’s death in 1614, Trabaci became his successor in the
direction of the Real Cappella.
Trabaci’s publications began in 1602 with the Motectorum Liber I for five to
eight voices, and finished with the monumental Passioni in 1634. In the foreword
to this last publication there is a further sign of how widespread the concerted style
‘alla veneziana’ had become:25
All four parts should be sung in a recitative style, and without a stressed beat, and at the
end of the cadences it should be gently made so that no one voice should overwhelm
another … as there are no instrumental accompaniments … I have put the replies of the
thiorba in another volume … where the voices (in full choir) should be doubled and
accompanied by some bass instrument, such as the viola da braccio, trombone or bassoon.
These are indications that, besides the mention in the foreword to Frescobaldi’s
Toccate, recall the words by one of Trabaci’s lesser-known Neapolitan colleagues,
Giovan Vittorio Maiello (foreword to Selva armoniosa. Libro secondo de’ mottetti
a due con varie voci di Gio. Vittorio Maiello, maestro di cappella della regal
chiesa di S. Giacomo degli Spagnoli di Napoli, Naples, 1632):26
Virtuoso singers are advised that these motets ‘in modern style’ can be sung in any voice
range by transposing them.
Absolutely ‘alla moderna’ is also the following motet taken from Bonaventura
Cerronio’s Mottetti a due, tre, quattro voci (Naples, 1639), in which the two voices
celebrate God’s joy over a basso continuo part based on the Bergamasca, similar to
famous Roman and Venetian pieces:
Ex. 2.2 Bonaventura Cerronio, Gaudeamus omnes (Naples, 1639)
The last years of Trabaci’s life were badly affected by the serious financial crisis
that had shaken the whole city and which led up to the Masaniello Uprising in
1647. In the middle of the revolution, the aged Trabaci (he had not published
anything else since 1634) found refuge in the Monastero della Trinità degli
Spagnoli, where he died on 3 December 1647. His place in charge of the Real
Cappella was taken by another Italian musician, the Neapolitan Andrea Falconieri,
already associated with Sabino in manuscript collections in the Oratorio dei
Girolamini.
Andrea Falconieri (Naples, c.1585 – 1656) is an unusual character in the context
of Neapolitan music in the first half of the seventeenth century. He had a varied and
fortunate international career as a monodist and lute virtuoso (Parma, Modena,
Florence, Rome); during that period he composed a large number of villanella
collections and arias for one voice. Then after a mysterious stay of seven years in
Spain and a short interlude in Genoa, in 1638 he was admitted as a lute and tiorba
player at the Neapolitan Real Cappella. It is possible that during the years he spent
in Spain he won the trust of the Madrid government, because his appointment as
maestro of the Real Cappella happened at a very difficult moment, before the
quashing of the Masaniello Uprising. Years later, he was to be one of the main
figures in the feasts conceived by viceroy Oñate to celebrate the Spanish victory,
and the instrumental pieces composed by him for the occasion were published as
the Primo libro di canzone (Naples, 1650): it would be the only Neapolitan printed
edition of instrumental music for decades.27 Because we know of no other mandates
for him in other churches or Neapolitan institutions, the little sacred music by
Falconieri that survives in the Archivio dei Girolamini might well be considered as
pieces composed for rites in the Real Cappella (five motets in AMCO 14/1 and
AMCO 394/1). Falconieri’s ecclesiastical style resembles his remaining vocal and
instrumental production.
Two years after Falconieri’s death during the plague in 1656, his place was taken
by Filippo Coppola (Naples, 1626 – 1680), who had entered the Real Cappella as
an organist following the rules established in the days of Jean de Macque.28
Coppola, too, won the trust of subsequent viceroys, who commissioned from him
an opera in Spanish and protected his progressive acquisition of the most important
musical posts in the city, thereby causing his colleague Francesco Provenzale
untold damage. Most of Coppola’s compositions either have not survived or are
inaccessible, such as the two motets for two choirs (nine voices), dated 1658, in the
Archivio dei Girolamini that must have constituted his first compositions for the
ceremonies in the Real Cappella. Only in 1659 did Coppola introduce the use of
two choirs in the Annunziata too.29 At the time of his death in 1680, Coppola was
simultaneously responsible for the direction of all the most important musical
chapels of the city; he was maestro of the Real Cappella, the Annunziata, the
Girolamini and the Tesoro di S. Gennaro. But he was never a teacher in a
conservatoire.
Another important teacher in the first half of seventeenth-century Naples to
appear in MS I-Nf AMCO 394/1 alongside Sabino and Falconieri is Erasmo Di
Bartolo (Gaeta, 1606 – Naples, 1656), called ‘Padre Raimo’ (the dialect form of
‘Erasmo’). His didactic influence would benefit the next generation of musicians
including Giovanni Salvatore and the same Provenzale. ‘Padre Raimo’ was deeply
involved with the Counter-Reformation in Naples, like Scipione Stella (later known
as ‘padre Pietro Paolo’)30 and Scipione Dentice, who entered the Girolamini Order
and whose Madrigali spirituali were edited posthumously in 1640 by Raimo.31 An
accident at the beginning of Erasmo Di Bartolo’s vocation is told one and a half
centuries later by the oratorian singer Camillo Franco:32
Erasmo de Bartolo, more commonly known by the name of Father Raimo, was born in
the city of Gaeta in the year 1606. Every detail about his social circumstances has been
robbed from us by the course of the years, as well as information about his family who no
longer exist. We only know that he focused his rare talents on a profound study of music
and distinguished himself among his contemporaries in the art of pure conterpoint. We do
not know if he dedicated himself to the study of harmony solely for his own amusement
or in order to exercise the profession. It was natural, however, that with either of these
two motivations he could give satisfaction to those whose academies he attended.
Providence therefore prepared for this respectable soul a most distinguished place in the
Lord’s vineyard. For this reason, in the year 1637 he was invited to direct the music of a
sumptuous festa di ballo being presented with great pomp by Signora Colanchise on the
occasion of her wedding. To this aim, a huge garden was transformed into a brilliant
gallery, which was big enough for the numerous number of guests, and Raimo conducted
the entire orchestra from the harpsichord. All of a sudden as if sent by divine Providence,
a large festoon fell onto the harpsichord, falling onto the keyboard just in the space
between the two hands of the player and completely missing his body, and smashed the
harpsichord without Raimo being in the least bit harmed. He recognized the hand that
pulled him back from the edge of the tomb and touched by the grace of God he found a
life which owed everything to God. He resolved to remove himself from the world at that
moment, and to dedicate the rest of his days to being closer to the sanctuary.
The Lord wanted him in his vineyard among the exemplary conformity of his sons at
the oratory, and he quickly levelled the way. The Filippini welcomed his persistent
urging and he lived as a priest among them for a period of nineteen years until the last
day of his life. Irreproachable behaviour, blind obedience, exemplary modesty and a
complex of all virtues, all these continually formed the model of their treatment. But his
profound humility distinguished him above all else, which is at the basis of every
Christian virtue.
An exemplary death perfectly responded to his life. He awoke among those fathers in
1656 with a pestillent contagion, which entailed a highly cruel slaughter. The clinging
infection discouraged the well from helping the sick. But it was not enough to hold back
the fervid charity of Father Raimo.
He believed that his duties grew along with the growing needs and, a victim of his own
charity, he rendered his spirit to the tranquil peace of the Lord on 11 July of the same
year. During his time in retreat among the Filippini, he never abandoned his profound
studies of music, but only changed the object, turning the harmony, which he had in the
past used in scholastic compositions, to the altar. The works that he wrote for four choirs
compulsory for use in the chapel of the oratory will never be sufficiently praised. The
profundity of the counterpoint and the sweetness of the harmony tempered by
ecclesiastical solemnity provoke admiration in experts, good taste in amateurs and
compunction in the devout. It would be desirable for these attributes to form also the
model for subsequent ecclesiastical music, in order to move it away from the
overwrought theatrical vivacity in which harmony degenerates among the seriousness of
the sanctuary.
The divine nature of an accident during a public concert is a topos in Neapolitan

literature: other similar cases can be found in literature and art.33 Before revealing
his religious vocation, Erasmo Di Bartolo was quite a famous musician because at
least since 1629 he had been admitted as a basso to the Real Cappella: ‘a fine
musician, in need of help, however, to support his mother and sisters’ (‘buon
musico, bisognoso però d’aiuto per avere a carico sua madre e sorelle’).34 In 1636
Di Bartolo left the Real Cappella ‘to become a member of the Girolamini’ (‘por
haverse hecho Gelormin’), and he spent all his following career in the Oratorio in
Naples, where he was elected praefectus musicae in 1642 and then re-elected from
1652 to his death in 1656.
According to a late chronicler, ‘padre Raimo’ was one of the first to introduce to
Naples polychoral music in the celebration of the Quarantore (Fuidoro 1934–39, I
(1664), 210):35
On Thursday 22 February 1664, the viceroy was attending Mass at the church of the
Girolamini of the congregation of the oratory of San Filippo Neri, where the Quarantore
were being held with music for four choirs. The composition was by Father Raimo
Bartolo da Gaeta, who died of the plague in 1656, and the motet for four choirs O sacrum
convivium was sung. Do not make fun of this information, Reader, for he was a priest who
led a saintly life and all his compositions came from God with the force of a mental
oration, just as everyone who hears them sung says that they contain an element of the
divine.
Eight years later, in 1672, the same chronicler wrote (Fuidoro 1934–39, III
(1672), 16):36
On this day of 25 February, the feast day of S. Mattia Apostolo, viceroy Marchese
d’Astorga was with the Gerolomini, finishing the Quarantore in that church. A Roman
musician brought in by the viceroy sang. However the Neapolitan musicians did not give
way to him. For five days they had to sing continuously music for four choirs, which are
the miraculous compositions by Father Raimo de Bartolo and which are always more
innovative the more intense they are.
This assertion is very important for our research because Francesco Provenzale
was the one who continued and improved upon Raimo’s ‘invention’.37 In fact this
specific polychoral repertory of both seventeenth-century composers was the only
one to remain alive almost to the end of the eighteenth century in some churches in
Naples, thanks to its oral transmission.
The manuscript of a Missa quinis canenda vocibus cum duplici cantu D. Joanne
Salvatore Auctorem, preserved in I-Nf, may prove the existence of a didactical
connection between ‘padre Raimo’ and the most important maestro of Neapolitan
conservatoires before Provenzale, Giovanni Salvatore (Castelvenere, c.1610 –
Naples, c.1688). In this autograph manuscript by Salvatore we read:
Laus Deo atque Beatissime Virgini Mariae A Beato Philippo Nerio. Jam mi, Erasme, tua
adimplevi mandata; corrige nunc queso quod fieri jussisti. Anno Domini 1640 Die 4
Ottobris.
Salvatore, aged thirty, is here addressing his teacher ‘Erasmo’ (Di Bartolo?),
submitting him the Messa composed at his request. Indeed, we cannot completely
understand Provenzale’s compositional style, based on strict counterpoint mixed
with cantabile vocal melodies over the basso continuo, without knowledge of
Salvatore, the most important maestro of the previous generation. We do not know
whether Salvatore was one of Provenzale’s teachers, but certainly he had a strong
influence on his style. According to Ulisse Prota-Giurleo, Salvatore may have been
a pupil of Giovan Maria Sabino. Salvatore was, like Sabino, one of the few
Neapolitans of the seventeenth century who saw his own music printed in
international collections. Two psalms for five voices, Beati omnes and Nisi
Dominus, were included in the Selectio concentica, an important collection printed

in Venice in 1645 by the priest Bartolomeo Cappello. In a letter from Rome by
Antimo Liberati dated 1685, Salvatore is compared as an organist with Frescobaldi,
and described as a better composer of vocal music. His collection of Ricercari for
the organ, very important in the history of instrumental music in the seventeenth
century, appeared in 1641.38 It is the closing chapter of the extraordinary age of
experimentation begun in Naples by Jean de Macque, Gesualdo and Trabaci.39 Also
the psalm Beati omnes, in the Venetian collection of 1645, exemplifies all the
complexity of Salvatore’s writing in his earliest period (see Ex. 2.3):
Ex. 2.3 Giovanni Salvatore, Beati omnes a 5 (Venice, 1645; repr. Naples, 1650)
Ex. 2.4 Giovanni Salvatore, Litanie a 5 voci per la Beata Vergine Maria (MS in I-Nf)
The bass line is more elementary than what we shall find in Provenzale who,
however, exploits in his motets (and partially in the first Dialogo della Passione)
textural writing reminiscent of Salvatore’s. These elements would reach full
maturity with the great composers of the early eighteenth century, Scarlatti and
Handel.
Often in Salvatore’s manuscripts, instruments are explicitly expected to double
voices, when there are no free lines: as many as four violins, a viola, a lute and
even a trombone in addition to the organ. These are all signs of performing
practice. An undated composition—rather elaborate and perhaps dating back to the
last decade of the life of Salvatore (by now active in the Conservatorio dei Poveri
di Gesù Cristo)—is the series of Litanie a 5 voci per la Beata Vergine Maria, MS
in I-Nf AMCO 388.2 (see Ex. 2.4).40 Here the chorus (S1, S2, A, T, B) is
accompanied by two violins in addition to the basso continuo. The writing, rich in
vocal diminution, is very similar to that of Caresana and to Provenzale’s Mottetti,
with imitative episodes and suggestive echo-effects between the voices. The
construction is reminiscent of old Sabino’s motets, in the villancico style, with time
changes and short passages for solo voices: B (bars 58–63), T (bars 112–18) and
bicinia of S1 and S2 (bars 153–59).
Salvatore’s surviving vocal compositions were played for a long time and
lovingly recopied after his death. There are, for example, copies belonging to
Gaetano Veneziano, the favourite pupil of Francesco Provenzale and continuer of
the chain of Neapolitan maestri till the first decades of the eighteenth century.41
Salvatore’s career was chiefly carried out within the Neapolitan conservatoires. But
from the title-page of his keyboard print of 1641, we learn that at that time he was
‘organista nella Real Chiesa di San Severino dei RR.PP. Benedettini di Napoli’.
The next evidence comes much later: it is a keyboard manuscript, copied by
Donato Cimmino and dated 1675 (I-Nc MS 34.5.28), dedicated ‘Ad memorando
Joanne Salvatore Pauperum Jesu Christi praeclarissimo modulatore’. This
document indicates another of Salvatore’s positions around 1675; besides his
teaching at the Poveri di Gesù Cristo, he was maestro at the Neapolitan Monastero
del Carmine. From 1662 to 1673, Salvatore had been maestro in the Conservatorio
dei Turchini, where he was later replaced by Francesco Provenzale. In this school
Donato Cimmino was one of his pupils. He held the post at the Poveri di Gesù
Cristo till 1686, when another former pupil succeeded him, Gennaro Ursino.
We know what the tasks of the maestro of the Poveri di Gesù Cristo were in
those years. They involved the composition of a massive quantity of sacred music
during the whole year, as can be proved by all Salvatore’s music (nearly all
autograph) that can still be found in the Archivio dei Girolamini in Naples.
Especially significant is the great quality of surviving polychoral music (for two,
and above all for four choirs, in many cases with ‘4 violini’ and other instruments
explicity indicated), which makes Salvatore the closest heir of ‘padre Raimo’ and
the most important link with the production of Provenzale. Some of the sacred
compositions in I-Nf have early dates: one Mass dated 1640 carries the oldest
known reference to Salvatore. The other pieces date from 1643 (sacred hymns),
1657 and 1658 to the last years of his activity. Two sacred compositions were
published in Venetian collections of the years 1645 and 1650.42 Salvatore also
published a short theoretical treatise, Breve regola per rispondere al choro con
l’organo, aggiunta al presente libro dal R. D. Giovanni Salvatore organista nel
Real Convento di San Severino ... per comodità degli organisti, printed in the
appendix to the third edition of Giovanni Battista Olifante’s Porta Aurea sive
Directorum chori (Naples, 1641). Here Salvatore informs the reader:43
So that the aforementioned work is useful, not only for priests, but also for organists … I
have thought to supply a brief accompanying treatise at the end, which will serve only to
give indications to those who have already completed all their studies in accompanying a
singer with the basso continuo, but who wish to respond to the choir and do not know how
or with which chord to accompany with the organ, and in this way upset and disturb the
choir.
Obviously, at the time he wrote his treatise, these problems were frequent in
Neapolitan chapels. Giovanni Salvatore was the first important maestro of the
Conservatorio della Pietà dei Turchini, after the short period of Giovanni Maria
Sabino (1622–26). He was engaged there from October 1662 (at precisely the same
time as Provenzale’s engagement in the Conservatorio di Loreto) and he was in
office, at 10 ducats a month, until April 1673, when he was replaced by Francesco
Provenzale. Indeed, his late activity in the Conservatorio dei Poveri di Gesù Cristo
was decisive. In 1684, as a consequence of his old age, Gian Domenico Oliva
became his helper (‘secondo maestro’). Salvatore’s name disappears from the
registers in May 1688, perhaps the date of his death. His place was taken by
Gennaro Ursino, who later would also replace Francesco Provenzale at the Pietà dei
Turchini.44
This outline of the most important mid-seventeenth-century Neapolitan maestri
would not be complete without referring to those names which, for different
reasons, played an important role in the city’s musical life during Provenzale’s
early career: Filippo Coppola, perhaps the most powerful musician in the
Neapolitan system up until his death in 1680; Giovan Cesare Netti, Provenzale’s
predecessor at the Tesoro di S. Gennaro, who died young in 1686; Cristoforo
Caresana, perhaps the composer who shows the most stylistic resemblance to
Provenzale.
A series of ‘minor’ but interesting characters completes this view of the brilliant
Neapolitan musical galaxy around 1650. Giacinto Anzalone, for example, came
from a family of musicians who for generations were employed by the royal
authorities. He was maestro at the Pietà dei Turchini after Sabino and before
Salvatore and Provenzale, and also maestro in the church of Monteoliveto, a holy
place much frequented by the viceregal court; his only published book of Salmi
(Naples, 1635) was published by Ottavio Beltrano, official printer to the
archbishopric of Naples. The most prolific Neapolitan composer at this time,
judging from the number of his musical editions printed, was the Franciscan friar
Bartolomeo Cappello; he published or patronized, in Naples and in Venice, a series
of first editions and reprints of sacred compositions by many Neapolitan
composers, between 1645 and 1653.45 Among them were Giovanni Salvatore,
Francesco Vannarelli and Cappello himself. It was not until 1679 that the next
music print would appear in Naples: Cataldo Amodei’s Mottetti, to be followed

much later by Provenzale’s Mottetti in 1689.
Provenzale and his Family
Unlike many protagonists in the history of European music during the Baroque
Age, Francesco Provenzale did not come from a family of musicians. His branch of
the family ended with his son, who became a priest. Religion and economics seem
to have been the two dominant factors shared by the members of the Provenzale
families who left any memory of themselves in Naples in the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries. In the heart of historical Naples, on the front of the church of
Donnaromita, one can still read to this day a Renaissance epigraph alluding to
Andrea Provenzale.46
According to Minieri Riccio, Andrea Provenzale was born and studied in Naples,
becoming a famous lawyer and a royal adviser in 1626. He died on 10 March
1646.47 Origlia’s seventeenth-century directory of celebrated Neapolitan lawyers
says that Andrea’s family was originally from Trapani in Sicily.48 Giulio Cesare
Capaccio, who knew Andrea Provenzale well, suggests that the family probably
originated in the south of France:49
He is among the most gracious of his Neapolitan peers, in terms of his nobility, his
writings and his graciousness. These members of the Provenzale family declared their
nobility as originating from that most fortunate Provence of France, who found
themselves in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies during the wars when that Preianni
Provenzale often fought with pride and adverse fortune, and was admired by the Angevin
kings and known as a valiant soldier. Together with his many relations, he sowed his
descendants in Sicily and other places in Italy, especially in Naples; therefore in Trapani
and in the hills around Trapani, they are known as relations of Friar Giovanni Battista
Provenzale, general of the Third Order of San Francesco, of D. Marcello Barone della
Cudia, of Benedetto his brother, gentlemen united by their nobility and valour. And in
Catania the Provenzale married into the Aragona family and were held in high esteem,
among which was D. Francesco Provenzale, regent of the council during the time of King
Filippo II together with other noble and illustrious men.
Capaccio then lists the names of the Neapolitan branch starting with Giovan
Andrea Provenzale, giureconsulto, who was related to Giovan Tomaso Vespolo.
Giovan Andrea had three sons: Andrea, who married into the Ligoro family of the
seggio of Portanova;50 Captain Ottavio, who married into the noble Mario family of
the seggio of Montagna, and Geronimo, an archbishop.
Of the several ‘Provenzali’ families scattered around Italy, only the noble branch
in Lucca has been documented since the thirteenth century:51 apart from a family of
quite famous mosaic makers and decorators from Cento (Ferrara),52 nearly all the
members of the Italian family branches were lawyers or clergymen, having assets
in Southern Italy.53 A Francesco Provenzali died in Sicily in 1558 after a career as a
jurist. In the late eighteenth century, the Provenzali of Nicosia were barons there. In
Naples, a branch of the Provenzale family was elevated to the rank of duke. The
family is also discussed in a manuscript probably compiled by Domenico

Confuorto and dated 1693: Notizie di alcune famiglie Popolari della Città e Regno
di Napoli, divenute per ricchezza e dignità riguardevoli.54
The most illustrious member of the family in Spanish Naples was Dottor
Girolamo Provenzale (1534–1612), whose ecclesiastical career culminated in his
becoming an archbishop.55 The wealthiest member was Ignazio Provenzale, also a
fiscal lawyer, of most humble origins, who succeeded in becoming a nobleman,
with the purchase of a fief, and who died in April 1688 with the title of Duca di
Collecorvino.56 Confuorto reports that:57
It can be said with reason that this person is from the vile plebeian dregs of the city of
Lecce, born however in Trepuzzi, a town in that province. His father was a butcher in that
city, and seeing that his son had a talent for letters, he sent him to Naples to study law.
While Ignazio studied law he was quite reckless in all matters. He then passed his doctoral
degree and set about exercising his power of attorney in the royal tribunals. But the good
fortune which rendered him great occurred when there was that very fierce plague in
Naples which depopulated the city of its inhabitants [1656]. The daughter of the notary
Marino Stinca detta Maria remained the only descendant to inherit a massive family
fortune, and Ignazio as her neighbour became involved in her business matters and
litigations, and also introduced himself to her bed by taking her as his wife. And this is
how Ignazio, who before was poor and vile, became very rich, with a worth of more than
80,000 scudi, with a house, cooks and servants fit for a gentleman.
The social rise of Ignazio in the Neapolitan administration is typical and justifies
the astonishing inheritance he left, of approximately 100,000 ducats. In 1671 he
was still a simple ‘Fiscale di Vicaria’;58 in 1678, thanks to the protection of the
vicereine, he was elected to the ‘Fiscale della Sommaria’, of which he became
president in 1680. In 1684 Provenzale had to accept an ill-fated assignment as
commander of a military company to hunt out bandits in the Abruzzi. He finally
was appointed reggente.59 Confuorto gives particulars concerning his private life:60
After Ignazio was widowed, he married again with the daughter (Anna) of Orazio de
Luca, a very wealthy man who before had been a merchant trading in cloth on the street of
the arms makers and then was made Baron of Pescopagano, which brought him a dowry
of 20,000 ducats in cash, and with whom he had four daughters but no sons ... Orazio
bought the palace which was owned by the regent Geronimo de Filippo near to the Porta
di S. Gennaro, and he had new and most beautiful quarters built, with many rooms with
most pleasant views. Of his four daughters, he sent two off to become nuns in the
Monastero di S. Gio. Battista in Naples, while the other two were destined for noble
weddings ... of which the eldest, called Giovanna, was ordered to marry D. Giuseppe
Provenzale, son of D. Andrea, the Duca di S. Agapito, in order to benefit this house which
was reduced to poverty, and which boasted to have come from a side branch of the family;
and the duke accepted the offer, in order to flatter him and because it suited his interests.
The second daughter was ordered to marry a noble and virtuous person. Shortly after the
loss of his father, his two daughters got married, the first with D. Gioseppe Provensale,
according to his wishes; and the second one with Doctor D. Vincenzo de’ Miro from
Grignano, who became one of the best lawyers in these royal tribunals ... today he is
regent of the Council of Italy in Spain. And since he has found himself excommunicated,
he has not been able to take up that said appointment.
Lawsuits over Ignazio’s inheritance dragged on for years until the first decades of
the eighteenth century.61 By virtue of his accumulated wealth, the Duca di
Collecorvino was also a collector of fine art.62
The biography of Ignazio Provenzale is particularly interesting, not least because
of his association with a hitherto unknown Neapolitan Provenzale family: the
Dukes of S. Agapito. These were impoverished noblemen from a branch of the
same family from which reggente Ignazio boasted descent. Even after already
having his dukedom, Ignazio sought to assure a family link with the aristocracy and
he betrothed one of his daughters to an authentic duke, Giuseppe Provenzale Duca
di S. Agapito, with the same name (and age) as the son of Francesco Provenzale the
musician. Confuorto also mentions a brother of Ignazio, a cleric who came to
Naples from Rome for the wedding. He had been obliged to join the Church to
protect Ignazio’s daughters ‘as decreed by the maker of the will’ (‘come avea
disposto il testatore’).63 Giuseppe, the son of Francesco Provenzale, doctor in
utriusque jure, had also moved to Rome to start what would become a successful
ecclesiastical career.
I have been unable to discover a possible family link between Francesco and
Ignazio Provenzale.64 Nevertheless, their careers are curiously similar in terms of
their regular engagement with the seats of political and economic power. However,
the baptismal certificate of Francesco Provenzale at least establishes the name of
his parents. The future musician, son of Ferrante Provenzale and Santella
Garofano,65 was christened on 15 September 1624 at the church of S. Maria della
Pietà dei Turchini, annexed to the conservatoire of which he would become
maestro.66 Of his parents no further traces exist, but they certainly seem to have
lived in the area around the church, and Francesco had therefore probably taken his
first steps in the part of Naples that, beyond the conservatoire, comprised the main
centres under viceregal control: the Teatro S. Bartolomeo (then used only for
spoken comedies), the Castelnuovo and the church of S. Giacomo degli Spagnoli.
Francesco at the age of thirty-six still lived in the same area; even his wedding on
13 January 1660 is recorded in the church of the Pietà dei Turchini (also known as
the Incoronatella). In the processetto matrimoniale (marriage proceedings),
Francesco is defined as ‘Neapolitanus, filius quondam Ferdinandi, et quondam ...’
(his mother’s name is omitted).67 Both his parents had therefore already died before
1660, probably during the plague of 1656. This document also supplies the address
of Francesco’s first house: ‘degens in domibus Venerabilis Ecclesie S. Marie
Pietatis sitis alla strada del Pallonetto, etatis sue annorum 33. incirca dice vivere del
suo’.
While Francesco declares himself to be a bachelor (‘Io mai ho havuto né ho al
presente tempo moglie in nessun luogo del mondo né ho fatto voto di castità né di
religione né sono stato monaco professo’), his bride of twenty-two years old,
Chiara Basile, declares her status as a widow:
I have had only one husband, called Donato Lombardo, whom I married in the Parrochia
of S. Giuseppe around four years ago, and he died during the period of plague here in
Naples and I saw him dead, and he was buried in the church of S. Maria d’Ogni Bene;
neither before nor afterwards nor at present do I have a husband anywhere in the world,
nor have I taken vows of chastity.
Chiara Basile was not a popolana, since she and her brother, Domenico, turn out
to have been the offspring and heirs of Giovanni Andrea Basile, probably a relative
of the Eletto del Popolo, Felice Basile (who died in 1659), if not of the famous
writer Giovan Battista (dead in 1632). Perhaps her first husband, Donato
Lombardo, also belonged to a family of musicians active around 1600 both at the
Annunziata and in the Real Cappella. Chiara’s dowry (1,000 ducats)68 was in fact
one-third of those later provided by Francesco Provenzale for his first daughter.
The witnesses at the wedding included Chiara’s mother, Laura Camposano (aged
forty),69 and her second husband, Onofrio Muccio (aged forty-three), who lived at
the same address as Provenzale, in the house owned by the Pietà dei Turchini ‘al
Pallonetto’. In fact Muccio declares that he is rationale in the Chiesa della Pietà dei
Turchini, and he will be important in the future career of Francesco as a maestro at
the Conservatorio dei Turchini. Ulisse Prota-Giurleo noticed that Provenzale’s
other witnesses were connected to the musical-theatrical circle: Lorenzo Colli was
the head of the Febi Armonici engaged at the Teatro S. Bartolomeo from 1657,
while Provenzale’s best man (compare d’anello), Don Pedro Sanz Palomera y
Velasco, in that same year 1660 wrote the libretto for Cloridea, the only opera
destined to be performed at the Palazzo Reale in that year.70 Onofrio Mucci appears
only once in Provenzale’s accounts, with a deposit of 10 ducats on 29 May 1674;
just when he was beginning his career as maestro in the Conservatorio dei
Turchini. Like a ghost, Chiara’s father, Giovanni Andrea Basile, appears as late as
5 November 1667 in a payment of 200 ducats in favour of Provenzale.71 This
probably refers to an instalment of Chiara’s dowry through Domenico, her brother,
who was to die by 1687, thus eventually leaving her as the sole heiress to the entire
fortune of the Basile family.
Until now only the son of Francesco Provenzale has been known, but in fact he
also had two daughters. His son, called Giuseppe,72 was born in March 1665 when
he lived near S. Maria della Scala.73 The change of address must have coincided
with Francesco’s nomination as maestro at the Conservatorio di S. Maria di Loreto,
situated on the southern boundary of the city, where he moved to be closer to his
work. Later in the year, when Giuseppe was only seven months old (October 1665),
Provenzale rented an apartment ‘sito in S. Agostino Maggiore di Napoli’ from the
governors of the Monte dei Santi Giovanni Lorenzo e Martino. Giuseppe was
confirmed in the cathedral on 13 September 1671, according to his certificate, and
in that same year Provenzale rented a house from the Padri Girolamini, right
opposite the cathedral.
Of Provenzale’s two daughters, we can identify Giulia thanks to a contract for the
payment of her huge dowry of 3,000 ducats dated 6 October 1674, for her wedding
to Ignazio Palumbo,74 who was older than her father (Ignazio was born around
1622). It is clear that Giulia was born around the end of 1660, and was therefore the
primogenita. Ignazio Palumbo too was a musician, perhaps of Apulian origin. In
June 1685 the Conservatorio dei Turchini records the arrival of one Ignazio
Palumbo from Trani ‘per servitio del nostro Conservatorio’,75 but this probably
refers to a boy of the same name, perhaps a grandson, a contralto, who was
admitted in 1688 and whose agent was Giuseppe Antonio Riccio from Bari.76 In the
main Neapolitan musical institution, the Real Cappella, there were three people
called Palumbo active around the middle of the seventeenth century: Orazio and
Pietro (singers), and the violinista Antonio.77 Thanks to a positive report on him by
maestro Provenzale, in 1692 the Conservatorio dei Turchini admitted Nicola
Palumbo (‘per essere sonatore di Cimbalo, e violino’), and a year later the singer
Giuseppe Palumbo, both of whom were orphans. Ignazio Palumbo had already died
by 1695.78 He was a trusted person in the Provenzale household, since in 1687 he
figures as one of the witnesses at the tonsura of Giuseppe Provenzale (the other
witness, Tomaso Cantore, had been a figliuolo of Loreto in 1666 and was a bass
singer). In his declaration, Palumbo claims that he had lived in properties owned by
the Incurabili a S. Giuseppe for sixty-five years and to have known Giuseppe since
he was ‘figliuolo piccolo’ (a little boy).
The younger of Francesco Provenzale’s daughters, Anna Maria, was probably
born in between his other two children (1660–65). She is documented first only in
1684 already as a professing nun at the Convent of Santa Teresa at
Massalubrense,79 with a capital of 600 ducats from her dowry, paid by Provenzale
at an annual interest of 30 ducats (5 per cent) ‘in sussidio delle fabriche et altre
cose necessarie’. In fact the new convent building at Massalubrense was only
finished and inaugurated in 1689. Anna Maria assumed the name of Suor Eletta
dello Spirito Santo after her period as a novice, but she disappears from documents
after 1689, even if a last instalment of her dotal capital was paid by Provenzale as
late as September 1692.80
On 2 August 1691 an enslaved ‘white woman’ (a Muslim Bosnian), aged twenty-
one, in service in the Provenzale household, was christened.81 She then took the
name of Anna Maria Teresa Provenzale, in homage to the nun Suor Eletta at
Massalubrense (perhaps Provenzale’s daughter had in the meantime died). On the
death of Ignazio Palumbo, Francesco Provenzale—who by then was living
permanently in the vicinity of the Conservatorio dei Turchini (near the
Ospedaletto)—regained use of the house near S. Giuseppe Maggiore, now defined
as ‘paliziata’. In the last years of his life he moved near to the Monteoliveto
monastery, where visits by the viceroy and the musicians of the Real Cappella were
carried out regularly. In the meantime, he furnished his villa on the beautiful coast
at Chiaia, a typical habit of the aristocracy and the wealthy class, in order to avoid
the stifling Neapolitan summer. In this house overlooking the sea at Mergellina,
Francesco Provenzale died on 6 September 1704.82 He was working as vicemaestro
in the Real Cappella until June 1704. After Provenzale’s death, his son Giuseppe
returned from Rome and collected his last salary payment.
Notes
1
Larson 1983; Larson 1985; and my unpublished paper presented at the International
Musicological Society meeting, London 1997: ‘Popolo and Aristocrazia: The Two
Faces of Neapolitan Music during the Age of Spanish Rule (1503–1707)’.
2
Spagnoletti 1996.
3
Watkins 1973 (1991); Larson 1983; Larson 1985.
4
Cerreto 1601, 154–60: ‘Names of Neapolitan musicians and compatriots, who have
been in this city of Naples from 1500 until the present day ... I did not wish to fail to
mention their names, since they were excellent in that science, also … because music
was greatly honoured by them, before they continually gave honoured prizes to
musicians. It seems to me that today everything can be discerned in the Most Illustrious
Signor Don Carlo Gesualdo Principe di Venosa.’ (‘Nomi dei musici napolitani, e
compatrioti, che sono stati in questa città di Napoli dall’anno 1500, infino al dì d’oggi
… Si che per non mostrarmeli ingrato, non ho voluto mancare … di tacere i nomi loro,
si per esserno eccellenti in tal scienza, si ancora … perche da quelli era molto honorata
la musica, anzi che a’ musici davano di continuo honorati premij. Tutto mi par che oggi
si scorga nell’Illustrissimo Signor Don Carlo Gesualdo Principe di Venosa’.)
5
Della Marra 1900.
6
The document, in the Borsieri correspondence in Como, Biblioteca Comunale, was
brought to my attention by Franco Pavan and is published in Fabris 1997, 90.
7
Quoted in Fabbri 1985, 312–13.
8
In the words of Antimo Liberati, maestro of the papal chapel, in Lettera … in risposta
ad una del Sig. Ottavio Persapegi (Rome, 1685): ‘Girolamo Frescobaldi was in our
times a man as much the marvel of the keyboard, with his hands and his pen … but was
no less unhappy and inept at vocal composition, as were many other players, even
today; however this is not the case with the above mentioned Valentini in Germany, D.
Giovanni Salvatore in Naples and Turino from Brescia … who were highly
accomplished in both areas of knowledge.’ (‘Girolamo Frescobaldi, il quale essendo
stato ne’ nostri tempi lo stupore del tasto, e con le mani, e con la penna … fu altrettanto
infelice ed inetto affatto nella compositione vocale, come sono stati, e sono anche al
presente molti altri Sonatori; ma non già così il nominato Valentini in Germania, D.
Giovanni Salvatore in Napoli & il Turino di Brescia … i quali furono valorosissimi
nell’una, e nell’altra scienza’.)
9
Strozzi’s Capricci da sonare cembali, et organi … Opera quarta (Naples, 1687) is
considered the last collection of the flourishing Neapolitan keyboard school of the first
half of the century. Strozzi was born in San Severino around 1615, and he became a
pupil of Giovan Maria Sabino and his successor as organist in the Annunziata after
1634. He also became a priest and a doctor (in 1645 he received a benefice as a
chaplain in the mother church of Amalfi and then he became Apostolic Notary in
Naples) and was, at the same time, organist and maestro in the Duomo and Neapolitan
archibishop’s court. Strozzi’s surviving works include his op. 1, published in Rome,
1655 (Responsoria … Motecta et Evangelia Passionis) and op. 2 Officio del Santo
Natale (in MS). He also published a theoretical book in 1683 (Elementorum musicae
praxis) and the late keyboard collection in 1687, which, he says, appears ‘nella mia
cadente età’. In fact, for the most part, this is music composed and performed in the
early part of his career. See Prota-Giurleo 1962a, and Hudson 1967. The 1687 edition
of the Capricci has been published in a modern transcription by B. Hudson (American
Institute of Musicology, 1967) and in facsimile ed. by L. Alvini (Florence, 1979).
10
According to Prota-Giurleo 1928. In the ‘Sabino’ article for the New Grove 2001,
XXII, 67–68 I indicated that Giovanni Maria Sabino (born in Turi on 30 June 1588)
was the son of Caterina Cecire and Franciscus de Vito Sabino, a native of Lanciano and
possibly a relative of the well-known madrigalist, Ippolito Sabino.
11
Ed. by ‘Marcello Magnetta Napolitano’ (Naples, Beltrano, 1620): unicum in I-Nf.
Magnetta was also responsible for editing works by Sabino printed later.
12
I-Nc MS 4.6.3. The manuscript may have originated in Prince of Venosa’s circle (it
contains instrumental pieces by Sabino, Stella and the same Gesualdo). The date ‘2 di
aprile 1629’ perhaps refers to the anonymous sacred vocal compositions in the same
manuscript that were probably copied later. See A Neapolitan Festa a Ballo and
Selected Instrumental Ensemble Pieces, ed. by R. Jackson (Madison, 1978).
13
The only other known positions are his place as teacher of canto figurato at the
Collegio delle Monache founded in S. Maria di Costantinopoli in 1640 and his being
responsible for the music at the Monte degli Agonizzanti in the church of S. Maria a
Cellaro in 1645, just four months before his death, in April of the same year.
14
In I-Nf, as a unicum, there is preserved a single manuscript composition by Monteverdi:
Gloria a 8 voci, MS S.M. IV 2 23a, ed. by W. Osthoff (Milan, 1958).
15
Fabris 1987b, 429 ff.
16
Donato Antonio (Antonino) Sabino was born in Turi on 13 February 1591. Like his
brother Giovan Maria he was a priest. In October 1635 he was appointed organist of the
church of the Annunziata, where his brother Giovan Maria was maestro di cappella.
From May 1642 to 1643 he held the additional appointment of maestro di cappella in
the Conservatorio dei Poveri di Gesù Cristo, where he taught music and singing, and in
the last year of his life he was made maestro at the Annunziata in place of his brother
Giovan Maria, whom he also succeeded as maestro of the Monte degli Agonizzanti in
the Chiesa di S. Maria a Cellaro (March and April 1646).
17
Giovan Pietro Sabino was born in Turi in 1593 and probably was invited to move to
Naples by his brothers.
18
Francesco Sabino’s birth date can be derived from the processetto of his second
marriage: his first wife, Anna Rosa, died in 1659 after thirteen years of marriage, and in
1660, aged forty-two, Francesco remarried Giulia Colamazzo (aged thirty). In
September 1645 his name appears for the first time in connection with musical
performances at the Casa Professa del Gesù. The earliest evidence of his professional
reputation as a teacher is a contract (signed on 29 December 1646) with the family of
his pupil Alessio D’Angelo (aged sixteen), to whom he had to teach in his house
singing, playing and counterpoint. He was recorded as being one of the five founders
and governors of the Congregazione dei Musici di Napoli, at S. Giorgio Maggiore, on
23 January 1655. Nevertheless, nothing is known about his official activity as maestro.
19
The MS is described in Fabris 1987a, 120–21.
20
Bouchard 1977, 184–85.
21
The MS was copied around 1670 by Antonio Nola, but its contents reflect the
production after the election of Andrea Falconieri to the direction of the Real Cappella
(1648). The source is described in Fabris 1987a, 120–21.
22
See also Fabris 1987b, 431–32.
23
There is a short mention of the MS in Pannain 1934, lxxii. Another MS today not
identified in I-Nf should contain ‘Dixit a 5 v. Autografo del Trabaci’, dated 1634, and
two more Dixit, by Giovan Maria and Antonino Sabino (Di Giacomo 1918, 88). See Di
Giacomo 1918, 88 and Fabris 1987b, 430.
24
Apart from a few manuscript pieces, all the keyboard music by Trabaci was printed in
Naples: Ricercate ... Libro I (Naples, 1603) and Il secondo libro de ricercate (Naples,
1615): only in part ed. by O. Mischiati in G. M. Trabaci, Composizioni per organo e
cembalo (Brescia and Kassel, I, 1964; II, 1969); facsimile ed. by L. Alvini (Florence,
1984), 2 vols. See Jackson 1964; Celada 1965; Perrucci 1965; Jackson 1968.
25
‘Tutti quattro Passij s’han da cantar in modo recitativo, & senza battuta, & nella fine
delle cadenze lasciar soavemente, che l’una voce non superi l’altra ... non havendo da
intervenirvi instromento alcuno ... ho messo in un altro volume le risposte della Turba
... ove le voci (nel cor pieno) han da esser’ doppie, & accompagnate da qualche
istromento di basso, come viola di braccio, trombone, o fagotto’.
26
‘Si avvertono tutti i virtuosi cantanti, che questi presenti mottetti alla moderna, si
potranno cantare con ogni sorte di voce, con trasportarli’.
27
See Fabris 1987a.
28
According to Prota-Giurleo 1952b, Appendice, 29–31, the Neapolitan Coppola studied
at the Annunziata with Giovan Maria Sabino and later became organist there in the
place of his teacher.
29
Coppola’s position at the Annunziata as an organist in the place of Antonino Sabino
was confirmed in 1650 (‘He has already served for many years as an organist without
being paid and he has given much satisfaction, particularly to the singers who sang
there’) (‘Già serve da molti anni da organista gratis, e con molta soddisfatione, dandola
particolarmente alli cantori ch'han cantato in essa’), and in 1659 ‘For the propriety of
the church, it is agreed that the music will be made up of two choirs. It is agreed to hire
three more singers. It is agreed that the singers will be the best obtainable. It is also
agreed that the Sabbatarians be dismissed, who more often than not find some
impediment which prevents them from attending to their obligation of serving at the
Royal Palace.’ (‘si stabilisce che la musica sia, per decoro della Chiesa, di due cori. Si
stabilisce di assentare altri 3 cantori. Si stabilisce che i cantori siano li megliori che se
possano avere. È pure stabilito il licenziamento de sabatarii dei quali più delle volte se
ne ritrasse qualcuno impedito per l'obbligo che tenevano di accudire al servitio del R.
Palazzo’: quoted in MSS Di Giacomo, I-Nn XVII.8.
30
Scipione Stella studied in the Annunziata, where he was elected organista from 1583 to
1590. Then he entered into the service of Prince Gesualdo and ‘volse quasi cigno morir
tra gli onoratissimi padri teatini’ in S. Paolo Maggiore, assuming the name of ‘Padre
Pietro Paolo’ (Capaccio 1634). Only a few keyboard pieces by him survive in
manuscript.
31
Dentice, a Neapolitan nobile di seggio and one of the most important composers and
keyboard players of Gesualdo’s circle, spent a short time in Rome in the service of
Cardinal Montalto. Then he entered the Oratorio dei Girolamini, Naples, where he
composed two books of Madrigali spirituali, before dying in 1635. Scipione Dentice
had three sisters nuns and one brother retired in the Monastero di S. Paolo Maggiore.
32
‘Erasmo de Bartolo, più volgarmente conosciuto col nome di Padre Raimo, ebbe i suoi
natali nella città di Gaeta, l’anno 1606 dell'era volgare. Il corso degli anni a noi rubò
qualunque notizia della di lui condizione, e di questa famiglia che più non esiste;
sappiamo soltanto che impiegò egli i suoi rari talenti al profondo studio della musica e
che si distinse fra i suoi coetani nell’arte del vero contropunto. Ignorasi benanche se si
dasse allo studio dell’armonia per puro suo divertimento o per esercitarne la
professione. Ma era ben naturale che o coll’uno o coll’altro carattere formasse la
compiacenza di quanti poteano averlo nelle loro accademie. Preparava così la
Provvidenza a quest’anima rispettabile un distintissimo luogo nella vigna del Signore.
Perciocché nell’anno 1637 fu egli invitato a dirigere la musica d’una solenne festa di
ballo che pomposamente si dava dalla Signora Colanchise in occasione del di [lei]
matrimonio. Aveano a quest’oggetto ridotto a brillante galleria un vasto giardino che
rispondesse al numero dei moltissimi invitati, e regolava dal cembalo il Raimo l’intiera
orchestra. Cadde all’improvviso sul cembalo un pesante festone diretto così dalla
Provvidenza che prendendo il solo brevissimo spazio nella tastatura tra l’una e l’altra
mano di chi vi sonava e scansando affatto il di lui corpo, infranse il cembalo stesso,
senza che rimanesse il Raimo nella più lieve parte offeso. Conobbe egli la mano che
avealo sottratto dall'orlo della tomba, e tocco dalla grazia, trovò non più degna del
secolo una vita che tutta doveva a Dio. Risolse pel momento di ritirarsi dal mondo, e
consacrare il resto dei giorni suoi più vicino al Santuario. Volealo il Signore nella sua
vigna tra l’esemplare osservanza dei suoi figli dell’oratorio, e ne spianò ben presto la
via. Furono accolte dai Filippini le di lui premure e visse, sacerdote tra loro, per lo
spazio d’anni diciannove sino all’ultimo dì della sua vita. Una irreprensibile condotta,
una cieca ubbidienza, una esemplarissima modestia ed il complesso di tutte le virtù,
formò constantemente lo specchio di quanti il trattarono. Ma si distinse più che mai la di
lui profonda umiltà, ch’è la base d’ogni virtù Cristiana. Rispose perfettamente alla vita
di lui, esemplarissima morte. Si svegliò tra que’ Padri nel 1656 un pestifero contagio,
che ne faceva crudelissima strage. L’infezione attaccaticcia disanimava i sani
dall’assistenza agli infermi. Ma non bastò per trattenere la fervida carità di Padre
Raimo. Ne credette anzi cresciuti i doveri col crescerne i bisogni, e, vittima della sua
carità, il dì 11 di luglio dell'anno stesso rese il suo spirito nella tranquilla pace del
Signore. Nel tempo del suo ritiro tra i Filippini non abbandonò mai i profondi suoi studii
di musica, ma ne cambiò soltanto l’oggetto, rivolgendo all’altare quell’armonia che data
avea per l’addietro a composizioni scolaresche. Non si loderanno mai abbastanza quelle
che scrisse a quattro cori obbligati per uso della cappella dell’Oratorio. La profondità
del contropunto e la dolcezza dell’armonia temperata dalla gravità ecclesiastica formano
l’ammirazione degl’intendenti, il buon gusto dei dilettanti e la compunzione dei devoti.
Sarebbe desiderabile che formassero anche lo specchio della posteriore musica
ecclesiastica, per isgombrarla dall’intempestivo brio teatrale in cui degenera l’armonia
tra la serietà del santuario’: MS note on a late copy of Raimo’s music by ‘Camillo
Franco, soprano della Cappella dell’Oratorio dei Filippini’ dated Naples, March 1787 (I-
Nc MS 1.3.14), quoted also by Prota-Giurleo 1929, 30–32. I have checked the copy in
GB-Lbl MS Add. 14,201: Mottetti a quattro cori del R. P. Erasmo di Bartolo detto P.
Raimo ... ff. 2–3v (foreword ‘A chi legge’ dated ‘Camillo Franco scrisse nel 1787’). The
wedding of Princess Colle d’Anchise (not Colanchise) was in 1635, not 1637.
33
One is documented in 1506; see Cronica di Napoli di Notar Giacomo, ed. P. Garzilli
(Naples, 1845), 284. This accident inspired G. Morlini in one of his novels; see Novelle
et favole (Naples, 1520), novella XVIII, 82–89. A late-sixteenth-century ex-voto,
painted on wood, reproduces a similar scene; see Fabris 1993a, 76–7.
34
‘Buon musico, bisognoso però d’aiuto per avere a carico sua madre e sorelle’. In the
words of the Cappellano Maggiore (1632): ‘[Erasmo Di Bartolo] Es contrabaxo de la
R. Capilla y de los mejores musicos d’ella, sirve en la Camera de V.E. en el concierto
Italiano y da muchos anos que lo haze en la Capilla Real con mucha puntualidad sin
hazer jamas falta, es hombre virtuoso y de vida exemplar y sostenta muchas sobrines’:
this document from Naples, Archivio di Stato, today lost, is quoted in Prota-Giurleo
1929, 33.
35
‘A 22 febraro 1664, giovedì, il viceré fu a sentir la messa alla Chiesa delli PP.
Gelormini della congregazione dell’Oratorio di San Filippo Neri, dov’erano le
Quarant’ore con musica a quattro chori. Invenzione che fu del padre Raimo Bartolo da
Gaeta, che morì di peste nel 1656, e fu cantato il muttetto a 4 Chori O Sacrum
Convivium. Non ti burlare, lettore, di questa annotazione, perché questo fu un padre di
santa vita et ogni sua composizione l’impetrava da Dio a forza di oratione mentale,
come tutti che sentono cantarle, dicono, che hanno del divino’.
36
‘Questo giorno 25 di febraro, festa di S. Mattia Apostolo, il viceré Marchese d’Astorga
fu ai Gerolomini, terminandosi in detta chiesa le Quarantore. Vi cantò un musico
Romano che portò il viceré. Però li musici Napoletani non ebbero che cedergli punto.
Ebbero a cantare per cinque giorni continui a 4 Chori le composizioni miracolose del
padre Raimo de Bartolo, le quali quanto più sono intese, sempre dimostrano esser
novissime’.We have to add the comments by Marciano 1693, II, 113: ‘It is well known
among musical experts, that those compositions have been saturated with such devout
harmony more by special grace of God than with human ingenuity. (‘Ơ fama anco fra’
periti dell’arte, che quelle compositioni più che con humana industria siano state per
special gratia del cielo imbevute di sì divota armonia’.)
37
M. F. Robinson, ‘Provenzale, Francesco’, New Grove 1980.
38
Ricercari a 4 voci, Canzone francesi, Toccate, et Versi, per rispondere nelle Messe con
l’Organo al Choro, composte dal R. D. Giovanni Salvatore Organista nella Real
Chiesa di San Severino de’ RR. Padri Benedettini di Napoli. Libro Primo (Naples,
Beltrano, 1641), modern ed. by B. Hudson (American Institute of Musicology, 1967).
39
Cf. Apel 1967, Chapter III. See also: Apel 1938; Apel 1962; Tagliavini 1983;
Hammond 1987.
40
The title given in the source is Litania a 5 voci con due canti, indicated as an autograph
MS in Di Giacomo 1918, 84.
41
In I-Nf, AMCO 389. The entire collection of Salvatore’s Responsorii della Settimana
Santa a 4 voci have been copied ‘Ad usum Gaetani Venetiani. Anno Domini 1693 25
Settembris’.
42
See Larson and Pompilio 1983, 132.
43
‘Acciò dett’opera sia d’utilità, non solamente a’ preti, ma ancora alli signori organisti
… m’è parso accompagnarvi nel fine una breve Regola, quale servirà solamente per dar
notitia a quelli, ch’avendo fatto tutt’il lor studio in accompagnar chi canta con il basso
continuo, volendo poi rispondere al choro non sanno, come, & in che corda s’habbia da
lasciare con l’organo, & fanno di maniera tale, che scompigliano, & disturbano il
choro’.
44
For information on Salvatore at the Turchini and the Poveri di Gesù Cristo, see Di
Giacomo 1924, 300 and 1928, 146. For an incomplete catalogue of his music, see B.
Hudson, ‘Salvatore, Giovanni’, New Grove 2001, XXII, 184–85.
45
According to Larson and Pompilio 1983, 132, the original edition was published as
Selectio concentica psalmorum a 5 in 1645 (dedicated to the Neapolitan archibishop,
Cardinal Filomarino); in 1647 a first reprint followed entitled Ghirlanda di vaghi fiori
di diversi. In 1650 it was published as Sacra animorum pharmaca musicis a 5.
46
‘It is by order of the Royal Counsellor Andrea Provenzale assigned commissioner of
the Monasterio de Santa Maria D. Romita that no one play games in these two streets
around the monastery under the pain of a fine of six ducats or arbitrary imprisonment’
(‘Banno et comandamento per ordine del Sig. Regio Consegliero Andrea Provenzale
Comissario Delegato del Monasterio de Santa Maria D. Romita che nessuno ardischi
giocare in queste due strade intorno al Monasterio sotto pena de ducati sei et
carcerazione arbitrario’).
47
Minieri Riccio 1844, 287.
48
Origlia 1754, II, 131. The most important work by Andrea Provenzale, printed
posthumously in Naples in 1646, is Observationes & glossemata ad consuetudines
Neapolitanas, & Napodani ac caeterorum quii interprand. consuetudin. fluruerunt
(copy in I-Nn listed in Santoro 1986, 247). This is a very important source to study
ancient Neapolitan ‘consuetudini giuridiche’.
49
‘Questo è uno de i gentilissimi pari suoi, per nobiltà, per letere, e per gentilezza habbia
Napoli. La sua nobiltà il dichiara<ta> di questi Provenzali, che da quella felicissima
Provincia di Francia, con l'occasione delle guerre si ritrovavano in Regno, già che quel
Preianni Provenzale, che con pipera [= fiera?], & avversa fortuna ammiraglio de i Re
Angioini, combatté spesso, e fu conosciuto per guerriero valoroso, con molti suoi
parenti, seminò la sua stirpe in Sicilia, in altri lochi d'Italia, & in Napoli
particolarmente; che perciò in Trapani, e monti di Trapani questi nostri sono conosciuti
per parenti da fra’ Gio. Battista Provenzale generale del Terzo ordine di San Francesco;
da D. Marcello Barone della Cudia, da un Benedetto suo fratello, cavalieri cogniti per
la nobiltà, e valor loro: & in Catania apparentarono Provenzali con la famiglia
Aragona, in tanta stima furono tenuti; de’ quali fu quel D. Francesco Provenzale
regente del Consiglio collaterale a tempo di Re Filippo II con altri homini nobili, &
illustri’: Capaccio 1634; ed. 1989, II, 409.
50
‘Andrea dopo esser stato molti anni giudice dell’ammiraglio, e fattosi conoscere
eminente nelle lettere, e nel tener con decoro quel tribunale, fu eletto a consigliero di
S.M. con sodisfatione universale di tutto questo Regno, per esser così benemerito della
corona di Spagna, e per esser dottissimo, come anco si vedrà nelle opere, che tiene per
dare alle stampe’ (Capaccio 1634; ed. 1989, II, 409).
51
In Capaccio (Capaccio 1634; ed. 1989, II, 409), Forestiero tells about Andrea
Provenzale’s ‘nobiltà conosciuta in tanti lochi d’Italia’: ‘Io l’ho ben conosciuta in
Lucca’, and adds: ‘In Lucca poi si dilatò da quel Proficato Provenzale, il quale i suoi
discendenti investì con i veri splendori nobiltà in arme, & in lettere insino ad hoggi,
dove vive assai conosciuto il cavalier Giacomo Provenzale per suo gran valore
nell'armi con suoi figli’.
52
Marcello and Stefano Provenzale from Cento gained quite a fame as artists in Ferrara
and Rome, while a member of this family was maestro di camera in the Ferrarese
household of Marquis Bentivoglio; see Fabris 1999.
53
See Ferrari, Onomasticon, 557 (mention is made of Andrea, Girolamo and also Ignazio
Provenzale in addition to a Francesco Provenzali da Carpi, men of letters in the early
eighteenth century); Indice biografico italiano 1993, where our musician Francesco is
also cited (F. 816, 249–51).
54
Naples, Biblioteca Museo Nazionale di San Martino; see Catalogue ed. by C.
Padiglione (Naples, 1876): MS 276 ‘d’incerto autore: anno 1693’, 90 f.
55
He is the author of a treatise on Aristotle: De instrumentis sciendi Hyeronymi
Provenzali ... posteriorum librum Neapoli publice profitendi: tractatus in quo tota de
demonstratione doctrina, ab Aristotele habita, continentur (Naples, Cacchio, 1575; I
have checked the copy in I-Nn 73–F–43(4)). Says Capaccio: ‘Havrei che dir molto di
Geronimo Provenzale, fratello di Gaspare, de i più illustri filosofi, e teologi de i suoi
tempi, che meritò la familiarità di Clemente VIII, il quale havendo ricevuto
infinitissima sodisfatione, creò lui arcivescovo di Surrento, & ad un suo fratello diede
la Abadia di Santa Maria di Carpignano con due mila scudi di rendita, e per i meriti
d'ambedue, & anco per le sue virtù, un loro nipote fu fatto primicerio nel Domo di
questa cità. Scrisse quel dottissimo prelato molte opere, delle quali a penna si ritrovano
De sensibus, e De oratione’ (ibid.)
56
Labrot 1993, 212, erroneously gives the year of Ignazio’s death as 1693. Galasso
1982b, I, 313 refers to the correct date as April 1688. The latter date is confirmed by
the Regioni delli SS. D. Anna de Luca duchessa di Collecorvino, e Vincenzo de Miro
avvocato fiscale della Regia Camera col Sig. D. Giuseppe Provenzale (Naples, ‘in
Banca di Onofrio presso lo Scrivano Guardia, n.d. [1702]’), [1]: ‘Regente Ignazio
Provenzale nel suo ultimo testamento celebrato a di 11 Aprile 1688’.
57
‘Costui si può dire con ragione che sia di vil feccia della plebe della città di Lecce, nato
però in Trepuzzi, terra di detta provincia; il suo padre fu macellaro in detta città e,
vedendo che suo figliuolo avea qualche applicazione alle lettere, lo mandò in Napoli a
studiar la legge: mentre stette Ignazio a studiar la legge fu assai discolo in tutte le
operazioni. Prese poi la laurea del dottorato, e si diede ad esercitare la procura ne’ regi
tribunali. Ma la fortuna che volea farlo divenir grande fe’ sì ch’essendo succeduto in
Napoli quel fierissimo contagio che spopolò la città d’habitatori [1656] ed essendo
rimasta unica erede di ricchissimo patrimonio la figlia di notar Marino Stinca detta
Maria, Ignazio come vicino di casa, intromettendosi ne’ negozij e liti di quella, seppe
far sì che s'introducesse anche nel di lei letto, prendendola per moglie; ed ecco Ignazio
da povero e vile ch’era pria, divenuto ricchissimo per il valsente di più di 80 mila scudi,
con casa, cocchi e servitù da Signore’: Naples, Società di Storia Patria, MS XX.B.28, ff.
15–16, quoted in Cortese 1923, 149. This statement is confirmed by Francesco
D’Andrea (Cortese 1923, 148–50).
58
Vicaria is the name of the ancient law court and tribunal, still today located in the
building of Castelcapuano, near the central railway station in Naples. Information on
Ignazio Provenzale’s administrative career can be found in manuscripts by Confuorto
and D’Andrea and in Galasso 1982b, I, 157, 236, 247, 279, 288, 313. On the structure
of the Neapolitan administration and the significance of Provenzale’s charges, see
Comparato 1974.
59
Reggente Provenzale’s career is summarized by Confuorto: ‘Sormontò Ignazio a tutti i
gradi del ministerio finché arrivò al sublime; poiché fu consegliero del Conseglio di S.
Chiara, presidente della R. Camera della Summaria, e finalmente fu fatto reggente della
R. Cancelleria senz’obligo di andare in Spagna’: Cortese 1923, 150 (footnote).
60
‘Essendo Ignazio rimasto vedovo, passò alle seconde nozze colla figlia (Anna) di
Orazio de Luca, huomo ricchissimo ch’era stato pria mercante di drappi nella strada
degli Armieri, indi fatto barone di Pescopagano, che li portò in dote 20 mila docati di
contanti, colla quale procreò quattro sole femine senza maschi ... Fe’ compra del
palagio che fu del reggente Geronimo de Filippo vicino la Porta di S. Gennaro, e vi
edificò nuovi bellissimi quarti con molte stanze d’amenissima veduta. Delle quattro sue
figliole, due le racchiuse monache nel monastero di S. Gio. Battista in Napoli, e due
altre furono destinate a nobil matrimonio ... delle quali la prima chiamata Giovanna
ordinò che prendesse per sposo D. Giuseppe Provenzale, figlio di D. Andrea duca di S.
Agapito, e ciò per beneficare questa casa ridotta in povertà, dalla quale si vantava esser
disceso per ramo collaterale; ed il duca per adularlo, e perché così compliva a’ suoi
interessi, l’affermava. La seconda ordinò che si fosse accoppiata a nobile e virtuoso
personaggio. Poco dopo il lutto di suo padre si casarono le due sue figliole, la prima con
D. Gioseppe Provensale, conforme avea ordinato; e la seconda al dottor D. Vincenzo
de’ Miro della terra di Grignano, il quale è riuscito uno de’ primi avvocati di questi
Regii tribunali ... oggi si ritrova reggente del Conseglio d’Italia in Spagna. E perchè
ritrovasi scomunicato, non ha potuto ancora pigliar possesso in detta carica’: Cortese
1923, 150.
61
Labrot 1993, 212. See Ragioni delli SS. D. Anna de Luca Duchessa di Colle Corvino
(Naples, n.d. [1702]).
62
Labrot 1979, 176.
63
Cortese 1923, 151 (footnote). D’Andrea says that Ignazio ‘ebbe ancora un fratello che,
avendo voluto seguitare la via di Roma facendo ivi ancor egli l’avvocato, quando col
favore del fratello avrebbe assai meglio potuto farlo in Napoli, non so che sia seguito di
lui’ (Cortese 1923, 149–50).
64
No documents before the end of the seventeenth century survive in Trepuzzi. A certain
Angelo Provenzale, possibly a member of the family, was paying 24 ducats in 1702 to
the Conservatorio della Pietà dei Turchini ‘per un basso, seù poteca ... a Monserrato’
(AS, Notai sec. XVII, D’Attano Felice, no. 599, 1702, f. 209).
65
The only possible link with his mother’s family is suggested by a late payment of 100
ducats by Provenzale to Giacomo Garofano on 4 May 1677 and 40 ducats on 20
October 1678.
66
S. Maria Incoronatella (S. Maria della Pietà dei Turchini), Libro de Battezzati, II
(1610–38), f. 281v: ‘Adi 15. di 7.bre 1624. Francesco Antonio figlio di Ferrante
Provenzale et Santella Garofano fu battizzato per me D. Vincenzo Castaldo Curato fu
commare Martia Candia’.
67
Naples, Archivio Storico Diocesano, Processi matrimoniali, sub anno 1660, ‘F’:
Magnifico Francesco Provenzale–Candida Basile, only abstracts quoted in Prota-
Giurleo 1958a, 73. The age incorrectly referred to in the document was used to
establish his year of birth, usually given as 1626–27.
68
Apart from the wedding proceedings in 1660, more information on Chiara Basile’s
family is given in the deeds of Notary Filippo Reale on 11 March 1677 (AS, Notai sec.
XVII, Reale Filippo, no. 581, sub anno 1675–77: 32, ff. 159 ff.): the contracting parties
are D. Domenico, the son and heir of quondam Neapolitan Captain Gio. Andrea Basile,
and Francesco Provenzale, husband of Chiara Basile (atto del Notar Giuseppe Alerta di
Napoli on 4 January 1660).
69
Her first husband was in fact quondam Captain Giovan Andrea Basile, Chiara’s father.
70
Prota-Giurleo 1958a, 54.
71
(5 November 1667) ‘A Francesco Provenzale D.200. E per lui a Capitano Gio. Andrea
Basile per altrettanti’: ASBN, P., 586.
72
See Naples, Archivio Storico Diocesano, Sacra Patrimonia, 188 N.3167, where the
entire proceedings for the consacratione sacerdotale of Giuseppe (Joseph) Provenzale
are preserved: he was born in 1665 and was still alive after his father’s death in 1704.
According to these documents, Giuseppe was a member of the Congregazione dei
Dottori in S. Nicola della Carità a Toledo and already a graduate Doctor utriusque juri
before March 1677. ‘Ob amore’ his father Francesco (also in the name of his mother
Chiara) registered a deed (renewed on 11 October 1687 by Notary Filippo Reale).
Thanks to this deed, Giuseppe received 55 ducats per year, from his capital of 1,000
ducats. Giuseppe’s confirmation certificate dates from 13 September 1671 (‘Adì 13
Settembre 1671 Giuseppe Provenzale figlio di Francesco e Chiara Basile il Compare
Bernardo di Bernardo è confirmato nella Cattedrale di Napoli per Monsignore
Illustrissimo Caraccioli Arcivescovo’). Good conduct certificates are enclosed signed
by ‘Giuseppe Confessor’ and by two professional musicians: Ignazio Palumbo (his
brother-in-law) and the priest ‘Tomaso Cantore’. In 1688 Giuseppe had been promoted
to four minor orders and to three holy orders (subdiaconato, diaconato, presbiteriato).
In the proceedings are enclosed two more documents on parchment sent by the Pope to
his ‘Delecto Filio Josepho Provenzale Clerico Neapolitanus’.
73
(5 March 1665) ‘Gioseppe figlio di Francesco Provenzale, e di Chiara Basile coniugi
battizzato per il Sig.r D. Onofrio Sperandeo curato di Santa Maria della Scala, lo
compare il Sig.r D. Gioseppe Caetano, e la commare la Signora D. Violanta
Macedonia’: Naples, S. Maria della Scala, Liber Bapt., X, f. 167v; a copy in ASD,
Sacra Patrimonia, 188 N.3167: Giuseppe Provenzale.
74
(6 October 1674) ‘A Francesco Provenzale D.2000. Et per lui ad Ignatio Palumbo,
marito di Giulia Provenzale sua figlia a compimento di D.3000 per l’intiera dote di
detta Giulia ad esso Ignatio promessoli liberi et espliciti senza vincolo né conditione
alcuna conforme quanto et altro più ampiamente appare dalli capitoli matrimoniali
formati et sottoscritti tra esso et detto Ignatio, quali si conservano per notar Luca
Finelli di Napoli al quale si riferisce, delli quali detto Ignatio ne have cautelato detta
Giulia per istromento rogato per mano di detto notar Luca Finelli con tutte le clasuole
solite et opportune et necessitano … Idem D. 1000 per idem’: ASBN, Sp.S., g.m. 561.
75
I-Nc, Turchini 32, f. 64.
76
Olivieri 1999, 733.
77
Fabris 1983b, 109–10.
78
On 21 July 1695 it is mentioned for the first time ‘quondam Ignatio Palumbo’: ASBN,
Sp.S., 751.
79
It is very interesting to note that the Carmelite convents founded in the area of Naples
by Prudenza Pisa, better known as the Madre Serafina di Dio (1621–99), were in
general reserved for young members of the Neapolitan aristocracy. The Monastero di S.
Teresa at Massalubrense was founded by Serafina in 1673. Anna Maria Provenzale’s
admission seems to have been quite an important status symbol for her father thanks to
his artistic reputation and his income. The original registers of the early period of the
convent do not survive. See Ribera Ferraro 1982; Possanzini 1992.
80
26 September 1692: ASBN, P., 962.
81
Document quoted by Prota-Giurleo 1958a, 78 (Naples, Parrocchia di S. Giuseppe
Maggiore, Liber Bapt., f. 94).
82
Prota-Giurleo 1958a, 79, has already published the two registers of Provenzale’s death:
‘A dì 6 Settembre 1704, doppo ricevuto li Sacramenti di Santa Chiesa, morì Francesco
Provenzale, d’anni 70 in circa, e fu sepolto a Santa Maria in Portico’ (Naples,
Parrocchia di Santa Maria della Neve, Libro dei Defunti, IV, f. 83); ‘A 6 Settembre
1704, Francesco Provenzale, d’anni 77 in circa, marito di Chiara Basile, abitava al
Borgo di Chiaia, Parrocchia della Neve, ricevuti li Santissimi Sacramenti, sepolto a
Santa Maria in Portico’ (Naples, Parrocchia di S. Giovanni Maggiore, Libro dei
Defunti, a. 1704, f. 83).
Chapter Three
The Four Conservatoires
Teachers and Students
When Provenzale assumed the direction of the cappella of the Conservatorio di S.

Maria di Loreto, the four conservatoires in Naples were the heart around which
developed the organization of modes of musical production beyond compare. In
spite of the disruptions of the Masaniello Uprising and the plague of 1656, during
the 1660s the four conservatoires were full to the brim with students, and some of
them adopted a restricted entry policy or officially stopped new enrolments.
Provenzale had an important role in this delicate process, and for just under forty
years, from 1663 to 1701, he was the most important music teacher in Naples. He
also had a significant influence on succeeding generations of Neapolitan musicians
in the eighteenth century.
In a manuscript source entitled Nota de todos los conventos assi de Frayles como
de Monjas Conservatorios … y Capilles que hay en esta ciudad de Napoles y su
Burgos [1660], many charity institutions are listed, including:1
S. Onofrio alla Vicaria ‘donde estan 50 muchachos … y en el se les enseña toda suerte de
virtud’ [f. 177].
SS. Annunziata ‘en la qual hay un Conservatorio y entre Monjas, y muchachos son hasta
370’ [f. 183].
S. Maria di Loreto ‘Esta el Conservatorio de nostra Señora de Loreto de pobres niños
Huerfanos, que hay 112.Y es governado por seys Governadores laicos … y para enseñar
los hay hasta 12 Padres’ [f. 184v].
This document reveals that in Naples in 1660 there were 617 religious
institutions, 248 of which were churches, and seven conservatoires, the latter with
a total of 368 boys. This number increased during the following years.
At first, musical instruction was just one of the educational possibilities offered
by conservatoires to young orphans or to poor girls to enable them to secure a job
or to find a husband. The Seminario sought to prepare the more learned clergy of
the town and always remained tied to the Conservatorio dei Poveri di Gesù Cristo,
the only Neapolitan conservatoire subject to archiepiscopal jurisdiction.2 The S.
Casa dell’Annunziata remained above all a charitable institution dedicated to poor
girls, and its musical activity was reduced to a minimum after 1660. S.
Gennariello dei Poveri opened as another conservatoire around 1670, but had a
short life and produced quite limited results. The other three conservatoires
specializing in music (S. Onofrio, the Turchini and Loreto) were all under civic
and viceregal control, and were regulated in a complex way.
When it became clear that a musical career would assure the financial future of
families far from Naples in the poor regions of the kingdom, entrance to a
conservatoire, even for a fee, became an attractive option. Young boys destined for
castration or already castrated were always accepted into the conservatoires because
they were ‘goods’ of great value, but for others the increasing overcrowding of the
conservatoires and the fixed limits on enrolment prompted individuals to find other
ways of entering these institutions. As we shall see, Provenzale was one of those
maestri who became rich thanks to conductio musici, that is, the tying of a young boy
to a famous teacher by notarial contract in exchange for a portion of his future
professional income. Another way to gain admittance was by way of specific
regional or social connections, or, of course, by the patronage of a rich and/or
important nobleman (sometimes even the viceroy became personally involved,
particularly in support of the children of Spanish soldiers). The Conclusione of the
governors of Loreto on 26 May 1666 is significant:3
It was ordered to the maestro di cappella [Francesco Provenzale], that even if he were
ordered he should not issue certificates of those young boys who could have musical
potential, but certainly of those who have already shown their talent and from whom our
House could gain some advantage, and so as to avoid that the Most Illustrious President
and Governors should be pressured into receiving those children with the idea that they
will be accomplished in the future. And in receiving orphans, Neapolitans should always
be preferred and those of a decent background.
Among the patrons supporting the Conservatorio di Loreto in the years 1668–72,
we find, for example, the Duke of Andria (paying 40 ducats) and the merchants
Giuseppe Vandaynden (between 25 and 50 ducats per year) and Gaspar Roomer
(50 ducats in 1669; 100 ducats in 1670). In 1671 Provenzale received a payment
from the Marchese di Pescara, a member of the ancient D’Avalos family, for his
musical services in the conservatoire. There are numerous similar examples.
The choice of a conservatoire was not only an artistic question but was also
linked to the student’s family connections. However, the investment, for all that it
was worth, was considered crucial in professional terms, enabling the student to
assist his family by way of his income. Also, the young musicians who completed
their studies and were able to take a job into Naples were often asked by their
families or friends to help other boys to enter the conservatoires or to start a
professional career. This mechanism caused a great migration to Naples, especially
from Apulia, of young students, who constituted the highest percentage of
Neapolitan musicians throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
On their entry into the conservatoire, boys (except the poor or priests) had to pay
a yearly fee. In exchange, they received food, a bed, clothes, shoes, books and
musical instruments. After their initial training, students quickly became part of the
‘productive’ organisations of the conservatoire, namely the vocal and instrumental
ensembles under a maestro di cappella (and also with the involvement of outside
professionals) which went around the city and in the neighbourhood to perform in
a variety of ways: Masses, motets, litanies, essequie, Vespers and processions,
secular and sacred popular feasts, performances of sacred dramas in the royal
The Four Conservatoires 81
palace, churches or private palaces. The groups of boys (figliuoli) sent out for these
performances were called flotte (also flottiglie or frottole) or paranze, depending
on their size: the terms derive from nautical language. In addition, the different
colours of their clothing distinguished boys belonging to each institution: the
‘figliuoli turchini’ of the Pietà, for example, were so called because of their deep
blue dress.4
The financial turnover of the conservatoires was very impressive indeed, as the
surviving account books and other documents of the old banks show. However, the
first signs of crisis were already apparent in the first decades of the eighteenth
century, when there were no further positions for the large number of qualified
musicians emerging from the four conservatoires, even in the smaller and more
peripheral churches. The market was glutted, one consequence of which was a new
wave of emigration of Neapolitan musicians throughout Europe and even as far as
the New World. The description of a ‘Neapolitan school’, a term coined around
1770 after Charles Burney’s journey to Naples, was then used in a pejorative sense
and misinterpreted during the nineteenth century. Yet despite all the doubts
expressed by musicologists over the last thirty years,5 there really was such a thing
as a ‘Neapolitan school’, at least in the sense of the systems developed by the
conservatoires, involving a customized scheme of education that involved the
transmission of musical skills directly from teacher to pupil: this mechanism
maintained a constant control over the future generations. But the most important
repertory left by this ‘school’ was not so much opera as sacred music, even if the
presence of national ‘Neapolitan’ stylistic features is perceptible in all the
surviving output of the long period leading up to the arrival of the Bourbons in
1734. Francesco Provenzale was for forty years the most important maestro in two
of the four Neapolitan conservatoires. Through his many pupils, Provenzale’s
influence was felt even in the other two, even though he never held an official
position in either of them.
Provenzale in S. Maria di Loreto
Life in the first conservatoire in which Provenzale was employed, S. Maria di

Loreto, has been reconstructed by Michael Robinson and others.6 In contrast to
those of the Turchini, the regole of S. Maria di Loreto were not published, but we
find some indications in the account books (as, for example, in the years 1668 and
1763).7 When Provenzale entered S. Maria di Loreto, probably in 1661,8 the
previous maestri di cappella there seem very undistinguished:9
Marco Viadano (1621–51?), 10 ducats monthly

Stefano D’Amato (?1629), ‘maestro di cappella’
Pietr’Aniello Guarino (1630), ‘maestro di cappella’ (in fact organist)
(Andrea Murino) (1651, according to Di Giacomo)
Andrea Murino (1655–?), 10 ducats monthly
Pietro Coppola (1657), 5 ducats monthly
Leonardo Fiata (1658)
Giuseppe Ferraro (?1658–61)

Orazio Lucarelli (1661), 10 ducats monthly
Francesco Provenzale (1661–75), 12 ducats monthly
Students in the Conservatorio di Loreto were dressed in white (a cassock, long

robe and cap) but when they went out for musical performances they were obliged
to dress in black (probably because of their frequent participation in essequie). The
boys paid a type of registration fee of about 12 ducats, a sum that remained
unchanged for most of the century, although the annual fee varied according to the
financial circumstances of each student. In Provenzale’s time, this varied from
about 20 ducats per year (1662) to 30 (from 1668 to 1682). The payments made to
the maestri remained stable: 12 ducats for a maestro and 10 for the vicemaestro
(Giuseppe Cavallo, who taught singing and also had religious duties at the Loreto),
with 4–5 ducats for the teacher of wind instruments and 5 for that of stringed
instruments.10 The complex bureaucratic machine regulating the life of the
Conservatorio di Loreto as a charitable institution involved the following:11 maestri
di scola (teaching the humanities, grammar, rhetoric, religion, philosophy); music
masters, i.e., the maestro di cappella and the vicemaestro di cappella (teaching
composition, singing, keyboard); maestro di strumenti di fiato (cornet, bassoon,
trombone, etc.); maestro degli strumenti di corde (violin, etc.); maestri di scienza
and maestri di geometria (from the eighteenth century); sottomaestri or mastricelli
(senior students teaching the juniors).
We know about the official duties of a maestro di cappella in the Conservatorio
di Loreto only for a period later than Provenzale’s. They were noted on 2
September 1685 on the occasion of the election of the new maestro, Nicola
Acerbo, in place of Gaetano Veneziano:12
First, he has to give lessons twice a day to all the young boys who have been assigned to
him, and he must allocate two hours to each lesson, which will be assigned by the Father
Rettore.
Second, he is to compose a Mass for four voices with instruments every four
months, and at the end of the year a Mass for two choirs also with instruments, and each
month a motet; these compositions are to be deposited so that they can be inventoried.
Third, he must comply each time there is the occasion for composing a Prologue,
Intermezzo or any other work to be recited, and our conservatoire must provide him with
the necessary paper for the said compositions, which are also to be deposited.
Fourth, in the case of him being unable to compose the abovementioned Masses,
motets and others, 6 ducats will be subtracted from his provision for each Mass, and two
ducats for each motet.
Fifth, in the case of him being absent and unable to give lessons, his provision will
be deducted each day for the said missing time, except in the case of infirmity when the
provision will be dispensed.
Although until 1684 there was just one maestro di cappella, from 1672
Provenzale’s pupil Giuseppe Cavallo, a priest, was set beside him as maestro di
canto (a post that the conservatoire had not assigned since 1667).13 This post, later
called mastricello, corresponds in every respect to that of a vicemaestro. Cavallo
replaced Provenzale after his dismissal in 1675. After Cavallo’s death, in 1684, the
office of maestro di cappella was taken up by another of Provenzale’s pupils,
Gaetano Veneziano, who had entered the Conservatorio di Loreto in 1670.14
Veneziano, too, had been a mastricello, and he became Provenzale’s closest
assistant and his favourite copyist until 1675. Provenzale’s other colleagues
included two (sometimes three) teachers of musical instruments: Carlo de
Vincentiis, called ‘Acquaviva’, as maestro di violino; Nicola Lavagna as maestro
di cornetto; and Francesco Basso as maestro di fagotto (but only in 1668). On
various occasions during Provenzale’s time as maestro, the governors of the
Loreto, judging from their minutes, appear to have been worried about his
absenteeism.15 This was the inevitable result of his many external engagements, in
particular when in 1673 he began his parallel activity as maestro at the Turchini.
At the Loreto a teacher was obliged to sign ‘in his own hand’ (‘con le proprie
mani’) his lessons in a book, probably to verify the real work done. Placing
controls on the earnings of the conservatoire gained by external performances
directed by Provenzale in town and throughout the neighbouring areas became a
veritable obsession for the governors:16
(1673) That no music should be taken out without first having made an agreement, and if
some music is taken out without prior agreement, it has to be paid for by the person who
takes it.
(1674) When some music or work is taken out, a detailed record has to be kept of it and
the payment should be made up front before the work or music is performed.
Surviving detailed lists of the earnings in the Conto di musiche, assistenze,

essequie, et altro che si fanno da nostri figliuoli outline not only the money
accumulated but also the extent of the external services involved.
When under Provenzale’s direction the Conservatorio di Loreto began its first
productions of sacred opera, starting with Il martirio di San Gennaro (1663 and
1664), this external activity reached its peak, bringing significant profit to the
administration. The immediate consequence of this success was a rise in the
number of enrolments that then forced drastic limits to be set on future admissions.
However, in fact, these limits were not respected:17
(1669) It was agreed that the young boys should not be more than 140 because the
revenue of this pious institution is not sufficient to maintain more than that number, and
because there are not yet 140 we have agreed that we have to receive the aforesaid
Antonio and Baldassarro, who have to pay the usual charitable entry sum, and Carlo
Maggio will be received without paying any sum because he is very poor. We have also
agreed that the boys whom we receive to be educated should not be paying less than 36
ducats a year and every semester should always be paid in advance.
(1670) On 10 February 1669, it was agreed that the young boys should not number more
than 140 for reasons stated in that Deliberation and because since then, out of the number
of applicants who are poor orphans we have received more than the aforesaid number for
a total of 156, we have also excluded many other boys because it was impossible to
receive any more owing to insufficient revenues; thus we have agreed that the number of
boys should not be more than 150 and if one of these boys should leave, we should not
receive any other in his place until we reach the number of 150.
Of course, in particular cases, boys able to offer a generous payment to the

conservatoire were admitted without difficulty (see the case of Giovan Battista
Giuno admitted in 1673).18 On the other hand, strict controls were placed on the
figliuoli in cases where they might become a financial liability:19
(12 January 1670) The situation was discussed of when a boy from our conservatoire
wants to leave the said conservatoire, saying that he wants to enter a religious life and be
given that which will appear reasonable to the governors to give him the said charitable
sum; then it becomes apparent that he did not leave to enter a religious life but instead
went home and therefore it was concluded that from today onwards no sum shall be given
to a boy who wants to leave to enter a religious life.
Provenzale in S. Maria della Pietà dei Turchini
Provenzale’s pupils in Loreto not only took part in the experiments in sacred opera
(La colomba ferita, La fenice d’Avila, etc.) but also contributed to the fame of their
maestro in the next decades. Only the need for a celebrated teacher can explain the
possibility offered to Provenzale, in 1673, to retain his role as maestro despite his
commitment to the Conservatorio della Pietà dei Turchini. His nomination as
maestro to the Turchini is noted on 8 October 1673.20
Provenzale may have obtained this position thanks to his wife’s stepfather,
Onofrio Muccio, who was a ‘razionale della Pietà dei Turchini’ and who lived with
Chiara Basile’s mother in a flat owned by the same conservatoire, free of charge.21
According to Ulisse Prota-Giurleo, Provenzale may have decided to live in this
apartment to return to the same district where he was born, much closer to the
centres of Neapolitan power (the Castelnuovo, Palazzo Reale and cathedral)
compared with S. Maria di Loreto in the suburbs.22
At the Conservatorio della Pietà dei Turchini, Provenzale replaced Giovanni
Salvatore, the most important Neapolitan maestro of the previous generation, who
resigned in April 1673 for unknown reasons.23 Salvatore reappeared as maestro of
the Conservatorio dei Poveri di Gesù Cristo only from 1677 (he succeeded
Domenico Arcucci), and he remained at this conservatoire near the Oratorio dei
Girolamini until his death in 1688. Salvatore probably continued to direct music in
important churches such as the Carmine Maggiore (where he is documented in
1675) or had other as yet undocumented positions. He was clearly involved in the
activities of the Oratorio dei Girolamini, where most of his sacred compositions
survive.24
Provenzale finally left the Conservatorio di Loreto only in December 1675, when
the post of maestro di cappella was taken by Giuseppe Cavallo, who was also
required to celebrate Masses and other religious services with the same payment as
his predecessor.25 At the Turchini, Salvatore left signs of his presence. Di Giacomo
published a Rollo de’ figliuoli della Pietà dei Turchini fatto a 5 settembre 1664 con
dichiaratione del tempo quando vi entrorno, dell’età che all’hora havevano et

della lor patria e padri, which lists many famous pupils of Salvatore,26 among
them Giuseppe Scaramuzzi from Bari (entered 1662; he became a violin teacher at
Loreto), Gennaro Ursino (1663), Giovanni Cesare Netti from Putignano (1663), the
organist Domenico Cimmino (1666) and Pietro Manto (1667; later maestro at the
Turchini).
A gap of about ten years in the Turchini account books prevents us from
following Provenzale’s activity from 1675 to 1683. In the first years of his
direction, up to 1675, his colleagues included Carlo de Vincentiis, known as
‘Acquaviva’ from his native town, as violin master,27 Pietro Guarino as maestro of
wind instruments (replacing the deceased Francesco Greco),28 later replaced by
Pietro Manto maestro di cornetto;29 Gabriele Solfrizzi maestro of the ‘pandura’
(i.e., the archlute);30 and from 1675 Gennaro Ursino as assistant maestro with the
‘obligo fatto per anni due di dar lettione di musica alli figlioli’.31 In this early
period we find a note of striking interest as concerns musical instruments: in 1674,
a German instrument maker was paid for some old stringed instruments to be used
‘to teach the boys of our conservatoire’ (‘per imparare li figlioli del nostro
Conservatorio’).32
This document testifies to the use of the lute and guitar as early didactic aids for
pupils; this is confirmed by one of the rare manuscripts in which are copied lessons
of a conservatoire teacher (see below). In the same year, 1674, a ‘viola nova’ was
bought for 12 ducats.33 Much later, in 1690 and 1691, Giuseppe D’Aula received a
fixed payment of 4½ ducats a year ‘for the burden of keeping the bassoons and
trombones of our conservatoire’ (‘per lo peso tiene in accomodare li fagotti, e
tromboni del nostro Conservatorio’).34 In his will dated 1701, the maestro of wind
instruments, Pietro Manto, who had also been a pupil at the Turchini, leaves other
signs of the attention given at that time to musical instruments and to music
books:35
Be given and confess to have received here by the inheritors of the late Pietro Manto all
the works of music which will serve to teach a wind instrument, and also an old cornet,
which belongs to the said conservatoire, as well as to the venerable Conservatorio di
Sant’Onofrio and the venerable Conservatorio dei Poveri di Giesù Christo of this city and
others. People who should have to or should want to give all the works of music of the
said Pietro which he kept in the said Conservatoires, including a book of music with green
bands and a sonata, which is in the hands of the Vice Rettore of the said Conservatorio dei
Poveri di Giesù Christo, and still by Filippo Tretta, a member of the said Conservatorio
dei Poveri di Giesù Christo, a set of printed madrigals consisting of four books, as well as
a set of short sonatas and manuscripts consisting of three books, the same for the said late
Pietro left to the said Regal Conservatorio de Sancta Maria della Pietà.
In spite of the importance of the teaching methods used by Neapolitan maestri in

the Baroque period, very few musical documents survive recording the teaching
practices adopted in the conservatoires. One example is a manuscript of partimenti
bearing on the cover the name of Gaetano Greco, who originally studied under
Salvatore and then became one of his successors as maestro in the Conservatorio
dei Poveri di Gesù Cristo. The manuscript (I-Nc 45-I-65) was compiled in the first
years of the eighteenth century (see Table 3.1). The exceptional nature of this
document lies in the fact that it is a kind of progressive method to learn
composition on the keyboard, with a great number of exercises that were obviously
intended to be copied by students, to be used in a Neapolitan conservatoire.
Table 3.1 Content of I-Nc 45-I-65 (MS c.1700)
Folio [First section: cadenze]

1 Cadenze semplici delle Chiavi di Terza Maggiore … cadenze lunghe …
3v Cadenze de settima
4v Lezioni facili per incominciare a sonare sopra la parte
6 [notes on clefs and notation]
7–8v [Hand B][untitled compositions only in soprano clef]
9v [a summary of cadenzas]
[Second section: dances for keyboard or violin and keyboard]
11 Balletto in Elami
11v Corrente Francese
Corrente
12 Corrente
Ciccone
12v Gagliarda
Spagnoletta
13 Bergamasca
Sfacciata
13v Ballo di mantoa
Fedele
Tordiglione
14 Ballo della Regina
14v Corrente del Balletto
15 Ballo della Torcia
Alta Regina
La Pellegrina sol fa mi re
15v Balletto—Allegro
16 Bassa Gaetana
16v–18v [partimentos in bass clef]
[Third section: arpeggios and various types of passaggi and
diminutions]
19 Arpeggi vari di Gaetano Greco
31 Largo assai
[Fourth section: organ versets]
36 Versetti del istesso Sig.re Gaetano Greco
[with mode indications: P.°, 2.do, 3.°, 4.°]
38 Pastorale [only bass clef]
Canzona [only bass clef]
[more partimentos in bass or other clefs]
41v Presto
43 Minuet
Partimento
43v [a composition for violin and bc by] Pietro Marchitelli
Minuetta
Minuet
44 Minuet
Minuet [di] Nicola Filomone [= Filomena?]
Giga
44v Minuet /Pietro Veglini [= Vignola?]
Minuet
Minuett
45v Minuetta
46 Gagliarda
Pavaniglia
Folia
Ballo del Duca
Siciliana
Tarantella
L’istessa d’altra Maniera
Ruggiero
46v Ciaccone
Ballo di Mantoa
Ballo di Mantoa
Partimento p.°
47 Partimento 2.°
47v Tarantella 3
Pastorale—Allegro [followed by Adagio, Allegro, etc.]
49 Partimento 3.°
Partimento 4.° [followed by partimenti 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]
51 Balletto à violino [and bass] [a series of compositions for violin and bc]
53 Balletto
Sarabanda
Sarabanda
54 Balletto [a series of compositions for violin and bc]
56v Sinfonia à violino solo [and bc] ‘siegue’ Largo
57v Sinfonia
58 Sinfonia
Sinfonia
58v Balletto [segue] Allegro
59 Allegro è spiritoso à modo di Baletto ( ‘piano’, ‘2.da parte’)
59v Sinfonia—Vivace (‘2.da parte’)
60 Passagaglio
61v Corrente
Sinfonia (organ: ‘Unito’)
61 Passagaglio
61v Balletto
Sinfonia
Sarabanda
62 Altra Sarabanda
Balletto
62v Sinfonia à solo [violin and bc] ‘siegue’ Largo
63 Balletto
63v Sonata à solo [violin and bc]
64 Balletto
Sarabanda

65 Sonata à solo [violin and bc]
66 Sinfonia
67 Sonata à solo [violin and bc]
67v Sinfonia
68v Pastorale [organ: ‘Pedali’]
69v Balletto
70 Battaglia
Arpegiate (‘Aria’, f. 70v)
71 Corrente
Balletto francese (followed by ‘L’istesso più basso’)
71v Balletto francese
Ricercare
72 Balletto
Balletto
72v Corrente del Balletto (‘siegue il Passag.’)
Passagaglio
73 Corrente
Sinfonia
73v Balletto
Corrente del Balletto
Balletto
74 Corrente del Balletto
Passagaglio
74v Corrente
75 Corrente
Sarabanda
75v Pastorale
Ruggiero (‘varie partite con l’istesso Basso’: only violin clef)
76v Pavaniglia (‘ultima partita, e l’altre lo vedi nel altro libro’)
Tarantella (‘varie partite della Tarantella con l’istesso basso’)
77v Pedale [organ?] (‘Varie Partite’)
78 Ciaccone (‘Varie Partite’)
79 Tordiglione (‘Varie Partite’)
79v Ballo della Torcia (‘Varie Partite’)
80v Corrente
Sarabanda
81 Corrente
Sarabanda
Balletto
81v Balletto (‘da capo poi’: Giga)
82 Ballo della Regina
82v Balletto
83 Corrente detta la Baldovina
83v Giga
Sarabanda
Balletto del Bononcini
84v [untitled]
85 Sinfonia
86 Partimento
86v Partimento [2]

Partimento [3]
87 Partimento [4]
87v Balletto
88 Balletto (followed by Minuet, f. 88v)
89 Balletto—Allegro
90 Balletto (followed by Minuet, f. 90v)
90v Balletto (followed by Minuet, f. 91)
92 [Hand B] Pastorale [organs]
93v [Hand B] Minuet
94 [Hand B] Balletto
94v [Hand B] Balletto
95 [Hand B] Balletto
95v [Hand B] Minuet
96 [Hand B] Pastorale per l’Organo
96v [Hand B] Canzona (‘Da capo’)
97–103 [Partimenti with rich figured bass]
The manuscript is structured coherently for the learner, with graded exercises
going from the most simple to the most difficult; this is also clear from the use of
transcriptions in old-fashioned tablature for the archlute at two points in the initial
pages of the notebook (f. 9r, v), a method designed to facilitate those cadences to
be played and learnt. The attribution of some of the pieces to Gaetano Greco
associates the manuscript with him (ff. 19–36: arpeggi and verses by ‘Sig.r
Gaetano Greco’, a name that also appears in the margin at the foot of f. 1, ‘Greco
in d.’). These annotations may also help in dating the manuscript: a document of
1703 records the enrolment of two children at Turchini: the sons of Nicola
Filomena, who was probably a professional Neapolitan musician (see f. 44). This
same document also refers to Pietro Vignola, who may be identified with the Pietro
Veglini, noted on f. 44v. In addition there are pieces for violin and continuo by
Bononcini (f. 83v), and by Pietro Marchitelli (f. 43v).
Even if Gaetano Greco did not study officially with Provenzale, he was surely in
contact with him, whether by way of his maestri Salvatore and Ursino, or directly.
Indeed, Greco was chosen to replace Provenzale as Maestro della Fidelissima Città
in 1691 with the commitment to allocate a part of the proceedings to the old
composer ‘sua vita durante’.
The administrative records of the Conservatorio dei Turchini continue
uninterruptedly from 1683 to Provenzale’s death. Among the new names that occur
we find Gennaro Delle Chiavi, who was an ‘architetto teatrale’ (stage-designer) of
the Armonici in the Teatro S. Bartolomeo; he was appointed annually to build the
decorative apparatus for the most important solemn feasts in the church annexed to
the Turchini (particularly the feast of S. Nicola on 6 December). He disappears
from the registers in 1689, his place being taken by Nicola Fossato, who had
already worked there earlier on apparatus for the Quarantore. Pietro Manto remains
as the maestro of wind instruments, while as teacher of the violin we find the new
name of Nicola Vinciprova.36 The latter’s place was taken in 1694 by the most
important maestro of the violin of the period in Naples, Giovan Carlo Cailò.37
Educational Systems
The maestri at the Turchini were remunerated following a pattern not unlike that
commonly found in other Neapolitan conservatoires. As maestro di cappella,
Provenzale was paid 10 ducats per month, as at the Loreto. The violin teacher
Vinciprova received 4 ducats per month, and his colleague for wind instruments,
Manto, just 2½. The second maestro, Gennaro Ursino, received only 15 ducats per
annum.
The participation of the Turchini in all the ritual civic events reached its zenith in
the last two decades of the seventeenth century. Even if he was unable to repeat the
theatrical successes of the Conservatorio di Loreto in terms of sacred opera,
Provenzale erected a system of musical production without precedent. Every
chapel, church or palace that requested music could be satisfied by a wide range of
performing groups made up of pupils and outside professionals, all linked by
alliances and relations of some sort to the maestro. The contracts that regulated the
admittance of boys to the Conservatorio dei Turchini in Provenzale’s time have
already received attention.38
There is a striking list of more than 220 names for the years 1677–1701; among
them are most of the future leaders of Neapolitan music in the first half of the
eighteenth century. The system created by Provenzale allowed him to coordinate
the intensive activities of the Turchini until the last years of his life, even though
he had long stopped composing new music. His opinions about the fitness of
candidates to enter the conservatoire as students, recorded at least up until 1699,
suggest that he continued to give private lessons.39 Only with great reluctance did
the governors of the Turchini agree to replace the distinguished but aged maestro
on 4 March 1702.40 Provenzale never retired. He continued in his post as vice-
maestro in the Real Cappella, deputizing for the frequently absent Scarlatti, until
his death in 1704.
Notes
1
GB-Lbl MS Add. 20,924, Papeles sobre Napoles, ff. 176–96.
2
Its administration was relatively simple, with just two governors elected following
rules outlined in Constitutiones et ordinationes conservatoris pauperum
derelictorum; see Pozzi 1987, 916.
3
‘Si diede ordene al maestro de cappella [Francesco Provenzale], che ancorché gli
venesse ordinato non facci fede delli figlioli, che potriano riuscire alla musica,
m’assolutamente di quelli, che sono riusciti dalli quali la Casa nostra ne possi havere
l’utile et per pottersi evitare, che non sia molestato l’illustrisimo signor presidente et
signori governatori in ricevere quelli figlioli, con la futura speranza de riuscire. Et
nel ricevere l’orfani, sieno sempre preferiti li napolitani, et quelli ben nati’: I-Nc,
Loreto, 166, f. 17.
4
All these elements have been examined in a rich bibliography: see Florimo 1880–82;
Di Giacomo 1924 and 1928; and all the recent titles I shall cite in the following notes
by Robinson, Hucke, Pozzi, Del Prete, Olivieri. I place more emphasis here on
describing the system rather than attempting to provide an historical account of the
four Neapolitan conservatoires.
5
See Degrada 1987.
6
See Robinson 1972b. In addition, Hucke 1961; Dietz 1972; Del Prete 1999. The
latter is the first article to appear after the new organization of the old registers of the
conservatoire in I-Nc, begun by the Sovrintendenza Archivistica per la Campania but
not yet completed. My own research was completed before this project, thus some of
my given shelf-marks may be changed in the near future.
7
Robinson 1972b, 67, reproduces the 1763 rules (‘Some regulations for the good
government of the Royal Conservatory S. Maria di Loreto’); the ones dated 21
October 1668 seem ‘designed primarily for the guidance of the administrative staff’.
8
At the time of my research I was able to verify 1663 as being in fact the date of the
election of Provenzale in Loreto, as indicated by Di Giacomo 1928, 200: ‘Ai 7 di
maggio del 1663 Francesco Provenzale succede al Fiata’. Del Prete 1999, 679,
indicates his first year of service as being 1661, and suggests that he may have even
begun earlier: ‘In realtà la presenza di F. Provenzale ci risulta già nel 1651, ma
l’unico riferimento è riportato alla lettera F della rubrica nel Libro dei Conti segnato
I.21.6: 1651. a Franc.Provenzale m. di cappella d. 4.19 ’.
9
See Del Prete 1999, 679 (with some additions).
10
Robinson 1972b, 54; Del Prete 1999, 688–705.
11
According to Robinson 1972b, 16.
12
‘In primis debbia dare due volte lettione il giorno a tutti li figlioli che li saranno
assignati, et in ogni lettione habbia da stare hore due per ciascuno, et a quelle hore,
che li saranno dal padre rettore assignate; 2.do che ogni quattro mesi debbia
componere una messa a quattro voci con l'instrumenti, et in fine dell’anno una Messa
a due chori anco con l'instrumenti, et ogni mese un mottetto, e quelli consignare in
banca per ponerli nell’inventario; 3.° ogni volta che venisse occasione da farsi
qualche compositione di Prologo, Intermezzo, et ogn’altra cosa recitativa la debbia
fare, e per dette compositioni il nostro Conservatorio li debbia dare la carta
necessaria con consignare dette compositioni anco in banca; 4.° In caso che
mancasse di componere le sopradette messe, mottetti, et altro si debbia retinere dalla
sua provisione D. sei per ciaschuna messa, e D. due per ciaschun mottetto; Quinto. In
caso anco che mancasse a dar lettione ciaschuno giorno se li debbia puntare la
provisione del detto tempo mancante, eccettuateno però in caso d’infirmità: se li
debbia dispensare’: I-Nc, Loreto, 168, f. 45v and f.*.
13
Del Prete 1999, 677.
14
Gaetano Veneziano was born in Bisceglie (near Bari) in 1666, and after he finished
his studies in the Conservatorio di Loreto in 1676 he married the Neapolitan Antonia
De Riso. He was twice elected maestro in Loreto: in 1684 (at 6 ducats per month)
and in 1695 until his death in 1716. He had already been ‘organista
sovrannumerario’ in the Real Cappella since 1679, and he took the place of Giovanni
Cesare Netti in 1686. Between 1687 and 1690 he returned to Apulia to produce
operas and festival music for his patron Duke Acquaviva d’Aragona in Conversano,
near Bari. In 1704 Veneziano became maestro of the Real Cappella in the place of
Scarlatti. He had been a member of the Confraternita dei Musici Napoletani since
1691, of which he was a priore in 1707. Veneziano was very active as maestro di
cappella in several churches and monasteries as his large production of sacred music
(surviving in the Archivio dei Girolamini) proves. See Di Giacomo 1928, 221 and
235; Turano 1988.
15
On 22 October 1668, 24 February 1669 and 8 January 1673 the governors’ minutes
‘order a check on when Provenzale and various instrumental teachers fail to appear’
(Robinson 1972b, 45).
16
‘Che non esca nessuna musica se prima non hanno fatto il patto prima et procedendo
qualche musica senza patto l’habbia da pagare da chi si piglia’: I-Nc, Loreto, 166, f.
88v (1673); ‘Quando si piglia qualche musica o opera che se habbi da notare che
cosa s’ha da fare et il denaro l’habbiano da dare prima che si va a fare l’opere o
musica’: I-Nc, Loreto, 166, f. 97v (1674).
17
‘Si fe’ conclusione che li figlioli non debbiano passare il numero de centoquaranta per
causa che l’annue entrate possede detto Pio Luogo non è sufficiente al mantenimento di
più di detto numero, et perche non sono ancora il detto numero di centoquaranta s’è
concluso che se debbano ricevere cioè li detti Antonio, et Baldassarro debbiano pagare
la solita carità che si paga per l’entratura, et Carlo Maggio se receva senza detta carità
per esser poverissimo. Di più si è concluso che li filioli che si hanno da recevere per
educando non se debbiano recevere meno de D. trentasei l’anno et con pagare sempre il
semestre anticipato e cossì continuano per ogni semestre’: I-Nc, Loreto, 168, f. 11*
(1669); ‘A 10 febbraio 1669 si fe’ conclusione che il numero de figlioli non habbia da
passare il numero di centoquaranta per la causa in detta conclusione narrata et perché
dal detto tempo per insin hoggi per lo gran concorso de’ poveri figlioli orfani, se ne
sono ricevuti di più de detto numero che ascendino al numero di centocinquantasei, con
esserno tralasciati molti altri figlioli, che ricevendono di più si da dell’ impossibile
poternosi mantenere per non esserno l’entrate sufficiente; che perciò si è concluso che
il numero de figlioli non habbia da passare centocinquanta et che succedendo che
qualcheduno di detti figlioli se ne uscisse non s’habbino da ricevere altro in detto luogo
e questo insino a tanto che non disminuisce il detto numero di centocinquanta’: I-Nc,
Loreto, 168, f. 24v (1670).
18
I-Nc, Loreto, 168, f. 27v*.
19
‘Discusso come quando alcuno figliolo del nostro Conservatorio se ne rivole uscire
da detto Conservatorio dice volerse andare a farsi religioso, et essere somministrato
di quel tanto parerà a signori governatori somministrarli di detta carità, poi si è
inteso, che non sia altrimente andato a farsi religioso ma essersene andato a sua casa
che percio si è concluso che da hoggi avanti non se habbia da dar più carità a figliolo
che se vuole andare a far religioso’: I-Nc, Loreto, 168, f. 23v (12 January 1670).
20
I-Nc, Turchini, 30, f. [71v].
21
Onofrio Muccio was one of the witnesses at Provenzale’s wedding. He married
Chiara’s mother, Laura Camposano, widow of Captain Giovanni Andrea Basile.
Soon after Provenzale’s entry into the Turchini we find a payment of 10 ducats given
to Muccio on 29 May 1674: ASBN, P., 678.
22
Prota-Giurleo 1958a, 54, 62.
23
Salvatore was elected in the year of 1662. However, the first record I was able to
find is actually dated October 1668 (I-Nc, Turchini, 29: Introito ed Esito, f. 60): ‘to
the Reverend D. Giovanni Salvatore D. 30 for his provision of three months through
next April of the current year 1668, as teacher of music who teaches the boys of our
conservatoire with a rate of D.10 per month, and that he be satisfied, Naples 4
October 1668’ (‘al Reverendo D. Giovanni Salvatore D. trenta per sua provisione de
mesi tre per tutto aprile prossimo passato del corrente anno 1668. come mastro de
musica, che impara li figlioli del nostro Conservatorio a raggione di D. 10 il mese, et
resta sodisfatto del passato Napole 4 ottobre 1668’). He also received an additional
30 ducats per year ‘As one of the confessors who assists in our church’ (‘Come uno
delli confessori che assiste nella nostra Chiesa’), but his position is never defined as
maestro di cappella. This title appears for the first time in association with
Provenzale on 3 April 1675: I-Nc, Turchini, 30, f. (118).
24
Di Giacomo 1928, 156–58. Di Giacomo says: ‘Si vuole che il Salvatore sia stato
maestro di Francesco Provenzale, ma bisognerebbe provare che il Provenzale abbia
studiato alla Pietà; e questo non c’è dato di fare’ (Di Giacomo 1928, 156). However,
this seems compatible with the hypothesis that there is continuity in teaching practice
from Salvatore to Provenzale, his successor.
25
I-Nc, Loreto, 14: Libro Maggiore, f. 289 ff.
26
Di Giacomo 1924, 207–16. On pp.216–67 follows the list of Scolari di Francesco
Provenzale e di don Gennaro Ursino limited to the years 1673–75.
27
Acquaviva, who had already worked at Loreto with Provenzale, remained a teacher
at the Turchini until 1677 (according to Di Giacomo 1924, 305).
28
Greco (or Grieco) served at the Turchini from 1648 to 1673 as maestro of the
‘cornetta’ at a rate of 1 ducat per month (Di Giacomo 1924, 307). He was a relative
of the brothers Gaetano and Rocco Greco.
29
Guarino served only from 1673 to 1675, at 1 ducat per month (Di Giacomo 1924,
307). Pietro Manto remained for the entire period of Provenzale’s direction, from
1675 to 1701 at 2 ducats. Di Giacomo has edited the interesting Il Testamento di
Pietro Manto, figliolo e poi maestro nella Pietà dei Turchini, in favore del
Conservatorio, opened after Manto’s death on 22 June 1701 (Di Giacomo 1924,
319–20).
30
He served for 4 ducats from 1675 to 1679: ‘in quest’anno fu soppresso come di poca
utilità pei figlioli’ (Di Giacomo 1924, 304). Only in 1719 was the lute teacher
Nicola Ugolini reinstated, at 3 ducats per month. The latter remained until 1734 (Di
Giacomo 1924, 304).
31
Ursino was elected maestro in the Conservatorio dei Poveri di Gesù Cristo in 1690,
in place of Giovanni Salvatore (Di Giacomo 1928, 87).
32
‘Pay Pietro Tedesco D. 7 tarì 1. for two tiorbe and a used guitar which are needed to
teach the boys of our conservatoire iuxta la suddetta fede. Naples 19 December
1674’ (‘pagare a ms. Pietro Tedesco D. sette tarì 1. per due tiorbe, e una chitarra
usata quale servano per imparare li figlioli del nostro Conservatorio iuxta la suddetta
fede. Napole 19 Decembre 1674’) (I-Nc, Turchini, 30: Introito ed Esito, f. 111).
33
I-Nc, Turchini, 30, f. 134 (23 September 1674). The viola maker is Natale Nattone
(or Nardone?).
34
I-Nc, Turchini, 38: Introito ed Esito (8 December 1690 and 4 January 1691).
35
Quoted in Di Giacomo 1924, 319.
36
After his election in 1677, he remained at the Turchini until his death in 1694 (Di
Giacomo 1924, 297).
37
See Olivieri 1996 and Giovanni Carlo Cailò, Sonata a tre violini e organo, ed. by G.
Olivieri (Naples, 2001).
38
Olivieri 1999.
39
In Nc, Lettere, 274 is a fragment of an autograph letter by Provenzale, probably referring
to the admission of Giovan Francesco Pellegrino, a young castrato from Siena. Pellegrino
entered the Pietà dei Turchini on 23 August 1695 (Olivieri 1999, 741).
40
‘It has been approved that Francesco Provenzale, maestro di cappella, be dismissed
owing to his old age and the fact that we are no longer able to support the burden of
D.10 per month for lending the house, and we have appointed the Reverend D.
Gennaro Ursino second maestro di cappella, who will suffice and take on all the
duties as practised in the other conservatoires, and pay him a provision of D.6 per
month and the usual food ration.’ (‘Et approvato licentiarsi Francesco Provenzale,
maestro di cappella per essere troppo vechio, e la casa app<l>estata non possano
sopportare tanno peso di D.10 il mese, et fano il reverendo D. Gennaro Ursino
secondo maestro di cappella resti solo bastante a fare tutto come si prattica nell'altri
conservatorij, et darli di provisione D.sei il mese, e mangiare conforme il solito’):
I-Nc, Turchini, 39 f. (68v*).
Chapter Four
A Composer for the Church
The Missa defunctorum
According to Hanns-Berthold Dietz, Provenzale’s Missa defunctorum a 4 con

violini is his ‘major surviving work of church music’, but it represents a cultural
climate superseded by the next generation of composers in the latter part of the
seventeenth century.1 Provenzale’s use of the stile antico here may have been
justified by the work’s genre and function, but it is also revealing in that this is his
earliest surviving composition. In terms of its sources, there is a late eighteenth-
century copy, by Giuseppe Sigismondo (I-Nc MR 1797 a–b), from which derived
the nineteenth-century copy, which is now preserved in Milan (I-McNoseda P 1–
5). It is possible that Sigismondo simply scored up the original seventeenth-century
parts (also in I-Nc). This would explain why we find many divergences compared
with the more authoritative score of the work in a seventeenth-century source
preserved in the Archivio della Congregazione dell’Oratorio dei Girolamini (I-Nf
AMCO 432.4–1), which has a second series of separate parts. The score in I-Nf is
probably Provenzale’s autograph copy, even if it is only a version for four voices
and continuo, without violins. Also, the separate parts in I-Nf (and the continuo
part in I-Nc) are all copied by Provenzale’s favourite pupil, Gaetano Veneziano. A
third source in the same archive includes another series of partbooks bound
together with the partimento. This is probably a still earlier version of the work,
because it is simply styled ‘Di Francesco Provenzale’ rather than ‘Del Signor
Francesco Provenzale’, which one would expect of the composer later in his career.
By collating these sources one can reconstruct what the original version of the
Missa defunctorum was probably like: for only four voices (partially autograph
reduced score and third series of parts in I-Nf AMCO 432.4–1). But during
Provenzale’s lifetime it was certainly performed in a larger version, with
instruments and the addition of a second four-voice chorus (S2 A2 T2 B2), as the
extra parts in I-Nf prove. These parts and the ones for chorus I contained in I-Nc
MR 1797b, all of which date from the seventeenth century, suggest that the
original ‘a 4’ piece at some stage had vocal and instrumental forces as given in
Table 4.1.
Table 4.1 Scoring of Provenzale’s Missa defunctorum
CHORUS I CHORUS II
Vln 1* Vln 1**
Vln 2* Vln 2**
S* S2**
A* A2**
T* T2**
[B] B2**
‘Violongello’* ‘Basso’ (no figures)*
Viola***
‘Controbasso’* ‘Controbasso’**
[bc] Partimento***
bc** Organo***
* = 17th-century partbooks in I-Nc

** = 17th-century partbooks in I-Nf (hand of Gaetano Veneziano)
*** = 17th-century partbooks (third set) in I-Nf
[] = parts not surviving (only in score)
The presence of a second instrumental bass part in the hand of Gaetano

Veneziano (who also copied one of the sets of parts in I-Nf) among the parts in I-
Nc made by another copyist suggests that the common source of all sixteen
surviving parts originates in the Archivio dei Girolamini. The title in the printed
catalogue (Di Giacomo 1918, 78) is misleading: ‘Messa a 4 e a 5 voci per li morti.
Completa con tutte le parti. Qualche parte pare che sia originale. Secolo XVII’.
The manuscript in I-Nf AMCO 432.4–1 has the title Missa defunctorum, with ‘di
Francesco Provenzale’ added in another hand; this title corresponds to the one
given by Sigismondo in the copy in I-Nc: ‘Missa Defunctorum <in Re 3b> del
A Composer for the Church 97
Sig.r Provenzale. Appartenente al Reale Archivio di Musica in S. Sebastiano. G.

Sigismondo Archivario’. The parts in I-Nc all have the same title: Messa
defunctorum Del Sig.r Provenzale (S, A, T, vln 1, vlc, cb) and Messa de defunti
del Sig.r Provenzale (vln 2). Instead, the basso continuo part (II) copied by
Veneziano bears the title Missa defunctorum without the author’s name. As for
the parts in I-Nf, the title only appears in the ‘Controbasso’ part—Messa de
Morti à 4°, e 8 Voci—and in the continuo part: Messa de Morti à 4 Voci. On the
last sheet of every part the copyist’s indication ‘Finis Laus Deo’ appears, and
sometimes, on previous pages, ‘V. S. Volti’ or ‘Volti presto’ (typically used by
Gaetano Veneziano).
The third series of parts in I-Nf is extremely interesting; it, too, is also hitherto
unknown. I-Nf AMCO 432.3 contains eight fascicles bound together with the
original paper covers and the inscription: Messa a 4. et 5. Per li morti / Di
Francesco Provenzale. The parts appear in the following order:
Partimento2; Canto Primo; Canto 2°; Alto; Tenore; Basso; Viola3; Organo4
The watermarks are not much help in dating these sources: both in the
autograph score and in the parts in I-Nf, there is a watermark representing a
fleur-de-lys inscribed in a circle cut in half on the margin of the sheet. This mark
is widespread in Neapolitan paper of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. 5
In I-Nf AMCO 432.3, the watermark appears in two halves (readable on f. 12v
and f. 22v): again this is a fleur-de-lys inscribed in a circle, as in AMCO 432.4–1.
Let us examine now the general structure of the Missa defunctorum (see Table
4.2). The structure is typical of a seventeenth-century Requiem and is perhaps
even more archaic, closer to models of Flemish Renaissance polyphony. For the
period 1620–1750, some 325 Requiem Masses survive,6 but very few from
Naples.7 A Missa defunctorum a 4 voci con l’organo by Giovanni Salvatore may
perhaps represent a direct precedent for Provenzale’s setting, but this work is not
accessible given the closure of the Archivio dei Girolamini in Naples, where it is
kept; the same applies to the only Requiem surviving in an autograph copy by
Gaetano Veneziano, the Missa defunctorum a 2 cori, dated 1685 (Di Giacomo
1918, 84, 93). Provenzale’s colleague Cristoforo Caresana left at least one Missa
defunctorum for double choir and instruments (viola, violone, fagotto and bc),
marked ‘In funeribus Alexandri Pape VII. Auctore Christoforo Caresana 1667’
(Di Giacomo 1918, 41). The fact that Provenzale somewhat unusually includes
the Responsory ‘Libera me’, which in general appears as optional, may mean that
Provenzale’s Requiem, too, was intended for a particularly solemn occasion,
which would also justify the use of two choirs as in the Missa defunctorum by
Caresana and Veneziano (but not in Salvatore’s). The first Neapolitan Requiem
Mass after Provenzale’s, and one related to it, given that it is by a pupil of his, is
the setting in C minor by Nicola Fago:8 here, too, there are two choirs, in this
case each in five parts (SSATB, SSATB), plus two trumpets, two horns, two
violins, violetta, and continuo. Probably it is a late work (Fago died in 1745) but
it still follows Provenzale’s plan (including the ‘Libera me’).
Table 4.2 Francesco Provenzale, Missa defunctorum: general structure
Requiem SATB
1. INTROITUS Largo C D min.
Aeternam (a–b–a)
2 .KYRIE Larghetto C D min. SATB
Requiem
3. GRADUALE C D min. SA (SATB)
Aeternam
Absolve,
4. TRATTO C D min. SA (SATB)
Domine
Andante C G min. SATB
(and 3/4)
Dies irae,
5. SEQUENZA Largo 3/4 C min. SATB
dies illa
(returning to C)
Andante 3/4 G min. SATB
6. [Requiem] Largo C G min. SATB
7. OFFERTORIUM Domine, Jesu Andante C G min. SATB
8. SANCTUS C D min. SA
9. BENEDICTUS
‘dopo l’Eleva- C F
zione’
10. AGNUS DEI C D min. SATB
Lux aeterna, D min. ATB

11. COMMUNIO Allegro C
luceat D min. SATB
Largo C
12. [Requiem] D min. SA (SATB)
Allegro C
Libera me,
13. RESPONSORY C D min. SATB
Domine
14. [Dies illa] C D min. SATB
‘Libera da capo
15. [Requiem] C D min. B solo
sino a Tremens’
16. [Kyrie] C D min. SATB

Provenzale’s Requiem is certainly an early work. The style is generally

homophonic and chordal, based firmly in D minor throughout, and clearly in the
stile antico, despite the presence of instruments. The only significant difference
occurs in the Sequence, which is dominated by the new key of G minor and with
frequent rhythmic contrasts in the passages shifting from C to G (where triple time
only appears here). However, when comparing Provenzale’s setting of the ‘Dies
irae’ with the Gregorian chant, it is clear that every voice, and particularly the bass,
reflects the syllabic setting and the intervallic structure of the chant:
Ex. 4.1 Francesco Provenzale, Missa defunctorum in D minor, ‘Dies irae’ (MS in I-Nc)
The most delicate moment of the Benedictus (marked ‘dopo l’Elevazione’) is

underlined by the brief shift to F major, one of the rare modulations to the major in
the work. Then the Responsory, ‘Libera me’, offers one of the few moments in the
piece based not on rigorous counterpoint but instead on chains of dissonances and
suspensions, the ‘durezze e ligature’ of the great Neapolitan keyboard masters of
the first part of the seventeenth century.
A last, unexpected moment of imbalance comes just at the end of the work with
a striking solo bass melody (‘Christe eleison’). After this brief solo, the composer
finally shows his antiquarian purpose, closing his Mass with a homophonic Kyrie
for four voices which is written almost in the style of a Flemish Requiem of the
sixteenth century.
The performance of a Missa pro defunctis was part of the specific duties of the
‘frotte’ of pupils in the Neapolitan conservatoires in the second half of the
seventeenth century. This probably always involved the same composition for the
duration of a maestro’s appointment. Thus, for example, in the Conservatorio di
Loreto, Provenzale’s Requiem could be used in its simple four-voice format.
However, as I have said, the presence of the Responsory ‘Libera me’ and of the
double choir of voices plus instruments suggest that Provenzale’s D minor
Requiem was composed for a solemn, official occasion.
As maestro of the Fidelissima Città of Naples, Provenzale was appointed to
compose and to conduct the music for every official ceremony of the city, which
he did from 1665 to 1699. During these decades there were a number of state
funerals celebrated with great pomp in Naples: the essequie for Philip IV of Spain
(January and February 1666 in the churches of the Annunziata, Santa Chiara and
San Giacomo degli Spagnoli), for Queen Marguerite of Austria (2 April 1673), for
the viceroy, Marchese del Carpio (November 1687) and for Queen Maria Luisa of
Bourbon (March and April 1689).
The most likely occasion for Provenzale’s Requiem, given its stile antico
solemnity, was the essequie in 1666 for Philip IV, especially given that the
churches of the Annunziata and Santa Chiara were often served by students of the
Conservatorio di Loreto directed by Provenzale.
According to Ulisse Prota-Giurleo, for the solemn essequie for Philip IV
celebrated in February 1666 in Santa Chiara, the music was ‘espressamente
composta dal Provenzale’, while the catafalque was probably designed by Gregorio
delle Chiavi, the theatre manager and stage designer who later was responsible for
the ‘addobbi’ (decorations and machinery) in the church of the Conservatorio dei
Turchini during the years in which Provenzale was maestro. Indeed, the royal
catafalque of 1666 appears in 1673 among the ‘cianfrusaglie teatrali’ left by
Gregorio delle Chiavi.9
Ex. 4.2 Francesco Provenzale, Missa defunctorum (MS in I-Nc), solo bass and Kyrie
final
Vespers and Other Works Connected with the Oratorio dei Girolamini
The Archivio della Congregazione Oratoriana dei Padri Girolamini in Naples

preserves in manuscript the only surviving collection of Francesco Provenzale’s
psalm settings for Vespers (I-Nf AMCO 431.3). It is a unicum of great importance,
not just in terms of Provenzale’s output but also because it is one of the few Vesper
collections from Southern Italy in this period. Thus it is possible to reconstruct the
manner of performing Vespers in Naples in the second half of the seventeenth
century.
When Provenzale wrote his first datable composition, the oratorio Il martirio di
S. Gennaro (1664), the house of S. Filippo Neri in Naples, called the Oratorio dei
Girolamini, was almost eighty years old. The first fathers of the congregation
arrived in Naples in 1586, sent from Rome by Filippo Neri to found his second
Italian house. Some of them were musicians, such as Giovenale Ancina, and
thereafter the Oratorian musical tradition became very strong in a city that was
receptive to music more on the grounds of its interests therein than on those of
Catholic doctrine. Ancina left Naples in 1596, one year after Filippo Neri’s death,
but within the ten years that he spent in Naples he was able to create the basis for
the prodigious musical development in the Neapolitan oratory, which included
among its devotees the maestro of the Real Cappella, Jean de Macque. From then
on, throughout the whole of the seventeenth century, the most important musicians
in Naples were involved in more or less regular collaborations with the Girolamini,
including Giovan Maria Trabaci, Scipione Dentice, Giovan Maria Sabino,
Giovanni Salvatore, Filippo Coppola, Antonio Nola and, foremost among them,
Erasmo Di Bartolo (Padre Raimo). One can sense Raimo’s influence on the
polyphonic writing of Provenzale’s earliest sacred works, and also in these psalms.
After 1670, almost all of the most important musicians associated with the
Filippini were either pupils or colleagues of Provenzale, from Donato Ricchezza to
Gaetano Veneziano up to Cristoforo Caresana, who left his entire musical library
to the oratory.
After the collections of Psalmi de Vespere of the first half of the century, noted
in Chapter 2 above (Sabino 1627, Trabaci 1630, G. Ansalone 1635 and the
collections edited by B. Cappello in 1645–50), the most recent prints of Vesper
psalms had been those of Luca Rafone and Francesco Vannarelli, both from
1653.10 This same decade also saw the first important Sicilian collection of psalms,
Salmi varii variamente concertati con sinfonie d’obligo et a beneplacito (Palermo,
Bisagni, 1655) by the Franciscan composer Bonaventura Rubino. The interest of
this collection lies in its gathering together psalms used several years before for a
grand celebration of Vespers inserted in a public urban feast in 1644: Il Festevole
trionfo per la coronazione dell’Immacolata Reina. This included the Vespro per lo
Stellario della Beata Vergine, a cycle of concertato psalms for twelve choirs. It
was the first and most important occasion for polychoral music in Palermo.11 But
the musical contents were richly archaic, modelled on Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers
and on the Venetian style, perhaps in part because Rubino had his roots in
Lombardy.
In the case of Provenzale’s colleagues and pupils (Donato Ricchezza, Gennaro

Ursino, Gaetano Veneziano, Nicola Fago), we have just a few psalm settings in
manuscript,12 and no important cycles except two autograph manuscripts of
Cristofaro Caresana in I-Nf (AMCO 172 and AMCO 171.8a14), with the full series
of Vesper psalms ‘a 4’ and ‘a 8’ with instruments. The second collection, for two
choirs plus five instruments, is dated May 1680 (Di Giacomo 1918, 43).
The absence of account books makes it difficult to find proof of Provenzale’s
relationship with the Girolamini. However, in the years 1671–74 ‘Don Ciccio
Provenzale’ paid 40 ducats per annum to rent a house ‘sito ai Gerolomini’;13 his
name appears associated with the ‘Mastro de schola’, an official clerk in the
Oratorio. Moreover, a number of important works by Provenzale survive in the
Girolamini archive in unique or original copies, including the Dialogo della
Passione and another, untitled Dialogo copied between 1685 and 1686, the Missa
defunctorum, different versions of the famous polychoral Pange lingua and various
motets. The ‘Fondo Manoscritti Di Giacomo’ and ‘Carte Di Giacomo’ in the
Biblioteca Nazionale of Naples also contain some fragments of compositions that
at one time were in the Girolamini collection and then passed into the possession of
Salvatore Di Giacomo, the author of the catalogue of the musical collection at the
Oratorio, published in 1918.14 Clearly, these works could have been copied for use
in one of the conservatoires in which Provenzale was maestro for so many years,
or in other churches, and could have entered the Girolamini collection just by
chance. But it also seems reasonable to assume that they formed part of the
thriving musical activities of the Oratorio.
In that light, it is equally possible that Provenzale’s Vespers collection was
intended for performance in the Girolamini, perhaps during the years in which
Provenzale was a tenant in one of the Congregazione’s houses (1671–74). This
dating is supported by other evidence. The copyist of the psalms also copied a
separate Beatus vir setting for solo voice and instruments (formerly in the
Girolamini collection and now in the Biblioteca Nazionale, Naples). The hand is
also the same as that which copied Provenzale’s two surviving operas, between
1672 and 1675, i.e., his favourite pupil at the Conservatorio di Loreto, Gaetano
Veneziano (also responsible for the copy of the parts of the Missa defunctorum in
I-Nc). The Vespers psalms are preserved in six small partbooks (S1, S2, A, T, B,
bc). An annotation on the manuscript says that the pieces are ‘a 4 e a 5’, but this
indication (also found on other manuscripts of the same period in the Girolamini
collection) does not indicate the presence of two choirs, perhaps offering an
alternative possibility of performing these settings just with four or five voices.
The order of the pieces in the continuo partbook is different from that in the
separate parts; the latter follow the usual order of the psalms (except in the tenor
partbook, where the Beatus vir precedes the Confitebor). The texts are the standard
ones, with negligible variants:
1. Dixit Dominus* Psalm 109
2. Confitebor tibi Psalm 110
3. Beatus vir Psalm 111
4. Laudate Pueri* Psalm 112
5. Laetatus sum* Psalm 121
6. Nisi Dominus* Psalm 126
7. Lauda Jerusalem* Psalm 147
8. Credidi Psalm 115
9. Beati omnes Psalm 127
10. In convertendo Psalm 125
11. Magnificat* Canticum Beatae Mariae Virginis
* = Psalms making up the Vespers of the Beata Vergine. Others are for Sundays and All
Saints
Of these, four psalms and the canticle were commonly used for Vespers ‘di un
Santo’, accompanied by the other liturgical pieces, standardized by long practice.15
Thus, the feast of San Filippo Neri (26 May) may well have been celebrated with
Provenzale’s psalms, which may explain why they survive in the Girolamini
collection. The standard disposition of such Vespers is:
[Instrumental Sinfonia or other introduction piece]

Deus in adjutorium meum intende (chant)
Antiphon: De excelso misit ignem
Psalm 109: Dixit Dominus
Antiphon: Concaluit cor meum
[Psalm 110: Confitebor]
Antiphon: Cor meum et caro mea
Psalm 111: Beatus vir
Antiphon: Factus est in corde meo
Psalm 112: Laudate pueri
Antiphon: Defecit caro mea
Psalm 116: Laudate Dominum

Hymn: Pangamus Nerio debita cantica
Antiphon ad Magnificat: Domus mea domus orationis
Canticum BMV Magnificat
The liturgy also included other, non-musical elements (oration, benedictions)

that increased the solemnity of the rite. In Second Vespers, the service closed with
a solemn benediction. Provenzale’s collection does not include the last psalm
Laudate Dominum (in fact there are no other settings of this psalm in Neapolitan
sources of the same period). Given the absence also of polyphonic settings of the
hymn dedicated to S. Philip Neri, it is possible that these parts of the Vespers
service were sung by the Girolamini in chant and not in polyphony. But
Provenzale’s collection is also fairly flexible. The Marian psalms permit a
complete polyphonic Vespers of the Blessed Virgin culminating in the splendid
Lauda Jerusalem, typical for performance in female convents. As one might
expect, Provenzale’s psalms require either antiphons in chant or polyphonic motets
as antiphon-substitutes (or both).16 The practice is documented by the presence, in
I-Nf, of the very wide-ranging collection of Antiphonae et motecta festis omnibus
(Rome, 1650) by the Roman Giuseppe Giamberti (AMCO ST. 9.10, listed in Di
Giacomo 1918, 7), which sought to provide substitute motets for Vespers cycles in
all Filippini houses. On particularly solemn occasions, the psalm Confitebor17
would be added to the ordinary series, and also the Gregorian hymn would be
replaced by a concertato one with violins in honour of the saint (there exists in I-Nf
Caresana’s hymn Pangamus Nerio debita cantica that was surely used for this
occasion). But Provenzale’s manuscript in I-Nf bears the title Vespero breve a 4 e a
5, suggesting also a simpler celebration with one choir rather than two, and without
instruments. It is possible that this music of Provenzale was used (or at least
studied) even up to the end of the eighteenth century, because among the ‘Carte Di
Giacomo’ in the Biblioteca Nazionale in Naples (I-Nlp MSS II.K.29(5)) the
continuo part of the Vespero breve a 4 e a 5° Del Sig.r Provenzale can be found,
which was copied possibly by Giuseppe Sigismondo at the end of the eighteenth
century and preserved with a modern binding on which appears ‘Oratorio dei
Filippini di Napoli. Sala Manoscritti’.18 Matters are complicated still further by the
fact that the eighteenth-century copyist seems to have used seventeenth-century
music paper for the continuo part, given that the watermark is the typical
seventeenth-century one (a fleur-de-lys inscribed in a circle of leaves).
The tonalities of the psalms as they appear in the manuscript in I-Nf vary
considerably:
1. Dixit G maj.
2. Confitebor B maj.
3. Beatus vir E min.

4. Laudate pueri C maj.
6. Nisi Dominus B maj.
7. Lauda Jerusalem A min.
8. Credidi C min.
9. In convertendo D maj.
10. Magnificat F maj.
The structures of the settings follow the style employed by composers by the first
half of the seventeenth century, particularly that of Giovan Maria Sabino, who
would seem to have provided an ideal model for the young Provenzale. The Dixit
is yet again constructed as a villancico, with a lively emphasis on rhythmic
declamation. We will find similar madrigalisms and embellishments of the vocal
parts only in Provenzale’s Mottetti of 1687.
The long final ‘Amen’ is a further gesture towards the spirit of Renaissance
Franco-Flemish polyphony.
The following Confitebor has similar features; here the dance rhythms over an
ostinato move through surprising modulations prepared by chains of suspensions.
The Laudate pueri, too, opens ‘alla veneziana’, as was the case in Sabino’s and
Ansalone’s collections, but the middle section, ‘Suscitans a terra inopem’, with its
unexpected change of metre from C to 6/4, is in Provenzale’s most mature style, as
the harmony rich in seventh chords and suspensions shows.
This mature style is also apparent in the typical Marian psalm Lauda Jerusalem:
the Monteverdian model of a joyous dance over an ostinato, still an influence in the
Lauda Jerusalem of Rubino’s Salmi varii of 1655, is exceeded by hypnotic
modulations to the minor and also rhythmic changes to underline in a madrigalian
way the negative assertions of the text: ‘iudicia sua Israel non fecit taliter … / et
iudicia sua non manifestavit eis’:
Ex. 4.3 Francesco Provenzale, Vespero breve (MS in I-Nf): Lauda Jerusalem, bars 88–
91, 95–98
As for the other settings, the Magnificat seems very modest, perhaps because of
Provenzale’s close adherence to the narrative thread of the text without harmonic
digressions or virtuoso vocal embellishments. The only exception where
Provenzale typically breaks free is in the third section, ‘Esurientes’, which sounds
like an operatic trio, if only for a mere eighteen bars. A comparison with the
Magnificat a 5 composed in the same years by his colleagues Giovanni Salvatore
and Antonio Nola shows a higher compositional level here.
According to Hanns-Berthold Dietz, Salvatore’s Magnificat for five voices and
violins (autograph once in I-Nf)19 is characterized by ‘Fluid contrapuntal technique,
rhythmic vitality, and imaginative treatment of text, texture and performing
forces’.20 The composition is in nine sections that symmetrically alternate tutti
passages with soloists in different combinations (two sopranos, bass, alto and
tenor, and alto, tenor and bass). One of the most dynamic sections is the third
(‘Quia respexit’), for five voices, without violins, in two opposing groups.
Antonio Nola’s Magnificat a 5 voci con violini (autograph in I-Nf)21 is dated 1669.
Nola was a pupil of Giovanni Salvatore at the Conservatorio della Pietà dei
Turchini, which he entered, aged ten, in 1652. He left the conservatoire in 1670,
before Provenzale’s arrival, and thereafter he was regularly in service at the
Oratorio dei Girolamini, for which he also copied music extensively.22 It is
interesting to compare Nola’s Magnificat with Salvatore’s and with Provenzale’s.
Dietz considers Nola’s setting as marking a transition to the new generation of the
seventeenth century.23 Here, too, there are nine sections, but the solo sections (two
sopranos, bass, alto and tenor, two sopranos and bass) are much shorter. The
continuo makes much use of a ‘walking bass’ in quavers. The seventh section,
‘Suscepi’, is marked ‘Adagio’ and ‘senza violini’; it is highly reminiscent of the
mature Provenzale. The long final ‘Gloria’ is striking. Elsewhere, Nola seems more
modern than Provenzale, even though all the composers discussed here revert at
times to the stile antico, usually in the final cadences of the vocal tutti.
Yet despite the appearance of the stile antico in Provenzale’s psalms, both
separately and together they provide a perfect example of his compositional art,
with a sophisticated harmonic language, rich continuo figuring and embellished
vocal writing in a bel canto style for technically well-equipped solo voices.
We also find the same characteristics in Provenzale’s other surviving psalm
settings. We have just two Beatus vir settings, both for one soprano, two violins
and continuo. The setting in A minor, which survives in parts, also uses a ‘violetta’
and an archlute, which tells us something about the possible constitution of
continuo groups in this period. This piece survives among the ‘Carte Di Giacomo’
of the Biblioteca Nazionale, Sezione Lucchesi Palli, Naples (I-Nlp K.VI.29.1–2) in
a copy by, yet again, Gaetano Veneziano.24 It begins with a short instrumental
introduction in the style of a trio sonata, but the soprano enters after just five bars,
and in a highly virtuosic manner; we are a long way from the simple homophony
of the Vespers. The voice and instruments engage in a rich dialogue over a
continuo that has elaborate figuring. To adopt the expression used by Jean-Jacques
Bouchard in 1632, this is perhaps the clearest case of a relationship between small-
scale Neapolitan sacred music and the French petit motet: the instrumental refrains
act as the ‘noëls sur les instruments’ of Marc Antoine Charpentier’s Christmas
motets (for example, H.534). Everything contributes to creating an atmosphere of

great refinement and austerity (despite flamboyant vocal virtuosity) in a setting that
would seem to mark it out as a work of Provenzale’s full maturity. The first
performer must have been one of the best voices in Provenzale’s entourage.
The Beatus vir in A minor is articulated in four sections:
1. ‘Beatus vir’ C Allegro (the parts contain dynamic markings

such as ‘piano’)
2. ‘Jucundus’ 3/8 ‘solo con uno Violino’
3. ‘In memoria’ C 3/4 ‘Tutti’

‘Donec’ (3/4) Largo
‘Dispersit’ C Allegro (later additions: ‘Largo’ , ‘presto’)
4. ‘Gloria’ 3/8 Allegro (following the solo-voice intonation)
The first section is based on a repetition of the same melodic formulae with
some chromaticism but few modulations.
The second section, involving a dialogue between the voice and a solo violin, is
much richer in graceful melody.
The third section is solemn, following the text (‘In memoria aeterna’), although
in bar 102 the tempo changes suddenly to Presto, to paint ‘Dispersit’, but just for
one bar. We then get alternations of Largo–Presto–Largo–Presto–Largo (almost
every bar) very much in the instrumental style of Corelli (and similar to the style of
some of Provenzale’s 1689 Mottetti, as with Angelicae mentes).
The last section presents a dancing ‘Gloria’ in 3/8 with an extremely embellished
vocal line, and a broad final ‘Amen’ lasting twenty-two bars.
The second Beatus vir a voce sola con violini in C minor (I-Nf AMCO 431.1),
which may be an autograph MS, also survives only in partbooks. Like the A minor
setting, it is a virtuoso piece based on a rich instrumental style in which the solo
soprano is placed against two violins. This composition is shorter and more
concise, but with a stronger expressiveness in the dancing and rhythmically varied
movement.
The piece is not divided into real sections, but changes of tempo do provide
some structural articulations:
1. ‘Beatus vir’ C C min.
2. ‘In mandatis’ 3/4 C min.
3. ‘Gloria et divitiæ’ C C min.
4. ‘Jucundus homo’ 3/2 Largo – Presto (C) – C min.

Largo (3/2) – (Presto 3/4)
5. ‘Peccator videbit’ C (Presto) Largo G min.
6. ‘Gloria’ C C min.
The fourth section (‘Jucundus’) is constructed in a similar way to the ‘Donec’

section in the A minor Beatus vir, with rapid contrasts between Largo and Presto.
The final ‘Amen’, on the contrary, is short, ending after just ten bars. The
prominent characteristic of this virtuoso piece is its rhythmic variety. It would
seem to have been written at about the same time as the A minor setting given the
strong similarity of style.
The virtuoso spirit that emphasizes the theatrical vocality of these solo psalms by
Provenzale is very similar to that found in works by other Neapolitan composers of
the same period. They were all writing for churches well served by high-level
singers. Take, for example, the astonishing vocal writing of Cristoforo Caresana’s
Vanitas vanitatum for two voices (alto and bass), which barely have time to take a
breath, over the archaic ostinato of the Bergamasca (I-Nf, not in Di Giacomo
1918):
Ex. 4.4 Cristoforo Caresana, Vanitas vanitatum (MS in I-Nf)

This motet is divided into four sections, of which the middle two are short, graceful
solos alternating the alto and bass, framed by a flamboyant exordium and the
recurrence of its material in the finale. The most modern vocal writing is placed
upon the old formula of variations on an ostinato typical of composers of the age of
Sabino and Cerronio (for example, see the latter’s Gaudeamus omnes of 1639).
A style very similar to Provenzale’s two Beatus vir settings is found in Exulta
jubila, an anonymous motet written around the same years contained in a
manuscript not yet catalogued and without shelf-mark in I-Nc. This shows so many
elements in common with Provenzale’s style that it is highly plausible to attribute
this work to him.25 The echo effects established between the soprano voice and the
two violins produce results very close to the structure of many of Provenzale’s
1689 Mottetti (see Ex. 4.5). The setting, in C minor, starts in C and then changes to
6/8 for ‘quam suavis’. Later we find the rarefied atmosphere typical of a Stabat
Mater (or of the ‘Lacrimosa’ in the Missa defunctorum) in the few cadential bars in
3/4 on the words ‘Desidera anima nostra in atria tua’.
The reappearance of common time marks the conclusion in the very long final
‘Alleluja’, lasting forty bars.
Ex. 4.5 Anon. (Francesco Provenzale?), Exulta jubila (MS in I-Nc)

Ex. 4.6 Francesco Provenzale, Magnus secundum nomen (MS in I-Nf)

An additional, hitherto unknown motet, surely by Provenzale, is entitled Magnus

secundum nomen suum (I-Nf, not in Di Giacomo 1918). It is scored for three voices
(two sopranos and bass) and shows very similar characteristics to Exulta jubila.
Magnus secundum nomen suum also bears, in fact, close similarities to Caresana’s
Vanitas vanitatum. In Provenzale’s motet, the first idea similarly reappears at the
end to conclude the piece like a ‘da capo’ after one short section alternating the
solo voices (Ex. 4.6).
There is mention of at least two more manuscript motets by Provenzale in the
Archivio dell’Oratorio dei Girolamini of Naples, O Maria. Mottetto per la
Madonna a 4 con organo (MS dated 1679; listed in Di Giacomo 1918, 78) and
Quo fugiam a 4 (catalogue card in I-McUrfm, not listed in Di Giacomo 1918).26
Two Dialoghi della Passione by Provenzale
In the context of the surviving sacred music by Provenzale, the Passion has a special
place. His Dialogo a 5 voci con violini per la Passione (so styled in the only copy
preserved in the Oratorio dei Girolamini)27 is less a Passion in the formal and ritual
sense adopted by the Neapolitans in the first half of the seventeenth century28 than a
dialogue in stile rappresentativo for a few singers and instruments. It well reflects the
type of small-scale performances provided as school concerts by Provenzale’s young
pupils in the Conservatorio della Pietà dei Turchini. It seems likely that the date
added by the copyist ‘Vitus’, 1686, refers to the year of a performance and not
necessarily to the date of the composition. The Dialogo has the following structure:
1. ‘Genuflessa al duro legno’ Aria with violins, S. Giovanni (B)

2. ‘Mio diletto, mio fattore’ Aria with violins, Maria (S)
3. ‘Angioletti di là su’ Duet (A and T)
4. ‘Che strano oggetto è questo’ Duet (S1 and S2)
Instrumental ritornello ‘a 3’
5. ‘Vilipeso Amore ignoto’ Duet (S1 and S2), Angelo I and II
6. ‘Grand’amore, gran pietà’ Duet (S1 and S2)
7. Instrumental ritornello ‘a 3’
8. ‘Oh perfido core, oh alma di Aria (A)
scoglio’
9. ‘Ferito mio bene’ Aria with violins (S), Maria
10. ‘Deh consolati cara madre’ Recitative and Aria (B), S. Giovanni
11. ‘Tutto è ver, tutt’è così’ Recitative and Aria (S)
12. ‘Che dolore, che tormento’ Aria (T)

13. ‘Deh tornatemi il mio Tesoro’ Aria (S), Maria
14. ‘Deh piangi oh peccatore’ Choir ‘a 5’ with violins
The plan is similar to a sacred cantata, with a succession of arias and duets,
whether or not preceded by short recitatives, and ending with a chorus in the
madrigal style ‘alla romana’. The keys usually involve one, two or three flats. Just
three arias (nos. 11, 12 and 13, for soprano, tenor and soprano) use respectively
one, two and one sharps. Almost all the pieces are in common time (C) with
frequent internal shifts to triple time (6/4). Nos. 12 and 13 are the exception: both
begin in 6/4 so as better to express the text.
The anonymous text shares its simplicity and other repetitive characteristics with
the lauda, but it is also uncommonly elegant in rhetorical terms, suggesting its
learned origins (‘pende da un duro legno / sostenuto è il Sostegno’), while
numerous phrases derive from the typical amorous language of the secular cantata:
Oh perfido core, Oh treacherous heart,

o alma di scoglio, oh stoney soul,
deh, piangi l’errore ah, cry for your mistake
con fiero cordoglio with fierce sorrow.
There is also an example of the seventeenth-century lament tradition in the

extraordinary final aria for the Blessed Virgin (Ex. 4.7).
On the other hand, the fine duet for alto and tenor, ‘Angioletti di lassù’, strongly
recalls similar passages from La colomba ferita and even from the opera Lo
schiavo di sua moglie (Ex. 4.8).
Ex. 4.7 Francesco Provenzale, Dialogo per la Passione (I) (MS in I-Nf), ‘Ferito mio
bene’, aria, Maria (S)
Ex. 4.8 Francesco Provenzale, Dialogo per la Passione (I) (MS in I-Nf), ‘Angioletti di là
su’, duet (A, T)
The final chorus seems to follow a Roman model that was for a long time
attributed to Luigi Rossi, the anonymous Oratorio per la Settimana Santa for
five voices and instruments in the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana (Barb. Lat.
4199). This is perhaps the oldest oratorio in volgare (about 1640) on the theme
of the Passion. The resemblances are not superficial. At a textual level, in the
Roman oratorio the final chorus is called ‘Madrigale a 5’ and begins with the
words ‘Piangete, occhi piangete’. In Provenzale’s Dialogo, the final chorus is
marked ‘Tutti’, for five voices, and is set to the text ‘Deh piangi, oh peccatore’
(Ex. 4.9 a–b):
Ex. 4.9 (a) Francesco Provenzale, Dialogo per la Passione (I) (MS in I-Nf), ‘Tutti a 5’
Ex. 4.9 (b) Anon., Oratorio della Settimana Santa, ‘Madrigale a 5’ (MS I-Rvat, Barb.
Lat. 4199)
Also, in both works the preceding aria for the Blessed Virgin has elements in
common: in I-Rvat the text begins with ‘Rendetemi il mio core’, while in
Provenzale this becomes ‘deh tornatemi il mio Tesoro ... Deh rendetemi il caro
pegno’.
In Provenzale’s Dialogo per la Passione there is no plot or narrative description.
Moreover, the character of Giovanni that opens the work is not the storyteller but a
passive member of the audience incapable of consoling the Virgin Mary (‘Deh
consolati cara Madre, / se morto è ’l nostro Padre’). There is no relation to the
biblical text. The collage of arias contains little of the tragic and is clearly taken
from the repertory of the chamber cantata or of the opera (including La colomba
ferita: compare the aria no. 11 ‘Tutto è ver, tutt’è così’). The Dialogo, then, is a
type of miniature opera that places it more firmly in the context of a conservatoire
performance than in that of a processional performance during the popular rites of
Holy Week.
The archive of the Oratorio dei Girolamini in Naples also houses the score of a
second Dialogo per la Passione, similar to the first in musical style and form, in
the hand of the same copyist (on the last page: ‘Fine. Vitus scripsit 1685. Aprile’).
The manuscript (I-Nf AMCO 698.10) now has thirty-nine folios, but originally it
had more; indeed, the beginning is missing, and the manuscript starts with the final
bars of what was probably the first vocal trio (in the function of a prologue).
Although the work is anonymous, it is very probably by Provenzale given that it
(and its manuscript) shares many similarities with the Dialogo per la Passione
(I).29 It is not clear whether this is properly a Passion-type setting, or whether it is
more a moral cantata, perhaps on the theme of L’ingrata humanità, a plausible title
given that the phrase ‘ungrateful humanity’ (‘ingrata humanità’) is often repeated
by the chorus (no. 4).
This second Dialogo has the following plan:
1. [just the final bars:‘ … e tu [Villico 1?] (S), [Villico 2/Apollo?] (S),
Urano fra tanto la mazza piglia, [Villico 3/Urano?] (A)
afferra il curvo aratro’]
2. ‘Hor che già lieto il prato’ Chorus of Villici, ‘a 5’
3. ‘Quant’il campo accoglie’ Recitative and Aria 1 with violins, Villico (B)
4. ‘Oh ingrata humanità’ Chorus ‘a 5’ (repeated after no. 5)
5. ‘Amici a vostro pro’ Garzone 1 (S), Garzone 2 (S), Garzone 3 (A)
6. ‘Partitevi da me’ Aria 2 with violins–Recitativo–Aria

da capo, Padre (T)
7. ‘Signor flebil evento’ Recitative, Nuncio (A)
8. ‘La campagna muta e Padre (T), Aria 3 with violins; short

tacita’ intervention in the dialogue of the Figlio (S)
9. ‘Figlio sentisti, figlio?’/ Aria 4, Padre (T); short intervention in the

‘Assistemi in petto furori’ dialogue of the Figlio (S)
10. ‘Fa le tue prove Amor’ Arioso, Figlio (S)
12. ‘Benché bambino vinco giganti’ Aria 5, Amore (S)
13. ‘Fatt’è giudice Amore’ Chorus ‘a 5’
14. ‘Benché l’ira il sen Aria 6, Padre (T); short recitative

m’accenda’ intervention in the dialogue of the Figlio (S)
16. ‘Destra adorata t’imprim’il Aria 7, Figlio (S)

cor’
17. ‘Bacio il vermiglio’ Aria 8, Padre (T)

18. ‘A Dio Padre / A Dio Figlio’ Duet, Padre (T) and Figlio (S)
19. ‘A due pett’i dardi avvento’ Aria 9, Amore (S)
20. ‘Sembra incredibile’ Recitative, Nuncio (A)
22. ‘Non ridete spiaggie liete’ Aria 10 with violins–Recitative–Aria da capo,

Figlio (S)
23. ‘Quant’è dolce la mia face’ Aria 11 with violins, Amore (S)
24. ‘Di veleno s’armi il seno’ Chorus ‘a 5’ (alternating with Villico solo)
25. ‘Cado, oh Dio, manca la vita’ Recitative, lament, Figlio (S)
26. ‘E chi non sa, che su quel Chorus ‘a 5’

duro legno’
The piece is in common time throughout, except for some passages in triple time
(nos. 6, 11, 15, 18, 25). The keys used are C, F, D and B flat major and E minor;
there are few internal modulations.
The music remains appropriately refined, given the essentially undramatic nature
of the text. The plot introduces shadowy characters that seem to allude indirectly to
the corresponding moments leading up to Jesus’ sacrifice on earth, but in
appearance they also play on the classical heritage of the types.
At the beginning, the Villici compare notes on the mythological divinities,
‘Urano’ and ‘Apollo’. They represent primitive, bestial men capable of killing their
true God out of fear and ignorance.
The three boys who come from upon high are, of course, angels sent down to
earth, and are pelted with stones by the Villici. Angels from Heaven do not usually
suffer from human cruelty, but here the reference is to the Christian martyrs, so
dear to the propaganda of the Neapolitan religious orders.
The Father who receives sad news of the massacre of his favourites from a
Nuncio (an angel belonging to a higher category) is God in person. The detail of
the three boys’wings (‘pennuti’) reveals their supernatural identity in the hyperbole
of the Baroque description:
La campagna muta e tacita, The countryside is mute and unresponsive,

pur si lagne per dolor although it laments the pain
de pennuti il cor Armonico of the birds whose heart is harmonic
non di canto, ma di pianto not with song, but with an air which
l’aria assorda, e di stridor. deafens with its weeping and screeching.
For a Neapolitan of the seventeenth century, there was nothing absurd in the
notion that God, angry with humanity, should experience impulsive reactions more
worthy of a mere mortal (anger, revenge, a sense of honour and disdain): every
natural catastrophe was attributed to divine response to human sin. Before this
angry God stands his Son (i.e., Jesus Christ), represented as a child with a soprano
voice, who intervenes to calm his Father and to justify men’s sins. He repeats four
more times his ostinato refrain ‘Father, Lord, forgive me’ (‘Padre, Signor,
perdona’) before accepting the difficult task of having himself come down to earth
to remedy the situation. Here, the figure of Christ is superimposed on a strong
symbol of pagan survival, Cupid (Eros). At the same time, God also reveals that he
is descended from the Olympic gods, and the words of his aria are worthy of a
Zeus: ‘Even though rage ignites my breast / I still have sentiments of a
lover’(‘Benché l’ira il sen m’accenda / Sempr’ho viscere d’Amante’).
This long dialogue between Father and Son is one of the least successful parts of
the piece, lacking rhythmic interest. But their farewell is Monteverdian in tone,
while the character of Cupid dissociates himself from Christ to remark on the
double effects of his darts. No less effective are Christ’s doubts upon his arrival on
earth:
Prati voi ditemi che mi mostra Meadows, you tell me that it shows
un volto sì fiero me so fierce a face
che il pensiero tem’oh Dio! that it evokes fear oh God!
Ma no ma non pavento, But no but I have no fear,
purché mi guid’Amore, as long as I am guided by Love,
mi mand’il Genitore the Progenitor sends me
altro non curo and I care for nothing else
altro saper non vò I will learn nothing else.
The Villico, who was the cause of the boys’ death, fears his own freedom
following Christ’s descent:
Son Monarca di me stesso. I am sovereign of myself.

Ma qual vista importuna But what importunate glance
m’intossica le gioie? poisons my pleasures?
When attacked by the populace, Jesus at once tells the tale of Calvary, of his
sacrifice on the Cross, and then, at death’s door, begs for mercy from his Father:
Tu Genitor clemente, You merciful Father,

all’aviso dolente, to the painful news,
la tomba mia con la pietà corona: my tomb is crowned with pity:
Padre, Signor, perdona! Father, Lord, forgive me!
The final chorus seems to be taken straight out of Provenzale’s first Dialogo per
la Passione:
E chi non sa And who does not know

che su quel duro legno that on that hard wood
quel trafitto Signor, quel Nume affiso, that pierced Lord, that affixed God,
è d’un Padre pietoso il Figlio ucciso. is the slain Son of a compassionate Father.
Moreover, the moral of the two compositions takes a similar direction. In the
first Passione, the Blessed Virgin remarks:
Sol l’amor d’un Dio tanto si stende: Only the love of a God extends so far:
si contenta morir per chi l’offende he is happy to die for whoever harms him.
These two works on the Passion seem complementary in their view of Christ’s
crucifixion, in the first text as a sacrifice of the Love of Our Lady of Sorrows, and
in the second of God the Father.
The copyist, ‘Vitus’, was probably a young pupil of Provenzale’s at a
conservatoire rather than a professional. Around the years from which the
manuscripts date, 1685 and 1686, only one Vito appears in the list of new entrants
to the Conservatorio della Pietà dei Turchini: Vito D’Urso ‘della Terra de Turi’
(Bari), a cleric who entered at the age of nineteen on 13 November 1680, as a bass,
to remain for six years.30
My search for the texts of these works (or texts like them) among surviving
librettos of seventeenth-century Neapolitan spiritual dramas proved fruitless.31
However, the dialogue form used here continued to be linked to the Oratorio dei
Girolamini until the early eighteenth century. While in Naples there are hardly any
examples of the Latin musical dialogues studied by Frits Noske, both in Rome and
in Northern Italy,32 numerous Neapolitan sources mention the titles of vernacular
dialogues, often in the form of short compositions for two voices.33 These spiritual
dialogues, used in Naples chiefly by the Filippini, are considered by Howard
Smither to be ‘incunabula of the Oratorio’.34
At the time when the manuscripts of Provenzale’s two dialogues were copied,
Tommaso Pagano had taken Provenzale’s place as honorary maestro of the Real
Cappella. Ten oratorios by Pagano are preserved in the Oratorio dei Girolamini, as
well as some spiritual cantatas, some motets and five dialogues as follows
(according to Di Giacomo 1918, 75):
Cristo ed Anima. Dialogo

Dialoghi in pastorale
Dialogo a 3: Redentione, Colpa e Adamo
Dialogo a 3 voci: Angelo, Anima purgante e Huomo
Epulone nell’Inferno (a 5)
Thus, Pagano’s compositions can be placed midway between the older two-voice
dialogues of Anerio’s age and the oratorio-cantata form used in Provenzale’s
dialogues.35
Melodrammi sacri composed for ‘li figliuoli’
One of the most affecting and successful moments in the Dialogo per la Passione
(I) is the duet ‘Angioletti di là su’ for alto and tenor (Ex. 4.8) that describes a
typical scene from Neapolitan sacred festivities, with boys singing, dressed as
angels. It also reminds one of other similar moments in Provenzale’s works, and in
particular La colomba ferita, in which the Angel is one of the most important
characters. Still more significant is the presence of the boy-angels in the second
Dialogo per la Passione, the anonymous work (dated 1685) that I have assigned to
Provenzale. Here the three ‘Garzoni’ are martyred by the sacrilegious Villici while
a winged Nuncio (an archangel) announces the disaster to God the Father.
Dressing young singers as angels was an ancient, widespread practice in Europe,
chiefly at Christmas time. In Naples, we find angel singers on floats since the
Aragonese age in the fifteenth century. A similar tradition survives today in some
cities in Spain and Latin America. The symbolism is still more appropriate in
seventeenth-century Naples because of the young students’ choirs from the four
conservatoires that were commonly employed in all of the most important civic
religious feasts. Their angel costumes were stored in the conservatoires, whose
account books record numerous expenses concerning the ‘costumes of the little
angels’ (‘vesti degli angiolilli’).
For example, on 23 June 1624, on the Eve of the Feast of S. Giovanni Battista:36
Among the other worthy things was a catafalque with many choruses of angels ...
And once the first chorus had finished singing, a kind of cloud opened, from
which other angels likewise descended singing and playing. And once those ones
had come down and continued their harmonious music, the first angels who had
sung could be seen rising up in the cloud.
On 19 October 1669, for the procession of S. Pietro di Alcantara, there was a

triumphal float ‘pulled by angels and on top full of music and angels’ (‘tirato da
angeli e sopra pieno di musica e di angeli’) (Fuidoro, Giornali 1934–39, I, 1669).
During the Carnival in 1680, the ‘figliuoli’ of the Conservatorio di Loreto sang
laude in front of the viceroy’s palace from a ‘float of the butchers’ (‘carro de’
macellari’), decorated with pieces of meat. From a cloud emerged a winged boy
who was raised by hoists to the viceroy’s balcony, where he made an address
(Confuorto 1930, 26 January 1680). For the procession of the Santissimo Rosario
in October 1673, the Conservatorio dei Poveri di Gesù Cristo ‘sent ten angels to
the Castello Nuovo’ (‘se mandò mezza paranza con 10 angeli al Castello Nuovo’),
at a cost of 3 ducats.37 During the procession ‘del Battaglino’ on Holy Saturday
1675, the same conservatoire sent ‘4 paranze e 36 angeli’ for 28 ducats.38 But to
judge by the evidence, it was the Conservatorio di Sant’Onofrio that took the lead
in providing angelic choirs: in 1689 the angiolilli of Sant’Onofrio were even sent
to perform at the rival conservatoires of the Turchini and Loreto.39
One motet by Francesco Provenzale is expressly associated with this practice: In
conspectu angelorum for two voices (soprano and alto), two violins and continuo.
It was originally in the collection in I-Nf (listed in Di Giacomo 1918, 78) but is
now among the ‘Carte Di Giacomo’ in the Biblioteca Nazionale in Naples (I-Nlp
MS II.K.29). According to a note by Di Giacomo, it is an autograph by Provenzale,
but in fact the parts are by a late-seventeenth-century copyist, with numerous
mistakes that make it difficult to reconstruct the score.
For all its brevity, the motet falls into four sections:
1. ‘In conspectu angelorum’ Duet, S and A, F maj. (in the bass

line the tetrachord B –A–G–F#)
2. ‘Adorato ad templum sanctum Recitative, S, 6/2; followed by

tuum’ ‘Alleluja’, C
3. ‘Angeli et Arcangeli’ Recitative, A, C; followed by

‘Alleluja’, C
4. ‘Laudate et jubilate omnes, Duet, S and A, 6/4

Angeli Domini’
The final fugato uses a subject also found in a fugue for organ, dated 1675, and
attributed to ‘Franz: Provintz’, to be discussed below. The text is for the feast of 5
July in honour of S. Antonio Maria Zaccaria, who lived in the sixteenth century and
was the founder of the Barnabites (thus the motet could have been commissioned by
a church or a monastery of that order, such as, for example, S. Caterina in Chiaia).
But the structure of Provenzale’s music would appear to be founded on the form of
the pastorale, and it is not impossible that the motet was used during one of the
Christmas representations by the students of the Conservatorio della Pietà di Turchini
(the piece certainly dates from after 1675). The text is full of references to ‘Angeli et
Arcangeli’. The alto part is noteworthy, being composed with echo effects as an aria
di battaglia, while the conclusion involves the return of the opening music (as in
‘Angioletti di là su’ from the Passione (I)).
Ex. 4.10 Francesco Provenzale, In conspectu angelorum (MS in I-Nlp), section 3

A similar context is apparent in one of Provenzale’s 1689 Mottetti: Angelicae

mentes. An angel takes a leading role in Provenzale’s Christmas cantata Sui palchi
delle stelle, marked ‘per la nascita del Verbo’. In a manuscript of the second half of
the seventeenth century in I-Nc (A 89, olim XXII.2.24/1–6), one of the three
cantatas for one or two voices, violins and basso continuo, attributed to an
unknown Giuseppe Arianiello, has the same text but different music.40 Arianiello
may have been a student at a conservatoire, and his cantata, for solo tenor rather
than a soprano, seems more like a school exercise, perhaps on a text given to him
by Provenzale himself. The introduction and the instrumental refrains of the other
two cantatas in this manuscript are very interesting. It is no coincidence that in the
first cantata, Supplica al Santo Amore, an angel intervenes in dialogue with a
Sinner and with the Crucifix (a structure that recalls the first Dialogo per la
Passione).
Provenzale’s cantata Sui palchi delle stelle is no. 60 in a miscellaneous collection
of Serenate, arie, cantate sacre e profane in I-Nc (MS 33.4.4, olim Cantate 39).41
The angel’s voice is a soprano instead of a tenor (as chosen by Arianiello). The
cantata has a very simple scheme:
Recitative ‘Sui palchi delle stelle’

Aria 1 ‘Sciolse all’hor le piume d’oro’ C, B
Recitative ‘Vide in humide’
Aria 2 ‘O bel Ninno’ 3, D min.
Recitative ‘A questo dir’
Aria 3 ‘È impazzito il nostro re’ 3, B
It tells the unusual story of a seraph ‘burning from jealousy’ (‘di gelosia bruggiando’)
because his Father prefers to leave the Celestial Kingdom to become a human, born in a
cave; the seraph laments that he would die, too, ‘if the heart of a seraph were capable of
torment’ (‘se capace di tormento / fosse il cor d’un serafino’).
The theme and style of the text are very similar to those of the first of the two
dialogues per la Passione; they would seem to be by the same poet. But in this
Christmas cantata, the poetic style is much better crafted and is more adventurous.
The paroxysms of grief articulated by the seraph in a very human outburst come
close to sacrilege (‘Our King has gone mad’ (‘Impazzito è il nostro Re’)).
Only in the final lines does the text seek to give a moral justification for so much
irrational passion: the birth of the Christ-child liberates humanity. The music of
this short cantata, similar to the many Christmas cantatas of this period (consider
the dozen or so examples by Cristoforo Caresana in I-Nf), reaches moments of rare
complexity in terms of both harmony and vocal virtuosity. An element that occurs
also in the Mottetti of 1689 is the word-painting in such evocative passages as ‘di
gioie un’eco’:
Ex. 4.11 Francesco Provenzale, Sui palchi delle stelle (MS in I-Nc), bars 14–19
The closing section is, of course, based on the evocative atmosphere of the
pastorale, with short phrases echoed by the instruments but with dance rhythms
that establish a connection with the popular feasts (there are similar passages also
in the 1689 Mottetti).
When Provenzale taught at the Conservatorio di Loreto and then at the Turchini,
from the cantata-dialogue there developed a form of theatrical cantata intended for
indoor performance by conservatoire students both within and outside Naples.
Christmas cantatas for several voices and instruments clearly reveal this transition
to a veritable ‘dramma sacro’. The most common title ‘per la nascita del Verbo’ is
the one already found for Sui palchi delle stelle, with numerous variants. We must
remember that from 1660 onwards, Christmas coincided with a rich series of
political feasts, not least the birthday of the King of Spain. Thus it is not surprising
to find conservatoire students fully occupied in December with various
celebrations in the Palazzo Reale and also in various churches established by court
ceremonial and on commission.
The titles of these works take on theatrical connotations. Take, for example, the
Christmas works by Lorenzo Minei (a little-known contemporary of Provenzale
who produced many such works), such as Affetti d’un pastore alla spelonca di
Bethlemme or Per un’anima divota, che di notte genuflessa innanti all’altare del
SS. Sacramento, per maggior consolatione brama di vedervi quanto vi crede.
These seem more like phrases from a catechism than normal cantata titles. This
also reflects the strong Counter-Reformation tendencies in Naples, where edifying
and devotional matter increasingly inserted itself into all aspects of civic social life.
But, as usual in Naples, the religious propaganda takes on a more popular tone.
The titles of the more than twenty-five Christmas cantatas from 1660–90 by
Caresana (almost all autographs in I-Nf) are revealing: Il Bambino Gesù nel
presepe parlando ad uno schiavo lo converte. Cantata a 5 Per la nascita di N. S.
(1683); La caduta degli idoli. Per le fascie del Verbo. A 4 con istromenti. Si allude
alla dannata oratione di quiete del P. Molines (1687); Il comple años del Verbo, a
5 voci con violini (1672); La fascia (Gierusalem, Roma, Napoli, Betlem e la

Gloria). A 5 voci con strumenti; Gara amorosa tra la Carità e la Fede. Per la
nascita del Verbo (1683); La giostra. A 6 voci con istromenti per la coronazione
del Re Divino; Le gare della terra col cielo. A 6 voci con istromenti. Per la nascita
di N. S. (1677); Le nozze regali. A 4 voci con istromenti. Per la nascita del Verbo
(1679); Maschera a 6 voci con istromenti. Per la nascita di N.S. (1679); La
musica. A 6 voci con istromenti. Per la nascita del Verbo (1678); Il sacro Conclave
nel seno di Maria. A 4 voci con istromenti. Per la nascita del Verbo (1676); La
resa della piazza dell’ immortalità. A 6 voci con istromenti (1676); Satanasso in
catena. Per la nascita del Verbo. A 5 con istrumenti (1672); La serenata. Per la
nascita di N. S. A 6 voci con istromenti (1675); La turbatione d’ Erode. A 6 voci
con istromenti. Per la nascita di N. S. (1680).
Even the city’s social and economic life was reflected in these spiritual works: the
pastorale and the tarantella express (in the opposition of the two choral groups, angels
and shepherds) the typical situation of the shepherds in a Neapolitan Christmas crib,
while La moneta nova. Cantata a 6 voci con istrumenti (Christmas 1683) refers to a
true event, that is, the monetary reform proposed that year by the viceroy.
Cristofaro Caresana, a native of Venice who had made his début as a singer in
two operas by Cavalli, was just eighteen years old when he went to Naples as one
of the ‘Febi armonici’ around 1658.42 In 1667 he entered the Real Cappella as
organist, and then he became maestro in the Conservatorio di S. Onofrio, also
working regularly for the Oratorio dei Girolamini, to which he left all his
autograph music after his death in 1709 (some 300 compositions are still preserved
in I-Nf). In 1699 he succeeded Provenzale as maestro in the Tesoro di S. Gennaro,
going on to be his colleague in the Real Cappella. Caresana’s personality was not
unlike Provenzale’s, and the greatness of his compositional art is borne out by
close examination of some of his Christmas cantatas. Of short duration, each
cantata, usually for five or six voices and instruments, represents a symbolic
character that corresponds to the Child’s birth in a grotto in Bethlehem, which in
the same years was also the subject of the first ‘presepi napoletani’. La vittoria
dell’Infante and La caccia del Toro paint a more original allegory of the people’s
dissatisfaction with Spanish power, represented as the Demonio Lucifero (or the
Toro Infernale). He enters into competition, with no chance of victory, with the
Infante, Child Jesus, the ‘Word made flesh’. In La caccia del Toro, the explicit
reference to the bull is clearly ironic, given the vain attempt by the Spanish to
introduce bullfighting to Naples, so much in vogue in the Iberian peninsula. In his
book on the feasts for the Infante’s birth in 1658, Andrea Cirino remembers that,
for Spain, it was necessary to invent the ‘the game of the bulls, so that in this
combat the spirits of the champions would be fired up for warfare ... So His Most
Excellent Signor viceroy ... wanted the feasts of Naples to resemble those in Spain
with this celebration with bulls’.43 We must consider that while in 1674 Caresana’s
Christmas cantata was being represented, the Spanish viceregal government was on
the verge of a crisis with the revolt in Messina, which it repressed only after much
blood was spilt in 1678. It is not by chance that the cantata portrays a competition
between a bull (the Devil) and Humility, with the latter, in the end, driving the
infernal beast back into the abyss in the name of the newly born Child. Here
follows the plan of the composition (applicable with variations to all the Christmas
cantatas by the same author):
1. Introduction 5 voices and F maj.; dynamic start with voices in

violins imitative counterpoint on the text:
‘Alla caccia’, 39 bars
2. Recitative and aria Toro (B)

with violins
3. Chorus Chorus ‘a 3’ (S2, the choir represents the narrator

A, T)
4. Aria and dialogue Humiltà (S1),

Toro
5. Duet Humiltà and return of the rhythm of the initial

Toro introduction on the text: ‘All’armi’;
‘Bombarda bombarda’
6. Aria 2 Humiltà
7. Chorus Chorus ‘a 3’:

resume the story
(central passage
‘a 2’, A and T),
with Presto finale
8. Duet 2 Humiltà and

Toro; central
section in
pastorale;
dialogue between
the two
characters
9. Chorus final Chorus 5 voices This section is homophonic and

with violins syllabic, ending in the starting key of
F maj. on the text: ‘Viva viva
l’Humiltà’.
Another of Caresana’s Christmas cantatas in the Archivio dei Girolamini has the
evocative title La tarantella a 5 voci con violini. Per la nascita del Verbo (1673).
This cantata is a document of great importance because it quotes one of the first
complete tunes of the tarantella in the history of music.44 It is not by chance that
some twenty years after this cantata, Caresana published two more examples of
tarantelle in his Duo di Cristoforo Caresana, organista della Real Cappella.
Opera seconda libro primo (Naples, De Bonis, 1693): duos no. 32 (S1 and S2), and
no. 33 (A and T). In the preface (Lettera amorevole), Caresana says:45
You will find various caprices, corresponding to our times, including balletti, arie,
tarantelle and others, enough to satisfy the corrupt talent of this century. I am so
unfamiliar with these last that if they were suitable to be heard outside the schools and
private chambers, I would never have applied myself in writing them, on top of which,
having only considered them by subject (as have many serious authors) you will excuse
the failing of my pen, knowing very well that similar whims, which can be found today in
musical scores, are more capable of inciting derision that applause. However, they are
also accompanied by more serious and lofty material, because with variety you are more
likely to be satisfied.
The tarantella in Caresana’s Christmas cantata is represented by the shepherd

choir ‘a 5’ in the central section—just as the same melody in the pastorale, played
by the popular bagpipes, is inserted in the middle of the homonymous cantata (Ex.
4.12).
It is curious to note how another Southern Italian author, Simone Coya, a few
years later, in 1679, would set some sections of his cantata L’amante impazzito on
dance forms just like the tarantella and the pastorale46 (see Figure 3).
The tarantella was already a well-known dance in the south of Italy dating from
the seventeenth century, and was associated with the tradition of the treatment for
the tarantula bite with music and dances. 47
One of the very first examples of its rhythm was considered to be the Tarantella
published in the dance collection for Spanish guitar, printed in Naples by Foriano
Pico: but the date 1608 must surely be considered a print error for the decade
‘1660’.48
Caresana’s cantata also has other particular features; it has a text of a very high
literary level, rich in quotations from the classics of Italian pastoral literature
(particularly Guarini’s Pastor fido). Here again the usual angels’ choir appears,
personified by young students of the Neapolitan conservatoires.
Ex. 4.12 Cristoforo Caresana, La tarantella a 5 , ‘coro a 5’ (MS in I-Nf)
Very few of Caresana’s compositions are given generic labels. One exception is
Santa Lucia. Oratorio a 5 voci (Di Giacomo 1918, 43). ‘Oratorio’ is normally used
for works more often by composers of the next generation after Provenzale and
Caresana, as for example Donato Ricchezza’s compositions in I-Nf: La fede
trionfante. Oratorio (1683); La gara degli elementi. Oratorio a 5 voci; Oratorio a
4 voci In honore del glorioso S. Francesco Saverio; La madre dei Maccabei.
Oratorio a 4 voci; Il martirio di S. Eustachio. Oratorio in 2 parti; La ruina degli

Angioli. Oratorio a 5 voci; Il sacrificio di Abele. Oratorio a 4 voci con strumenti;
San Giusto. Oratorio a cinque voci (1683); San Martino vescovo. Oratorio a 5
voci. Behind the choice of a subject (a saint in particular) there are sponsors
involved in this subtle propaganda: the Jesuits, the Theatines, the Franciscans or
the Dominicans. But the true model of the Roman oratorio comes to Naples very
late, with the viceroy Del Carpio and Alessandro Scarlatti.
It is difficult to relate these later models to early experiments in Neapolitan
melodrammi sacri produced in connection with the climate of devotion after the
plague in 1656.49 A century ago, Benedetto Croce produced the best reconstruction
to date of the origins of the oratorio in seventeenth-century Naples:50 by analogy
with the Spanish comedias de santos, those responsible for religious propaganda in
Naples encouraged the performance of plays including not only the usual
allegorical characters (the eternal fight between good and evil), but also situations
of everyday life with at least one comic character (corresponding to the Spanish
gracioso) who sang in the Neapolitan idiom. In this way, the propaganda was
easily conveyed to the audience. After the first Jesuit experiments midway through
the seventeenth century, of which only fragmentary traces remain, from 1664
onwards dramatic compositions ‘all’uso di Roma’ began to appear in Neapolitan
churches:51
(24 February 1664) The theatre was erected at the Chiesa del Gesù Nuovo for the
Quarantore of these last three days of Carnival, without wax lights but instead using all
oil ones. And it was the first time that these fathers did it in this way according to the
customs of their churches in Rome. The mystery was La sommersione di Faraone nel
mar rosso.
In the same year, the first melodramma sacro by Francesco Provenzale was
produced at the Palazzo Reale.
La colomba ferita (1670) and other melodrammi sacri
The melodramma sacro was a new genre emerging in Neapolitan sacred music in
the course of the seventeenth century. Its forebears can be found in the tragedies
with music and choirs performed in the Jesuit colleges. Early examples of the
melodramma sacro can be found before 1654, with a series of ‘trattenimenti
spirituali con musica, sermoni, e rappresentazioni di molte operette spirituali’
presented by the Padri dell’Oratorio in the cloisters of the monastery of S.
Agnello.52 In 1653 there was a performance of La vittoria fuggitiva, a ‘drama
tragico sacro’ composed by Francesco Marinelli (an obscure maestro at the
Duomo) to a libretto by Giuseppe Castaldo. The latter would become a specialist in
the genre, given his fruitful collaboration with Provenzale during the following
decade. The subject of La vittoria fuggitiva was taken up again by Castaldo in
1665, with a sequel to the story, Il trionfo del martirio di Santa Timpna ‘drama
sacro parte seconda’ (the composer of the music is unknown), and it was followed
in 1672 by a further ‘drama tragico sacro’ that brought together the two previous
parts under the title La principessa d’Irlanda, o vero La vittoria fuggitiva.
Meanwhile, the Conservatorio di Loreto had begun to take a leading role in the
provision of such entertainments, beginning at least as early as 1656 with Il fido
campione della divina provvidenza pel beato Gaetano Tiene.53 It is possible that
Provenzale had replaced Marinelli as Castaldo’s chief collaborator, and it is
possible, too, that he wrote the music for the second part of La vittoria fuggitiva. In
terms of the text, this drama (in its more complete 1672 version) is similar to
Castaldo’s two librettos known for sure to have been set to music by Provenzale.
The only other conservatoire that tried to follow the example of the Conservatorio
di Loreto was that of S. Onofrio, which in 1671 celebrated its patron’s feast day
with Tomaso Valuta’s L’Onofrio, o Il ritorno d’Onofrio in padria. Even though it
was not completely set to music (making it unusual for the genre), it is important
for the presence of some typical elements of the oratorio ‘alla napoletana’:
characters in disguise (‘Tilandra’, i.e., Florio dressed up as a woman; Agata
disguised as Anassio), the forces of Heaven and Hell in opposition (‘Coro
d’Angioli’, ‘Angiolo’ and ‘Demonio’), and even a character who sings in
Neapolitan (‘Nardo napolitano’). Most of these ingredients had already been
included in Provenzale’s La colomba ferita for the Conservatorio di Loreto.
In 1661, the tradition was established of celebrating in the Palazzo Reale the
birthday of the heir to the Spanish throne, Charles, with entertainments that
included the performance of a serious opera usually supervised by the Armonici.
From 1663, the fact that the new viceroy, Cardinal Don Pasquale d’Aragona, was
an ecclesiastic prompted instead a sacred drama as part of the birthday
celebrations. Provenzale was associated with the Conservatorio di Loreto from
1661, and he was its maestro di cappella from 1663 to 1675. In 1664, just one year
after his appointment, there was ‘the performance in the palace by the boys of the
Conservatorio di Santa Maria di Loreto of the tragedy called the Martirio di San
Gennaro set to music’:54 it seems very likely that Provenzale wrote the music, to a
libretto written by Don Gennaro Paolella.
Although Provenzale stayed in service at the Conservatorio di Loreto until 1675,
in 1673 he also became maestro di cappella at the Conservatorio della Pietà dei
Turchini, a post he held until 1702. His career was by now well established; from
1665 he had been maestro di cappella of the Fidelissima Città, and he had been
nominated maestro of the Tesoro di S. Gennaro (his nomination had perhaps been
prompted by his sacred opera dedicated to S. Gennaro of the previous year). Over a
period of some fifteen years (1664–79), Provenzale made a significant contribution
to Neapolitan sacred drama, even if not all the works in the following list can
definitely be attributed to him:
Il martirio di San Gennaro, Naples 1663–64 (uncertain)

La colomba fuggitiva, Palermo 1669 (uncertain)
La colomba ferita. Opera sacra di Santa Rosalia, Naples 1670
La fenice d’Avila Teresa di Giesù, Naples 1672
La vittoria fuggitiva, Naples 1672 (uncertain)
La vita di Santa Rosa, Naples 1679 (uncertain)
Provenzale may also have provided the music for the following undated works:55
La Geneviefa, cited in Fétis 1880, VII

L’infedeltà abbattuta.‘Oratorio per Assisi’, cited in Fétis 1880, VII
Although neither the music nor the libretto of Il martirio di San Gennaro
survive, we know a great deal about the scenery, commissioned from the famous
painter called ‘il Modanino’. Significant details can be derived from a ‘Lista delle
Pitture’ required for a performance in May 1663 at the Casa Santa di Santa Maria
di Loreto, ‘where the said tragedy was to be performed’ (‘dove si doverà
rappresentare detta Tragedia’):56
Vedute di scene
La Bocca dell’Opera con la tela dell’Antiscena
Lido con Isole e scogli fuori il Duomo, e dentro
Lontananza della Città di Napoli con Mare
Città di Pozzuoli, e dentro il Domo scogli con prospettiva di Marina
Cortile con carceri, con lontananza del Palazzo del Tiranno
Un Giardino dentro e fuori il Duomo
Sala Reale fuora il Duomo, e dentro appartamento di camere
Città di Nola fuora il Domo, e dentro una fornace
This suggests that the plot of the sacred opera focused on the martyrdom of S.
Gennaro in Pozzuoli (hence the furnace in the final scene). As we have seen, the
nomination of S. Gennaro as the patron saint of the Kingdom of Naples prompted
more spectacular celebrations of the saint’s three annual feasts. It is no coincidence
that he was chosen as the subject for what is now considered to be one of the
earliest examples of the Neapolitan ‘melodramma sacro’.
The success of Il martirio di San Gennaro, performed at the viceregal court, is
revealed by the fact that in succeeding years a number of melodrammi sacri were
staged in the Palazzo Reale and elsewhere by the students of S. Maria di Loreto,
and later by those of the Turchini. The first title in this series, La colomba ferita.
Opera sacra di S. Rosalia, already had all the characteristics of a masterpiece. The
manuscript of this opera has only recently been discovered in the Biblioteca del
Conservatorio di Napoli.57 La colomba ferita—the subject concerns events in the
life of S. Rosalia—is perhaps Provenzale’s most successful theatrical work. The
libretto is by the distinguished poet Giuseppe Castaldo, and it combines literary
ingenuity with effective dramatic strategies.58
The 1670 libretto calls it a ‘dramma armonioso’, and we also have librettos
relating to new productions in 1672 (dedicated to Isabella Caracciolo, Abbess in
the convent of Donnaregina, where the work may have been performed) and in
1696 (a performance outside Naples in Calvizzano given by students of the
Conservatorio della Pietà dei Turchini; we do not know if the composer was
present). Two hitherto unknown performances of melodrammi sacri in Aversa and
in Capri in 1674 are documented by the account books of the conservatoires: on 26
August the receipt of 40 ducats ‘for the opera set to music depicting Santa Rosalia
to be performed in Aversa’ is recorded, and on 4 October, 24 ducats for ‘the opera
set to music performed in Capri by our boys’: but the latter might also refer to La
fenice d’Avila.59
The choice of subject-matter is unexpected. We do not know for sure if, as had
occurred in Palermo, the Jesuits in Naples played an active part in the project, but
it is interesting to note that the poet Castaldo, in his dedication of the 1670 libretto,
expressed the wish that his drama might contribute to the diffusion of the cult of S.
Rosalia in Naples, which, it would seem, was not yet widespread. The performance
was preceded by a somewhat elusive work staged in Palermo in 1669, La colomba
fuggitiva, which presumably had the same plot as La colomba ferita; in fact, one
wonders whether it was the same work. In addition, the title of the work performed
in Palermo seems to combine La colomba ferita and the title of another libretto by
Castaldo, La vittoria fuggitiva. The ‘wounded pigeon’ in the title refers to the
image of the winged hunters (angels and devils) who wounded with a dart the holy
dove dedicated to the Lord. This image can be traced back to a Sicilian source, a
small book entitled La colomba palermitana printed in Palermo in 1661 by the
preacher Tommaso Maria Spada. This is in fact a long sermon containing a
digression about the image of Christ in the mirror, perhaps the model for the mirror
scene in the opera. All the other main sources for the work that Castaldo might
have known were printed in Palermo between 1625 and 1656.60 It is possible that
Castaldo had tackled the subject of S. Rosalia some years before 1670, for example
in 1656 to celebrate the end of the plague. In fact, there is no apparent reason why
the subject of S. Rosalia should have been chosen for a work celebrating the
birthday of the Spanish dauphin in Naples in 1670. Nothing in the city’s civic
calendar would seem to warrant such a choice, and although the 1670 libretto is
dedicated to the regent of Sicily, Felice Lanzino Ulloa, there is nothing else
concrete to link the work with Sicily.61 It is more surprising to find a very similar
comedia hagiográfica on S. Rosalia performed in Madrid only a few months after
the first Neapolitan production of La colomba ferita: La mejor flor de Sicilia, Santa
Rosolea by Agustín de Salazar y Torres (1642–75), performed in a corral by the
actors and musicians of the Félix Pascual company at Easter 1671.62 This comedy
is quite exceptional for Spain because of the central importance of the music in the
plot, and of the number of musicians among the actors: no fewer than five female
voices, one harp player (Marcos Garcés) and the ‘musico’ Gregorio de la Rosa,
whose name indicates a possible Neapolitan origin.63 A comparison between the La
colomba ferita and the Spanish Santa Rosolea reveals strong similarities in the plot
and characters.
Table 4.3 Characters in La colomba ferita and La mejor flor de Sicilia
LA COLOMBA FERITA LA MEJOR FLOR DE SICILIA

Opera sacra di Santa Rosalia Santa Rosolea Comedia de Música
(Naples 1670) (Madrid 1671)
Rosalia Rosolea
Ruggiero, Re di Sicilia Rugero Normando, Rey de Sicilia
Sinibaldo, padre di Rosalia Sinibaldo, padre de la Santa
Balduino, amante di Rosalia Balduino, primer galán

Maria, madre di Rosalia
— Cirilo, ayo de la Santa
Antonia, cameriera di Rosalia Irene, segunda dama
— Cintia, Estela y Clori, damas
Scaccia Napolitano Eduardo, segundo galán
and Calabrese
— Soldados
— Cazadores
Eurillo Paggio Bermichel, gracioso
Demonio (in various disguises) Demonio
Angelo Angel San Rafael y Angel Custodio
Maria Vergine Virgen Niña
Cristo
Coro di Angeli
— Santa Agata, Santa Cristina, Santa Oliva
y Santa Ninfa
The music for the Spanish Santa Rosolea has not survived. Nevertheless, the
similarity in the narrative structure implies some connection with Castaldo and
Provenzale’s dramma sacro. But the performance in Madrid is too near the
première in Naples: it may be evidence that some earlier performance of La
colomba ferita was held before 1670, maybe in Sicily where Santa Rosolea’s
author, Salazar, had spent four years between 1667 and 1670 as ‘capitán de armas’
in Agrigento (the native town of S. Rosalia).64 The discovery of the lost libretto of
La colomba fuggitiva (Palermo, 1669) could solve the mystery.
The plot of La colomba ferita is somewhat complicated, particularly because of
the characters in disguise and the several changes of scene:
(Prologue) A short scene sung by four voices, where Cupid (as Profane Love)
succumbs to the attack of the three guardians of Rosalia: Amor divino (Sacred
Love), Penitenza (Penitence) and Perseveranza (Perseverance).65
(Act I) On bringing a hard-fought war against the Arabs to a successful conclusion,

Roger II, King of Sicily, asks Sinibald, a nobleman of Palermo who helped him in
his military exploits, to grant the hand of his daughter Rosalia in marriage to young
Balduin. Rosalia, however, tells her chambermaid Antonia that she wishes to
become a bride of Christ, and she asks her to intercede with her father on her behalf.
Antonia informs Sinibald of Rosalia’s vocation, thereby provoking his anger and his
determination to conclude the marriage all the same. The drama is toned down by
two different types of situation. The first describes a battle between the Angel and
the Demon dressed as hunters, the wounding of the dove, a clear allegorical allusion
to the everlasting struggle between sacred and profane love. The second, which
concludes the act, brings onto the stage the two servants Scaccia and Calabrese, who
engage in a singing competition of a playfully ironic tone, wherein they strike up a
villanella, conducted by a makeshift maestro di cappella, the court page Euryllus,
who beats them with his baton.
(Act II) Rosalia’s mother Maria, Sinibald and King Roger try to force Rosalia into
obedience, and she submits, but most unwillingly. However, while she is busy
combing her hair with Antonia, in the mirror there appears the image of Christ who
rebukes her for her lack of faith and declares his love for her. Amazed at such a
miracle, Rosalia breaks the mirror and cuts off her blond hair, while Antonia looks
on in disbelief. Also, in this act, the narrative is interrupted by a repetition of the
allegorical episode of the battle between the Angel and the Demon and then by the
entry on the stage of the two servants, who complain of the beating they received
earlier.
(Act III) The Angel warns Rosalia that Balduin will try to seduce her in order to
marry her, and exhorts her to leave her father’s house. Guided by the heavenly
messenger the girl takes refuge in a grotto on Monte Pellegrino. Heartbroken,
Antonia informs Rosalia’s parents of her flight. King Roger intervenes and issues an
edict promising to give land as a reward to anyone who can find Rosalia;
immediately, the two servants volunteer for the undertaking. Meanwhile, in the
presence of the Virgin Mary and a chorus of angels, Rosalia celebrates her wedding
with Christ. But the deceptions of the Demon seem endless. Disguised as an old
hermit he flatters her, reminding her of earthly affections to induce her to return
home. Assisted by the Angel, Rosalia invokes death so that she may be joined with
her beloved Spouse, and the Angel announces that soon Christ will welcome her to
His kingdom. The two servants also chance upon the Demon, this time disguised in
the clothes of a peasant, who leads them to Rosalia’s refuge. The three try to bring
the girl back home, but a sudden avalanche covers the grotto causing the Demon to
fall into an abyss. The opera closes with the apotheosis of Rosalia who,
accompanied by the Virgin, by Christ and by the Angels, ascends into heaven.
The structure of La colomba ferita is in fact that of an opera, including the

presence of comic characters speaking in dialect. As in Venetian opera, the comic
episodes are integrated within the action, but they also have an autonomy close to
that of the comic intermezzo. The Calabrese and Neapolitan are regularly
juxtaposed against the serious characters. In scenes 1 and 2 of Act I, where the
comic characters appear for the first time (with a third instrumental melodic line),
they present comic, grotesque refrains that in effect parody the serious trio made up
of the noble characters King Ruggiero, Sinibaldo and Balduino (in G minor, with
dotted rhythms in a war-like style at the words ‘Pur fra l’armi il cieco amore / vuol
far prova de’ suoi dardi’, and with frequent chromaticism). In Act I scenes 8 and 9,
the final scenes of the act, the comic pair appear on stage just after the first duet
between the Angel and the Devil. With the complicit intervention of the servant
Eurillo, the Neapolitan and the Calabrese engage in an exhilarating display that
pays homage to the literary villanella of the age of Basile. The irony is
compounded by the self-referential nature of the text: ‘ … sazzu nu matricali /
ch’ha fatto lu sciu Mastru Provenzali’.
Ex. 4.13 Francesco Provenzale, La colomba ferita (MS in I-NC), Act I, final trio
In Act II scene 4, the comic characters reappear singing two ariette typical of
southern popular traditions (the ‘arie a rispetti’ that were sung in alternation by two
voices), complaining about the servant Eurillo, who beat them in the concert scene.
At the end of the opera, the Calabrese and the Neapolitan return at a key, and also
symbolic, moment in Act III, when they start to search for Rosalia on Monte
Pellegrino (III.5). Here they provide a comic anticipation of the succeeding
dialogue between Rosalia and the Angel. The final appearance of the comic duo is
with the Devil dressed as a peasant (‘bifolco’), who suggests to them that they
should divide the reward if they find Rosalia. The presence of the two comic
characters diminishes towards the end of the opera, in part because, as
representatives of the lower classes, they are inappropriate to the spiritual
conclusion. The king, the court and Rosalia’s family also disappear, emphasizing
the saint’s break with all things earthly. Of the three levels involved in the drama—
the lower classes, the nobility and the celestial figures—the only character who
interacts with all of them is Rosalia on her journey towards becoming a bride of
Christ. The importance of comic characters speaking in dialect in Provenzale’s
melodrammi sacri has been underlined by Lorenzo Bianconi, who identified in Il
Teodosio (a serious opera by an unknown librettist and composer performed in the
Palazzo Reale during the 1676–77 season) the insertion of an entire scene from La
colomba ferita (the comic ensemble at the end of Act I) as the ‘Tramezzo
secondo’: the characters are called Gianpetro (the Calabrese), Ciccotto (the
Neapolitan) and Consadiglio (the page).66 For that matter, Provenzale’s secular
operas were also the first in Naples to insert comic regional characters, with
‘Sciarra Napolitano’ in Lo schiavo di sua moglie (1671) and ‘Giampietro
Calabrese’ in Stellidaura (1674). It may also have been Provenzale who inserted
‘Spellecchia Napoletano’ in the performance of Cesti’s Orontea in Naples in 1674.
In La colomba ferita (III.10), Scaccia, the Neapolitan, sings an aria that also
appears as a popular reference in Lo schiavo di sua moglie, where it is given to the
similarly comic character, Sciarra (I.18). This last version, which is incomplete, is
probably taken from the first version of La colomba ferita, while the comic
character Giampietro and his colleague Ciccotto also appear in La fenice d’Avila of
1672. All this reveals the close relationship between secular and sacred operas in
Provenzale’s output and, in general, in Neapolitan theatre in the Baroque period.
In terms of its structure, La colomba ferita has a prologue and three acts
(respectively of 9, 11 and 13 scenes). The music includes short instrumental
ritornellos, solo arias almost entirely on a basso ostinato, some twelve duets, two
trios, and occasional ensembles for all the characters, including the large choruses
in Act III. In terms of the arias, Rosalia predominates, with seven solo numbers,
mostly set as passacaglias (over the descending tetrachord, signifying lament). The
other characters have at least one aria each, and most also have a dialogue or a
duet. The Angel-Devil pair is particularly effective, reflecting the longstanding
Neapolitan tradition of having young performers of the conservatoires disguised as
angiolilli. The Devil also appears in a number of disguises in the opera (as a
hunter, a hermit and a peasant). The librettist Castaldo made even more use of
disguise in his next melodramma sacro, La fenice d’Avila, where the Angel
appears as (in order) a pilgrim, a gardener, a moor, a musician and the prophet
Elijah, while the Devil appears as a soldier, a moor, a hermit, a gardener, the
prophet Elisha (Eliseo) and even a maestro di cappella (a fine joke made at the
expense of Provenzale).
If the first part of La colomba ferita shows events in a domestic, family

context—with just the digression of the comic ensemble discussed above—Act II
adopts a more metaphysical tone, focusing on the most human of emotions:
Rosalia overcomes every test for the love of Christ, who appears in the reflection
in the mirror, and the dialogue between Rosalia and Christ becomes a reciprocal
declaration of love. This is the famous ‘mirror scene’ that was used as a metaphor
by the preachers of Palermo who commented upon the Rosalia story:
Cristo: Vedi a che m’hai ridotto, anima vacillante [...]

Ch’impazzisco d’amor, moro per te.
Rosalia: Crucifisso amor mio.
The skilful rhetorical juxtaposition of ‘amor, moro’, and also the use of the verb
‘impazzisco’, which reminds one of the ‘impazzito è il nostro re’ in the cantata Sui
palchi delle stelle, suggests that Castaldo may also have been the author of the
anonymous text of this cantata and, indeed, of other works set by Provenzale, such
as the Dialogo della Passione. When Rosalia, as a gift to her Celestial Husband,
cuts her hair (providing the second climax in the opera, the ‘scena delle forbici’),67
Provenzale writes a delightful aria for Rosalia’s mother, to a Baroque text
describing the ‘ferro dorato’, i.e., the scissors guilty of removing her daughter’s
tresses. Matters then come more down to earth as Rosalia is slapped by her mother
and runs away from home. As a whole, Act II unfolds by way of a paratactic
process typical of the classical theatre, in which each character introduces another
one with whom to converse (or to sing with in duet):
Rosalia [mirror scene]

Ļ
Antonia (duet) Aria [hair-cutting scene]
Ļ
Madre (duet) Arioso/Aria
Ļ
Sinibaldo (hearing) Arioso/Aria
Ļ
Balduino (hearing) Arioso/Aria
The end of Act II focuses primarily on the love between Rosalia and Christ: ‘She
fell in love with Jesus’ (‘Di Gesù s’innamorò’), says Rosalia’s mother; ‘If God is
her lover, I have the sky as my rival’ (‘Se è Dio l’amante, ho per rivale il cielo’),
says Balduino, her mortal suitor. The love intrigue is resolved in Act III scene 5,
where Rosalia, dressed as a pilgrim, encounters Christ surrounded by angels in a
grotto. The dramatic turn of events prompts a fit of jealousy on the part of the
Virgin Mary (similar to the angel’s reaction in Provenzale’s cantata Sui palchi
delle stelle), with Christ forced to make excuses for his love for Rosalia, leading to
a reconciliation by means of a mystic marriage at the end of the scene, followed by
a choir of ‘volanti amorini’ (the usual putti students in the conservatoire) who sing
‘Jesus has got married to Rosalia!’ (‘s’è sposato Gesù con Rosalia!’). This is the
most significant scene in Act III and, indeed, of the whole opera. Rosalia’s
entrance into the grotto is marked by three elegant, typically Baroque, settenari:
che lampi, che faville what flashes of lightning, what sparkles

con lucidi riflessi with bright refections
m’abbaglian le pupille? dazzle my eyes?
There follows an elaborate quartet for two angels (S, S), the Virgin Mary (A) and
Christ (T), in G major with French dotted rhythms. After the invitation to Rosalia
by the Blessed Virgin—with a play on words with Rosalia’s earthly mother, also
called Maria
Entra nobil Colomba Come in noble dove

entra al tuo nido fatale … come in to your fatal nest ....
e Maria per Maria lasciar si può and you can leave Maria for Maria.
—the quartet resumes divided into two groups, with instruments, leading to a
weighty conclusion in C major and then resuming in the same key with the
addition of violins to reflect the images of the text: ‘sferzate le corde / battete le
cetre’ (Ex. 4.14).
The final scenes of the opera focus on the celestial characters, with a virtuoso
aria for Christ and a duet with his mother, concluding with a tender arioso for the
dying Rosalia:68
Scrivi con penne d’or, o Serafino,

l’ultima volontà di Rosalia:
lascio il cor a Gesù, l’alma69 a Maria.
The handling both of the plot and of the music is more complex and elaborate.
There are also other interesting features in the score that are worthy of note. The
highly expressive instrumental ritornellos offer rare examples of instrumental
writing in Naples in this period. No less significant are the stylistic references to
Roman arias and cantatas of the first half of the century, in particular by Luigi
Rossi (see for example Rosalia’s aria in III.8).
There are also late echoes of Monteverdi’s operas, mixed with examples of the
motet style and of the arioso technique drawing upon that of the period of Giovan
Maria Sabino. The bulk of the arias in La colomba ferita, as with Provenzale’s two
surviving secular operas, are built on ground basses, typical of the mid-seventeenth
century, but Provenzale in particular seems to follow the Roman model of Luigi
Rossi, rather than the Venetian one: see the abundance of passacaglia patterns and
lament formulae. But the landscape of stylistic influences emerging in this score is
more complicated. The music for the earthly characters, in particular Rosalia’s
family, focuses instead on the canzonetta.
Ex. 4.14 Francesco Provenzale, La colomba ferita (MS in I-Nc), Act III, scene 6
Elsewhere, however, we find more archaic features, like explicit madrigalisms to

paint significant words—‘imparate a volare’ (‘learn to fly’) in the duet for the
Angel and the Devil in Act I, scene 7; ‘He is a serpent to my heart which burns and
tempts’ (‘è serpente al mio cor arde ed alletta’) in Rosalia’s aria Act I, scene 3:
Ex. 4.15 (a) Francesco Provenzale, La colomba ferita (MS in I-Nc), Act I, scene 7
Ex. 4.15 (b) Francesco Provenzale, La colomba ferita (MS in I-Nc), Act I, scene 3
There are also numerous examples of chromaticism and modulatory sequences.

Provenzale’s compositional technique seems to favour the contrapuntal elaboration
of dense, complex material.
As for the only other melodramma sacro known for sure to have been written by
Provenzale, La fenice d’Avila (1672), we have only the libretto and not the score.
The libretto shares a number of structural and other similarities with La colomba
ferita, but as for the music, it is more or less impossible to tell whether it employed
the same heterogeneous elements and thus whether this mixed style is unique to La
colomba ferita or is also typical of Provenzale’s other works of this period. But
whatever the case, it is clear that La colomba ferita is the most successful of
Provenzale’s surviving theatrical works, worthy of comparison with the best
products of the Italian generation of his time (composers such as Cesti, Cavalli and
Legrenzi). In the dedication of the libretto of La colomba ferita, printed in 1672
(probably for a performance in the ‘Convento di Santa Maria di Donnaregina
Vecchia’ and dedicated to the nun Isabella Caracciolo of the Duchi di Martina),70
Castaldo wrote:
Friends, do not let yourselves look at my Colomba wounded at half flight: pity her,
defend her, it is enough to see her with an arrow in her side; do not exacerbate her
wounds with new blows. I took my zither and sang to her wounds, and a string broke
either out of pity or out of weakness. Maybe I had the fortune of Eumonio, who in the
absence of sound compensated with the harmony of a cicada, while Signor Francesco
Provenzale, the maestro di cappella, famous not least for instructing the accomplished
pupils of the Conservatorio di S. Maria di Loreto, but also for sweetening the sourness of
these verses and animating the words, he gave them spirit through melody, knew how to
season the insipidness of my accents with the salt of his harmony, thus bearing witness to
the poverty of the material being enriched by the skill of his work.
In La fenice d’Avila (also 1672), Castaldo repeats his excusatio:71
Friend and reader. If my PHOENIX FROM AVILA did not have the fortune of being
crowned by the coveted laurels of martyrdom, you should not alter the decrees of the sky
by martyring her with the stings of a sharp tongue; be happy with the purity of her lilies
and appreciate the fragrance with a benevolent glance: do not mind the sourness of my
style, but adapt to the harshness of a lonely Amazon. Rather it was sweetened by the
music composed by Signor Francesco Provenzale, maestro di cappella of the Regal
Conservatorio di Loreto, tempering my rigours with the art of melody and emphasizing
more clearly the concert with the help of Signor Oratio da Fermo, because a simple
reading will not enable you to enjoy either the actions or the melody, so dress it up with
the courteous garment of your kindness and live happily.
Here Castaldo seems to anticipate the ironic comments on criticisms made of

theatrical performances in the Teatro S. Bartolomeo, given in the anonymous text
of the prologue preceding Boerio’s Disperato innocente of 1673 (see Chapter 5):72
e lloco sentarraie
da ste lengue satire
Che taglia lo ferraiolo
à chi ’nce recita
E n’haverrà pe’ premio
(s’io non songo profeta)
Na sarma de vernacchie
Lo masto de’ cappella ò lo poeta
…
Quanta ne sentarimmo
Da stì sputa sententie
Che stanno apparecchiate
à farence le smorfie e le descate
perzò buono me pare
primma d’accomenzare
De farence la scusa
Co’ chesta bella audienza come s’usa.
As for the next sacred opera composed by Castaldo and Provenzale in 1672, La
fenice d’Avila, we have fewer sources, and as we have seen, the score is lost. We
do, however, have several librettos, including one for the première (in the
Conservatorio di Loreto on 6 November 1672) and for the revivals in 1689 and
1695.73 This work thus seems to have been no less successful than La colomba
ferita, last performed in 1696. We have some documentary evidence to suggest that
La fenice d’Avila was also perfomed in 1673 or 1674.74 On 29 January 1673, the
directors of the Conservatorio di Loreto, perhaps concerned over Provenzale’s
likely move to the Conservatorio dei Turchini, decided that:75 ‘The maestro di
cappella must deliver the Opera di S. Teresa and the Padre Rettore must send one
of the boys to collect the said work’. We have no information about the 1689
performance, while the 1695 revival was held on the occasion of the visit to Naples
of Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni, ‘vice cancelliere di Santa Chiesa’, and the dedication
of the libretto signed by its printers, Parrino and Mutii, describes the large number
of popular festivities organized in the city, in spite of the rain.76
The ‘opera in musica’ performed in Capri on 4 October 1674 by the figlioli of
Loreto may have been a revival of La fenice d’Avila because of a family
connection Provenzale had with the Carmelite order of nuns founded by Madre
Serafina di Dio. Provenzale’s daughter, Anna Maria, entered the Monastero di S.
Teresa in Massalubrense, founded in 1673 (the first convent of the order had been
founded by Serafina in Capri in 1667). The order adopted the rules of S. Teresa of
Avila, and Serafina emulated the Spanish saint’s model of life. It would be
plausible to associate Provenzale’s choice of the opera sacra written in 1672, just
one year before the foundation of the Monastero di Massalubrense, to the personal
experience of his daughter, now a nun.
More than that of La colomba ferita, the plot of La fenice is in fact structured
along the typical lines of the comedia de santos, celebrating the life of the Spanish
S. Teresa of Avila. The prologue is somewhat unusual in that it is performed by a
‘Choro di Demoni’, Plutone, Asmodeo and Astarot. The other characters are:
Teresa
Rodrigo Alonzo (Teresa and Rodrigo’s father)
Ernando
Lidora
Consadiglio (‘Paggio’ in the service of Ernando)
Ciccotto Napoletano
Giampetro Calabrese
Angelo ‘da Pellegrino, da Torriero, da Moro, da Musico, da Eliseo’
Demonio ‘da Soldato, da Moro, da Eremita, da Giardiniero, da Maestro di Cappella,
da Elia’
Choro di Angioli
The action, inevitably, ‘si finge nella Città di Avila’, and the Spanish setting
justifies the Castilian name given to the servant, instead of Eurillo as in La
colomba ferita and similar to Armillo in Stellidaura.
(Act I) Ciccotto, a Neapolitan, seeks to console his patron, Don Alonzo, whose two
children, Rodrigo and Teresa, have left home to take holy vows. Giampetro ‘Calabrese’
enters with two lamps and tries to explain why he has not found the two young people.
He starts to argue with his companion Ciccotto. There follows a lament, in part tragic (for
Alonzo), in part comic (the two comic characters). Forced to renew their search over the
length and breadth of the kingdom, the two servants find the fugitives; they speak the
language of bird-hunters (as in La colomba ferita). In the finale the two comic characters
are chased off the stage by the enraged Devil.
(Act II) Still suffering from their meeting with the Devil, the two servants continue their
comic dialogue, full of references to La colomba ferita (‘cuccopinto’, etc.). The page
Consadiglio enters to announce Teresa’s wedding: this leads to a tarantella scene very
similar to the ensemble at the end of Act I in La colomba ferita.
(Act III) With the ballo ended, the three servants remain on stage, joined by Lidora, who
speaks a language halfway between Castilian and Neapolitan. Ciccotto laments in the
garden, complaining of his misfortunes since leaving Naples for Spain. He envies the
Calabrese, who has become maestro di cappella, in an attempt to cheer up Teresa, who
has fallen ill. The conclusion is inevitable: everyone accepts the young couple’s decision
to take holy vows for the love of God, and the angels claim victory over the devils to
general rejoicing.
As is usual with the librettist Castaldo, music appears explicitly on the stage, and
there is also a comic reference to Provenzale. In Act III, scene 12, Ciccotto says to
the Calabrese:
Ciccotto: Io ccà faccio scopiglia,

e tu si fatto masto de cappiglia.
Gianpetro: Vutai tutta Castiglia,
mù trovu ni diavuli di musica,
pri fa na sirinata a Donna Tirisiglia,
ch’è malata.
Also, in the tarantella scene (II.16; taken over as the ‘Tramezzo primo’ in
Teodosio in 1676) various musical instruments and popular arias are mentioned.
A series of structural similarities between this libretto and Castaldo’s La vittoria
fuggitiva, first set to music by Francesco Marinelli in 1653, prompt me to suggest
that the revival of La vittoria fuggitiva in 1672 somehow involved revisions by
Provenzale (although the character Sciarra, with the same name as the gardener in
Provenzale’s Lo schiavo di sua moglie, appeared in the 1653 version). In the 1672
production of La vittoria fuggitiva, the Neapolitan character is called Macchione
and is dressed as a fisherman, and his interlocutor is Drosilla. Again we find the
word ‘cuccopinto’ (I.7), and after having played the stutterer, Macchione asks the
girl, ‘Drosilla sì, nge vuoi no calascione?’ (III.11), evoking the ‘teorbia à taccone’
(an other name for the Neapolitan calascione) in La colomba ferita (I.8). The first
scene in Act III also contains far more obvious references to La colomba ferita and
its ‘tramezzi’:
Macchione: Haggio trovato cchà sto Calascione,

Oh sapesse no paro de canzone
…
Questo non vò sonare, e mo lo scasso
…
Drosilla: Ferma, che fai?
Macchione: Sonate vossorìa.
Drosilla: Piano col tuo malanno
Macchione: Lo sonare de mastro è pizzecando

Siegue il Ballo de Mori. [Drosilla plays the pandora, and sings:]
Drosilla: Chi mi sente cantar, né vede il core,
invidia la mia stella
The last lines are clearly borrowed from an old villanella,77 with a similar
function to those cited in La colomba ferita. At various points we also find a
‘Choro de Corsari’, and we also find other references to musical instruments, as
with ‘Silvano con sampogna’, ‘Terminello con fischietto’ and ‘Macchione con
tamburro’.
We know about four performances (between 28 October and 26 November 1679)
of a further sacred opera, La vita di Santa Rosa, thanks to the Giornali by Fuidoro
(1934–39, I, 1679). It probably dates back to an elaboration of a spoken drama
written in 1671 by the Dominican Francesco Zacconi to coincide with the
Neapolitan celebrations for the recent canonization of S. Rosa da Lima. The text of
the 1679 libretto was rewritten by Giuseppe Castaldo, and the music may have
been written by Provenzale. No printed libretto survives, but a manuscript copy of
Castaldo’s text was known to Benedetto Croce, who published the entire ‘scena dei
giochi’, a scene to which the Archbishop of Naples had taken such exception in
1671.78
In 1675 Provenzale finally left the Conservatorio di Loreto. This marked the end
of his involvement in the production of melodrammi sacri.
Notes
1
Dietz 1987b, 519–20. According to this author, the Missa defunctorum ‘is devoid of
any operatic influence. It reflects a conscious effort of the composer to create a balance
between liturgical function and purely musical considerations’.
2
With the inscription: ‘Provenzale / Messa de Morti a 4 voci C.A.T.B.’.
3
With the inscription: ‘Provenzale / Messa a 4 Voci C.A.T.B.’. The part is in the F4 clef,
suggesting that ‘viola’ means ‘violoncello’. On this instrument see Bonta 1986 and
Bonta 1990.
4
With the inscription: ‘Messa de Morti a 5. Provenzale’. It is the only fascicle in a
different hand and on a different paper (watermarks are not legible).
5
The fleurs-de-lys ‘are the most numerous marks’ (50 out of c.200) in the surviving
manuscript compositions by Nicola Fago, one of Provenzale’s pupils. See Shearon
1993, II, 923–58.
6
J. W. Pruett, ‘Requiem Mass’, New Grove 1980, XV, 754. On the Neapolitan model,
see Roeckle 1978.
7
No Neapolitan Requiem before Jommelli is listed in the new article ‘Requiem Mass’ in
New Grove 2001, XXI, 205–06.
8
Shearon 1993, II, 699–706, with a full description of each part of the Requiem,
including musical incipits. The autograph is preserved in D-Bds Mus. MS autograph
Fago N2, 38 f.: Messa de Morti a 5 con Ripieni, e Stromenti.
9
See Prota-Giurleo 1958a, 58.
10
See Chapter 2 and Larson and Pompilio 1983.
11
On this event, and on Rubino’s Salmi varii, see Ficola 1985 and Ficola 1994. The only
surviving copy of the Salmi varii has been found in Malta, Medina Cathedral Archive,
and published in modern ed. by G. Collisani and D. Ficola (Florence, 1996), ‘Musiche
Rinascimentali Siciliane’, XVI.
12
The eighteenth-century tradition of setting a single psalm as a full composition takes
off precisely in this period.
13
(17 March 1672) ‘To Francesco Provenzale D.60. And on his behalf to Father Gio.
Tomaso Vergali, that is D.30 for half a year ending on 4 May 1671 and an additional
D.40 for the year ending on 4 May 1672 with a statement that that he is satisfied with
the past payment. And for one year’s rental of an apartment located at the Gerolomini
at D.40 per year’ (‘A Francesco Provenzale D.60. E per lui a Padre Gio. Tomaso
Vergali, cioè D. 30 per mezz’annata finita a 4 maggio 1671 e l’ alteri D. 40 per
l’annata finita a 4 maggio 1672 con dichiarazione che resta sodisfatto del passato. E
sono per l’annata di piggione d’un appartamento sito ai Gerolomini a D. 40 l’anno’):
ASBN, P., 649; (13 September 1674) ‘To Francesco Provenzale D.20. And on his
behalf to Father Gio. Batta Rossi representative of the Padri Gerormini for half a year’s
rental ending in July 1674 of an apartment located at the same Gerormini at D.40 per
year’ (‘A Francesco Provenzale D.20. E per lui al padre Gio. Batta Rossi procuratore
delli Padri Gerormini et sono per la mezza annata di un appartamento sito alli
medesimi Gerormini fenita a luglio 1674 a D. 40 l’anno’): ASBN, S.S., 195.
14
See Fabris 1993a, 345–46.
15
The main study on this practice in the period is still Moore 1981. Compare here the
content of Cavalli’s Vesperi a otto voci (Venice, Gardano, 1675).
16
For the substitute antiphons see the Antifonario, & Innario piccolo secundum morae S.
R. Ecclesiae edited, for the Neapolitan Curia, by Matteo dello Schiavo (Naples, 1684).
17
This is established by the practice of the day and in particular by eighteenth-century
liturgical manuscripts in the Biblioteca Oratoriana Napoli (I wish to thank the Director,
Padre Giovanni Ferrara, for this information).
18
Fabris 1993a, 346.
19
The manuscript was catalogued before 1980 as S.M. 364.4, but there is no longer any
trace of it. The microfilm owned by Hanns-Berthold Dietz was kindly given to both
Antonio Florio and me.
20
Dietz 1987b, 514.
21
The manuscript was catalogued before 1980 as S.M. 51.8, but is now lost. The microfilm
owned by Hanns-Berthold Dietz was kindly given to both Antonio Florio and me.
22
Nola was born in Naples in 1642, son of Tomaso Nola and Laura Rossa (Di Giacomo
1924, 207). On June 1670 he left the Conservatorio dei Turchini to keep his post as
maestro at S. Gennaro (‘è andato a servire per mastro a S. Gennaro’): probably not the
Tesoro di S. Gennaro (where his name is not mentioned by Di Giacomo 1920). In 1674
he started a massive collection of sacred music copied for the needs of the Oratorio,
Raccolta di composizioni per l’esercizio della Chiesa dei Filippini, of which few
volumes are surviving. More than 100 manuscripts (for the most part autographs) by
Nola survive in I-Nf, including several psalms, one dated 1701, after which date his
activity apparently ceased.
23
Dietz 1987b, 515–18 (in addition to the Magnificat, Dietz describes Nola’s Messa a 4
voci et a cinque si placet con violini, dated 1674).
24
A modern transcription in score also exists (in the hand of Salvatore Di Giacomo),
included with the original MS, dated 1916 and for the most part wrong. The
seventeenth-century copy (in the hand of Gaetano Veneziano) is limited to the
partbooks.
25
The piece appears in a miscellaneous MS bought on the antiquarian market by Roberto De
Simone and Antonio Florio and presented to the library of the Conservatorio di S. Pietro a
Majella, Naples (not yet catalogued). I am grateful to Antonio Florio for giving me a copy of
the manuscript and for his first attribution to Provenzale of Exulta jubila. The anthology was
in part written around 1713 by Felix Benedictus de Massis, a Neapolitan ‘doctor’ and a
music-lover responsible also for the copying of some manuscript books of Neapolitan
cantatas today in F-Pn. In a prominently eighteenth-century content, three anonymous
sacred pieces are preserved in a seventeenth-century hand: Exulta jubila, Peno in flamma
(another solo-voice motet), and a Magnificat a 4 voci con violini.
26
The Director of the Girolamini library in Naples, Giovanni Ferrara, has noted that O
Maria may not be a new motet (this incipit does not exist in the known Latin
repertory), but simply the last strophe of the other motet, Quo fugiam, that is, starting
with the words ‘O Maria’.
27
I-Nf AMCO 432.2 (See Di Giacomo 1918, 78).
28
The genre was inaugurated with the edition of Giovan Maria Trabaci’s Passiones
(Naples, Beltrano, 1634), followed by Gregorio Strozzi’s Responsoria ... et Evangelia
Passionis, quae ad Musicam in Hebdomada Sancta spectant, 4 voces cum organum, op.
I (Rome, Balmonti, 1655).
29
The similarities between the two scores also extend to the number of folios, thirty-two
for the first Passione and thirty-nine for the second, and the dimensions of the books:
285 x 220 mm. (I) as compared with 290 x 223 mm. (II).
30
Olivieri 1999, 730. No other ‘Vito’ appears to have been admitted to the Conservatorio
della Pietà during the years 1677–90. In Di Giacomo 1924, 214, reference is made to
the admission of ‘Vito Corona di Baranello’ to the same Conservatorio in 1663
(probably too early).
31
Croce 1891; Cafiero and Marino 1987.
32
Noske 1992.
33
In I-Nc MS 1321, under the name of Fabio Costantini, there is a series of two-voice
pieces, including a Dialogo Anima e Christo; see Fabris 1981, 410–11. This is
reminiscent of Anerio’s Teatro armonico (Rome, 1619), in which fourteen spiritual
madrigals are headed ‘dialogo’. Anerio was one of the founders and supporters of the
Neapolitan Oratorio dei Girolamini.
34
Smither 1977, Chapter 3.
35
As for the two-voice archaic form, we should also quote Pagano’s contemporary
Giuseppe Vignola, who wrote a single Dialogo per Soprano e Contralto (MS in I-Nf;
listed in Di Giacomo 1918, 97).
36
‘Fra le altre cose degne fu … un catafalco con molti cori di angeli … E, finito il canto
de’ primi, si vide aprire come una nube, da dove calarono altri angeli similmente
cantando e suonando. E, discesi quelli e continuando la loro armonia, si videro inalzare
nella nube i primi angeli che avevano cantato’: Diurnali di Scipione Guerra (1624), f.
81v (Guerra 1891).
37
‘Se mandò mezza paranza con 10 angeli al Castello Nuovo’: Pozzi 1987, 636.
38
Pozzi 1987, 636, where a contemporary report on the Battaglino procession, by Teofilo
Testa da Nola (Serafici Fragmenti), is also quoted: ‘The triumphal float ... on top of
which one can see the Immaculate Virgin surrounded by more choruses of musicians
dressed as angels, who imitate angelic choruses praising the Queen of the heavens with
various musical instruments’ (‘Carro trionfale … nella cui sommità si guarda la
Vergine immacolata, circondata da più cori di musici in forma angelica vestiti, che con
vari istrumenti musicali imitano i cori angelici in lodare la Regina de cieli’).
39
Di Giacomo 1924, 68 ff. See here also the Lista delle Veste delli angiolilli.
40
These are the titles of Arianiello’s pieces in I-Nc MS A 89: (1) Il SS.mo Crucifisso,
Angelo e Peccatore. Cantata. Arianiello Giuseppe. Supplica al Santo Amore. Cantata
(S1 and S2, 2 vln and continuo), ff. 1–26; (2) Sui palchi delle stelle (T, 2 vln, bc), ff.
27–31; (3) Supplica al Santo Amore (S, 2 vln, continuo), ff. 32–39, 41–49. Arianiello
does not appear in any known list of students in Neapolitan conservatoires, and it is not
impossible that the manuscript refers only to the author of the text (one Giuseppe
d’Ariano wrote a religious book, Rosario fiorito, Naples, 1639, posthumous repr.
1642). The manuscript A 89, 1 is quoted as the source of secular cantatas (following
those by Arianiello come cantatas by Aldovrandini, Bencini, Caldara and Cesarini) in
Brandenburg 1991, 50.
41
The entire manuscript is described in Amato 1998, II, no. 4.60. The watermarks are the
typical Neapolitan ‘quadrupede’ inscribed in a circle with the letter P, and a lamb with
a flag inscribed in a double circle with the letter A. In the same volume, written out by
a single copyist, there are also secular cantatas by Giovan Cesare Netti, Antonio Farina,
Lorenzo Minei (Amato reads ‘Menini’), Orazio Fagilla and the only secular cantata
attributed to Giovan Maria Sabino: L’aspettar è pur dolce.
42
On the appearance of Cristofaro and his brother Andrea Caresana in Cavalli’s Calisto
and Eritrea, see Glixon and Glixon 1992, 59.
43
‘GIOCO DE’ TORI, acciò in quel combattimento si accendessero gli animi de’ suoi
campioni alla guerra ... Quindi l’eccellentissimo signor vicerè ... volle con questa
pompa di tori rassomigliar le feste di Napoli alle feste di Spagna’: Cirino 1659.
44
See Cosi 1999.
45
‘Troverai varie frascherie, corrispondenti al tempo, che corre, Balletti, Arie, Tarantelle
e simili, bastanti a sodisfare il genio depravato di questo secolo. Io sono così alieno
dalle medesime che se queste fossero atte a’ sentirsi fuori delle Scuole e delle
Cammere, non m’haverei mai applicato a scriverle, in oltre che, non havendole prese,
che per soggetto (come hanno fatto Autori gravi) potrai scusare il trascorso della penna,
sapendo molto bene, che simili frottollerie, che corrono hoggi su le carte musicali, sono
più capaci di derisione, che d’applauso. Sono però accompagnatte da gravi, e sostenuti,
perché nella varietà habbi campo di sodisfarti’: Duo di Cristoforo Caresana (Naples,
De Bonis, 1693), preface.
46
L’amante impazzito con altre cantate, e serenate a solo, & a due con violini del sig.r D.
Simone Coya della cità di Gravina del Regno di Napoli opera prima (Milan, Camagni,
1679), p. 24 (‘Si canta la Tarantella’); p. 34 (‘Si canta la Pastorale’); and sections for
the ‘Pugliese’, la ‘Carrese’, etc.
47
See De Martino 1961, De Simone 1992, Cosi 1999. Less useful is the article by E.
Schwandt, ‘Tarantella’, New Grove 2001, XXV, 96–97.
48
See Fabris 2003a.
49
No answer is given in the article, based on a large sample, by Cafiero and Marino 1987.
On the Roman model of oratorio cf. Smither 1977.
50
Croce 1891 (19163), 108.
51
‘Fu fatto il teatro alla chiesa del Gesù Nuovo per le Quarant’ore di questi tre ultimi
giorni di Carnevale, senza lumi di cera ma tutti d’olio; e fu la prima volta che detti
padri intieramente lo fecero in questo modo all’uso delle loro chiese di Roma. Il
mistero fu La sommersione di Faraone nel mar rosso’: Fuidoro, Giornali, I, 1664.
52
De Lellis 1654, 120; quoted also in Salvetti 1983, 208.
53
Attributed by Croce 1891 (19163), 83 to ‘Giovan Francesco del Gesù detto Apa,
sacerdote dei chierici regolari poveri della Madre di Dio delle scuole pie’, and to
Andrea Marino by Florimo 1880–82, II, 39. See Salvetti 1983, 208.
54
‘Rappresentata in Palazzo la tragedia del Martirio di San Gennaro in musica dalli
figlioli del Conservatorio di Santa Maria di Loreto’: Fuidoro 1934–39, I (1664); see
55
This notice reached Fétis through Villarosa 1840, 175, who quotes as works composed
by Provenzale only the Colomba ferita and ‘la Genoviefa—l’infedeltà abbattuta in
Assisi’. The primary source for Villarosa was Sigismondo’s Apoteosi (1820). The two
titles may refer not to oratori but to drammi sacri. A Genoviefa was performed in
Naples in 1666 (La Genoviefa, o vero Il tradimento svelato, text by Anselmo Sansone),
produced again in Palermo, first in 1667 and then, ten years later, in 1677. Several
Neapolitan operas include ‘Infedeltà’ as a subtitle, like Scarlatti’s Rosmene overo
L’infedeltà fedele (Naples, 1688, libretto by De Totis). As late as 1712, the figlioli
Turchini produced ‘un’Opera in S. Chiara, intitolata: L’infedeltà abbattuta, composta
dall’Abbate Gaetano Maggio, e posta in Musica da Lionardo Leo, Alunno di detta Real
Casa’ (Griffin 1991, no. 261, 61). On Leo’s Genoviefa see Magaudda 2003.
56
Prota-Giurleo 1958a, 56–57, 74–75, records a contract in which Giambattista Magno,
called ‘il Modanino’, is charged to provide by 15 May 1663 all the scenery for the
‘Opera rappresentanda in Musica della tragedia et Martirio del Glorioso San Gennaro’
for the sum of 115 ducats.
57
The anonymous and undated score, preserved in I-Nc Sala Riviste, Sc.35, corn.20 (olim
21.4.20) under the title S. Rosalia? Oratorio per voci e strumenti (frontispiece missing)
was identified by Pietro Andrisani and Domenico Antonio D’Alessandro. It had its first
modern performance in Naples on 6 May 1987 by the Cappella della Pietà dei Turchini
conducted by Antonio Florio (and in 1991 at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo). In fact,
the presence of the manuscript had been clearly indicated in the catalogue of the
Conservatorio della Pietà dei Turchini since 1801: Indice di tutti i libri 1801, 24.
58
‘Dottor’ Giuseppe Castaldo, ‘Eletto del Popolo della Fidelissima Città’, was one of the
protagonists of the cultural and literary Neapolitan milieu during the second half of the
seventeenth century. His first theatrical text is La Sirena (1648), followed by other
titles connected to the emblem of the city: Il trionfo di Partenope liberata (1649), Il
trionfo della pace (1658), Scherzi armoniosi (1661), Le gare d’eroi (1669), Gli ossequi
di Partenope (1673). The religious works are for the most part Christmas cantatas and
melodrammi sacri: La notte armoniosa (1650), La vittoria fuggitiva (1654), La
principessa d’Irlanda (1664), Il trionfo del martirio di Santa Timpna (1664), La
colomba ferita (1670), La fenice d’Avila (1672), La pia contesa (1673), La Teodora
pentita and La notte sagra (1680). See F. Castaldo, Un decennio di spettacolarità nella
Napoli barocca. 1669–1680, doctoral thesis (Università di Salerno, 1996).
59
(26 August 1674) ‘Esatti d’Antonio Sairubbo esattore per caparra di D.40—per l’opera
in Musica di Santa Rosalia da farsi in Aversa 369 —D.8’: I-Nc, Loreto, 14, Libro
Maggiore: 1668–78, ff. 296 ff.; (4 October 1674) ‘Esatti da Antonio Sairubbo esattore
dalli padri Gelormini per l’opera in musica fatta in Crapa da nostri figlioli 375 —
D.24’: I-Nc, Loreto, 14, Libro Maggiore: 1668–78, f. 365.
60
On these sources (including Giordano Cascini, Di Santa Rosalia Vergine Palermitana
(Palermo, Cirilli, 1651)), see Petrarca 1986 and Petrarca 1988.
61
On Felice Lanzino Ulloa and his family’s connection to the viceregal court in Naples
cf. Galasso 1982b, I, 55, 71, 124, 136, 149, 169–73 and passim.
62
Posthumous ed. in Salazar’s Citara de Apolo (Madrid, Antonio Gonzáles de Reyes, 1694),
92–104. This comedy is described and commented upon in Borrego Gutiérrez 2001, 31–62.
63
For the list of performers see Borrego Gutiérrez 2001, 39. Also, one of the singer-
actresses, Antonia del Pozo, may have had Italian origins.
64
Borrego Gutiérrez 2001, 40.
65
The voices are Cupido (S), Amor Divino (A), Penitenza (S) and Perseveranza (T).
66
Bianconi 1979, 21. Robinson 1972a had already demonstrated the importance of comic
scenes in this repertory. In the libretto I have consulted (I-Bu), the ‘Tramezzo primo’
involves the same personages and ends with a popular tarantella taken entirely from La
fenice d’Avila (II.1), as we shall see.
67
From an anthropological point of view, it is quite remarkable that two common objects
are exploited to effect the passage of Rosalia to the metaphysical level. The mirror and the
scissors are also present repeatedly in Basile’s Cunto delli cunti with a magic function.
68
This text is also reminiscent of Sui palchi delle stelle, thus favouring its attribution to
Castaldo.
69
In the MS: ‘l’anima a Maria’.
70
‘Amici, non permettete di vedere questa mia Colomba a mezzo volo ferita: compatitela,
difendetela, basti vederla con la saetta al fianco; non disasperate le sue piaghe con
nuovi colpi. Presi la cetra a cantar le sue ferite, e non so se per pietà o per debolezza mi
si spezzò una corda. Pure hebbi la fortuna di Eumonio che supplisse alla mancanza del
suono l’armonia di una cicala, mentre il signor Francesco Provenzale famoso maestro
di cappella non meno per istruire i virtuosi allievi del Conservatorio di S. Maria di
Loreto che per raddolcire l’asprezza delle mie note, animando le parole gli dié spirito
con la melodia, ha saputo ben condire col sale dei suoi concenti la sciapitezza degli
accenti, vedendosi arricchita la povertà della materia dall’artificio del lavoro’. It is
quite interesting to note that the convent of Donnaregina was considered a place of
secular and even scandalous events during the seventeenth century. One episode
concerns two nuns, members of the same family of the Archbishop Caracciolo, ‘who
offered a most sumptuous dinner to ladies and noblemen with the appearance of
numerous charlatans, among whom was a scandalous woman dressed in men’s clothes,
who entertained the diners with games, songs and music’ (‘offrirono un lautissimo
desinare a dame e cavalieri con l’intervento di numerosi ciarlatani, fra cui una donna
scandalosa in abiti maschili, che con giochi canti e musiche intrattennero i
commensali’) (Napoli itinerari armonici 1998, 32. Here is cited also the ‘monacazione
della figliola del duca di Martina che giunse al soglio spirituale al braccio del vicerè’).
The few documents existing on music in the Franciscan Convent of Donnaromita refer
to the year 1684: ‘Spesa per il Corpus Domini’ (‘per la flotta’, i.e., for the
conservatoire’s students and ‘per l’organista’) and ‘Per la Festa di S. Francesco’
(Gruppo di Lavoro di Ca’ Foscari, unpublished research).
71
‘Amico lettore. Se non hebbe fortuna questa mia FENICE d’AVILA coronarsi delle
ambite palme del martirio, non devi alterando i decreti del cielo martirizzarla con gli
aculei d’un affilata lingua; contentati sù la schettezza de suoi gigli accomodar la
fragranza d’un benevolo sguardo: non curarti dell’asprezza del mio stile, adattando ai
rigori d’un’Amazone romita. Fu bensì raddolcito dalle musiche note del signor
Francesco Provenzale, maestro di cappella del Regal Conservatorio di Loreto,
temprando con l’arte della melodia le mie riggidezze, spiccando maggiormente il
concerto con l’assistenza del signor Oratio da Fermo, e perché la nuda lettura non potrà
farti godere né de gesti, né della melodia, vestila con la cortese spoglia della tua
gentilezza e vivi felice’.
72
This is a translation from the original Neapolitan: ‘And you will hear a satyric tongue
cutting the robe of whoever is reciting, and who will receive, in first place, a homage of
raspberries (if I am not a prophet) the maestro di cappella or the poet? Just wait and see
how much we will hear from these wiseacres who are getting ready to make faces and
whistle: so I think it is a good idea, before we begin, to apologize to this lovely
audience, as is the custom’ (I-Nc, MS 32.3.22, f.7).
73
Documented just through the Neapolitan librettos: in 1689, printed by ‘Francesco
Mollo ad istanza di Francesco Massari’ (copy in I-Rc), and in 1695, printed by Parrino
and Mutio and dedicated to the Cardinal Ottoboni (copy in I-Nn).
74
(14 February 1674) ‘D.10 esatti … In conto della rappresentatione che si è fatta
nell’altare vicino il Spirito Santo il dì della festa de Santi Dominicani’; (30 June 1674)
‘Dal Signor Duca di Fiano per una operetta fatta da nostri figlioli a Santo Nastaso 364
D.20’; (14 July 1674) ‘Per il Banco della Pieta con polisa del signor Duca di Fiano
pagabile al reverendo D. Bartolomeo Bonelli Rettore per una rappresentatione in
musica fatta da nostri figlioli in Santo Anastaso per il tempo che hanno assestito in
detto luoco D.30’: I-Nc Loreto, 14: Libro Maggiore, 1668–78, ff. 296 ff.
75
(29 January 1673) ‘Il maestro di cappella debbia consignare la Opera di S. Teresa et
che il Padre Rettore ne debbia mandare uno de filioli per havere detta opera’: I-Nc
Loreto, 166, f. 85v*.
76
Copy of 1695 libretto consulted in I-Nn 40.A.28.
77
The only piece with a similar incipit is ‘Chi mi sente cantar per certo dice / non è di
quest’ al mondo [or ‘di quest’ Amante’] il più felice / ma lo sa lo mio core / s’io canto
per piacere o per dolore’ found in canzonetta books by Bartolini, Caprioli, Lipparini,
Neriti, Radesca and Scaletta (1595–1606): see Nuovo Vogel 1977.
78
‘Nel 1671 l’arcivescovo, recitandosi la Santa Rosa dello Zacconi, non volle permettere
che ‘si facessero li giochi, che delle volte la santa giocò con nostro Signore, come si
narra nella sua vita’; Croce 19163, 110 f., quoting Fuidoro 1934–39, I (1671).
Castaldo’s text was part of a miscellany of his poetical compositions found by Croce in
the Biblioteca di San Martino (today in I-Nn).
Chapter Five
Provenzale and Opera in Naples
The Beginnings
Cum Phoebi Harmonici canunt

Quo suppressa tacent ora silentio?
…
Alterna fidium choro
Hinc Jesum pueri dum melici sonant,
Illinc latius assonant
Indefessa notis organa musicis
In these sacred Latin verses written in 1699 by the Jesuit Prospero Cappella S.J.
and dedicated to the Neapolitan archbishop, Giacomo Cantelmo, satanic choirs (as
opposed to angelic ones) are called ‘Febi Armonici’.1 The climate of moralizing
bigotry became more oppressive after the death of viceroy Del Carpio, who had
favoured festivals and popular entertainments to an unprecedented extent. In 1685
the humanist and future bishop Pompeo Sarnelli wrote a letter to Abbot Crispini on
the subject of ‘what music should be performed in churches’ (‘quale debba essere
la musica nelle chiese’). In this letter he made comments on a previously published
text by Cardinal Orsini who, basing his arguments on the decrees of the Council of
Trent, condemned with severity the ‘musica teatrale irreligiosamente introdotta
nelle chiese’.2 The reference to the devilish Febi Armonici harks back to 1650,
when, for the first time, a company of comedians and musicians bearing this title
was summoned from Rome by the viceroy, Count Oñate, and was responsible for
the introduction to Naples of operas alla veneziana.3 The experiment was so
successful that during the rest of the seventeenth century all the companies in
Naples that staged operas were called Febi Armonici or simply Armonici. The
presence of scandalous singers and female impresarios, who at the same time were
considered to be prostitutes, led to the identification of these companies with the
devil in the years that followed.
The history of the birth of opera in Naples is well known.4 Viceroy Oñate’s real
intention of introducing musical performances by the Armonici, whom he had met
in Rome when he was there as the Spanish ambassador, was one of propaganda, in
particular to celebrate the victory over Masaniello, with a kind of spectacle as yet
unknown in Naples. The first performance in Naples of a real opera took place in
September 1650 with Didone, ovvero L’incendio di Troia. The composer of the
music is unknown, but the libretto is the same as that of Cavalli’s opera of the same
Provenzale and Opera in Naples 155
title performed in Venice in 1641.5 From then on, the trend in Naples for the next
twenty years would be to import operas from Venice, arranging them to suit local
tastes. After Didone, we find Ergasto or Egisto, again by an unknown composer
(December 1650 – January 1651)6 and then Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di
Poppea (February 1651?), of which a score arranged for Naples still survives.7
The performance of L’incoronazione may have been prompted by the news of the
birth of a child to the Queen of Spain.8 I can add to this already well-documented
performance a further source from Spain, as yet unknown, that shows how
uninterested the court of Madrid was in theatrical news from the Kingdom of Naples:9
Avissos de Nápoles 18 de Febrero [1651] El Virrey da una Comedia de Musica Italiana

nel Comedor de la Pelota que es donde llaman el Corral de los Comediantes. No las
admiten las Damas de buena gana pero no hay otra.
The ‘Comedor de la Pelota’ was in the Parco Reale opposite the Arsenale, and it
was especially restored and embellished with paintings.10 The Avissos de Nápoles
adds new details to the information already known:11
Nel Palacio de Nápoles se ha alargado la Galeria y hecho una possente elaxo del oscuro
hecho un Salon mas grande ala parte del Parque que se ha ruinado … con escalera grande
que queda dar buelta la Salla, una escalera prinzipal de linda arquitectura, qual va al Salon
del Parque, escaleras para el quarto donde estava la familia femenina … dicon llegara a
zien mil ducatos otros que almenos ses ha hecho una vexa de pierro en las frente de
Palacio que adorna mucho pues no la havia mostra cossa que una tablas.
The new theatre in the Palazzo Reale, decorated with portraits of viceroys, was
opened in December 1652; on that occasion Cavalli’s La Veremonda was
performed, with ‘Apparenze di Scene, Machine, e Balli’ by Giovan Battista Balbi.
This is important not just because it marked the Neapolitan début of Balbi, a
famous dancer and stage designer, but also because Cavalli’s opera received its
première in Naples, and would be repeated in Venice in the following January.12
Balbi, who could make use of a space expressly provided with machinery and
equipment, also played a part in the operas performed in the Palazzo in 1653,
including Le magie amorose (an arrangement of Cavalli’s Rosinda with a new text
added by Giulio Cesare Sorrentino) and L’Arianna, the first opera entirely
composed by a local composer (of which only the libretto survives today).13 The
latter was composed by Don Giuseppe di Palma from Nola, a singer in the Real
Cappella since the time of Trabaci (before 1647). A few years after L’Arianna, he
became a deputy of the Congregazione dei Musici Napoletani (1655) and a
governor of the confraternity of S. Cecilia dei Musici della Real Cappella (1656).14
The next opera, the ninth documented in Naples in under four years, marked the
theatrical début of Francesco Provenzale: Il Ciro was set to a text by Giulio Cesare
Sorrentino and also involved Balbi. The latter, in the introduction to the libretto
printed in January 1654 for the Venice revival, testifies that Il Ciro was originally
performed in Naples:15
READER. This play chanced to be born in Naples, and by happy fate came to be used on
the stages of Venice. But when you find yourself reading this, you will realize that it was
not arrayed according to the customs of this city. The difference in usage, both in the
words and in the subject-matter, meant that it was shaped according to a style different
from that of the Venetian inclination, which is most delicate in every sentiment. The
ability and prudence of the author, father of this work, thus gave him the foresight to
regulate it, develop it and diminish it. The virtue of the story has been the focal point for
this application, which although the oratory has professed, nonetheless his efforts are
sometimes recreated in his studies with the entertainment of the Muses. The changes
which he has made in the story are scarcely evident; it is enough that they are approved
and recognized as necessary for following the style of our scenes. Many verses have been
changed, which are not important to describe, but the main concept has been kept as the
original. The other changes are indicated in the margin with the symbol ,, and these are
changes which have been wholly added, as with the Prologue which is the invention of
this subject, already discussed by him with a confidant, and now he has provided the
poetry. Above all, I beg of you on his behalf not to form an idea of him based on these
additions, because I guarantee you that his other occupations and the rush in composing
did not give him the chance to use the phrases and concepts, which he has used in his
other compositions and which he wishes to do according to his own taste and method.
In order to demonstrate the haste in which he composed the work, I need only swear to
you that in only two days he added the third act and wrote the verses as indicated by the
symbol ,, as I mentioned to you previously, and still having varied the order of the
storyline, which is very different from what it was before. However, he protests and
declares that those changes, which were made with the permission of the play’s author,
were done not to improve the work, but rather to alter it according to the custom. The
music, for both all the added verses and those changed, was composed by Signor
Francesco Cavalli, the Apollo of Harmony. I would tell you the exact places where his
music intervenes, but it is enough to listen, for without any other indication you will
recognize it by the experience of its exquisiteness. Live happily.
The composer of the original music is not mentioned (only the poet Sorrentino is
cited), but Provenzale, in the libretto of his Theseo (Naples, 1658), claimed that he
had already set three operas to music in Naples in previous years: Il Ciro, Xerse
and Artemisia. The simple fact that the famous Cavalli agreed to adapt a score by a
Neapolitan débutant (Provenzale was under thirty years old) for the Venetian stage
suggests that he must have known his young colleague. It is probable that Cavalli
himself decided to give Provenzale the task of adapting his Venetian operas for
Naples. Balbi (perhaps the author of the new text added to the libretto for Venice)
was most famous in Venice, and at the end of his short Neapolitan episode Il Ciro
was to be his last known work.16 In the Venice production of Il Ciro, there were a
large number of changes to the text and the music, including the addition of new
scenes (indicated in the libretto with special signs):
Act I : 7, 8, 15, 16 nearly all the final choir of Ethiopians
Act II: 1, 3, 5, 6 (just the end), 8–11 (half scene), 13 (part), 16 (part), 17
final Ballo di Paggi
Act III: 1, 2, 3, 4 (half scene), 5, 6–8 (the most part), 9, 10 (part), 13, 14
(part), 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 final duet
Thus the first two acts retain a large part of the original Neapolitan music, while
the third act was almost entirely reset by Cavalli (sixteen scenes out of nineteen).
The characters who are most systematically changed are the popular ones such as
Zerbillo ‘Capitano della Guardia del Re’, Euretto ‘Paggio’ (a similar name to that
of the page Eurillo who appears in Artemisia and later in other operas by
Provenzale from the period around 1670), the Moorish slave Fatima and a ‘Coro di
Etiopi’ with their comic and incomprehensible language.
In the Venetian Prologue to Il Ciro, there are elements referring to the
experimental atmosphere introduced by Balbi in Naples: Curiosità, Poesia, Musica,
Architettura and Pittura all vie for pre-eminence on the stage. Curiosità
(symbolizing maybe the novelty of exporting to Venice an opera created in the
South) poses rhetorical questions:17
Will this drama be a success?

Will it lead to fame?
Will it be liked? Will it please?
What do we hope for? What will it do?
Architettura (i.e. Balbi) easily defeats her sister arts, deceiving them with her own
inventions. The opera begins with a set (‘Sala dell’Armi Regie’) that surely was a
reference to the room in the Neapolitan Palazzo Reale used as a theatre by viceroy
Oñate.
In the meantime, the political situation in Naples suddenly changed with the
departure of Count Oñate, replaced in November 1653 by the new viceroy Count
Castrillo. Perhaps as a consequence of this, Balbi, fearing uncertainty in Naples,
decided to return to producing opera in Venice. Nevertheless, opera in Naples
continued to thrive. In 1654, the Armonici moved permanently to the Teatro S.
Bartolomeo, previously used only for comedies. They organized themselves by
notarial contract as a repertory company.18 For years thereafter, there were few
significant changes in the Neapolitan theatre, even though its organizers changed
several times. The composers employed by the company to adapt Venetian operas
began adding characters who sang in Neapolitan. The most skilled and best-
known were Francesco Cirillo (the arranger of Cavalli’s Orontea in 1654 and
the composer of at least one entire opera, Il ratto d’Elena in 1655), Giuseppe
Alfiero (La fedeltà trionfante, 1655) and Francesco Provenzale, the most prolific of
all. In these same years, the Armonici, then directed by the Roman Generoli, shared
with Michelangelo Zito and Vincenzo Pisa the heavy costs for the upkeep of
S. Bartolomeo.19 Financial difficulties caused by this private arrangement, given the
total absence of direct patronage from the viceroy, damaged the company as much
as any natural catastrophe, for all that the plague in 1656 stopped all theatrical
activity, even causing the deaths of Andrea Falconieri, maestro of the Real
Cappella, and many other instrumentalists who usually played in the most important
opera performances. The performance of Cavalli’s Statira (Venice, 1655–56),

originally planned for the Neapolitan season of 1656, was postponed until 1666.20
In March 1657 a new Accademia degli Armonici was founded, directed by
Gregorio delle Chiavi.21 Here we again find Provenzale, who had been unemployed
since his auspicious début in 1653–54.
In autumn 1657, Naples saw the staging of Provenzale’s version of Xerse, to a
text by Nicolò Minato, already set to music by Cavalli in the Venetian Teatro SS.
Giovanni e Paolo in January 1654. If Provenzale was in Venice for the staging of Il
Ciro, he may then have been given the task of revising Xerse for Naples, under
Cavalli’s control. The plague may have delayed a performance already planned for
1655 (as with Statira). Indeed, there survives a libretto of Xerse printed in Venice
by Benedetto Guasco in 1655 ‘e Napoli 1657’.22
In the absence of the Neapolitan score, it is not clear to what extent Provenzale in
effect produced a new work entirely different from Cavalli’s. In the libretto of a late
revival in Verona in 1665, the ‘Company of musicians who performed it on these
stages in Armonici words’ (‘Compagnia de’ musici, che lo rappresentano su queste
scene in accenti armonici’) reminded the dedicatee that the opera had been greeted
with favour in Venice, Paris, Bologna and Milan, but there is no reference to
Naples.23
The earlier libretto printed in Venice ‘to be performed in Bologna in the year 1657’
(‘per rappresentarsi in Bologna l’anno 1657’) is defined ‘according to the second
printing with a prologue and new intermezzi, and with some additions and changes for
novelty’s sake’ (‘seconda impressione con Prologo, & Intermedij nuovi, e con
qualche aggionta, e mutatione per maggior novità’) and ambiguously informs the
reader: ‘This drama was born on the stage of the Teatro Grimano [in Venice]: it then
extended itself to other more distant stages: now Fortune shows it to those from
Bologna’ (‘Questo mio Drama nacque alle Scene del Teatro Grimano: si estese ad
altre da noi più remote: hora la Fortuna a quelle di Bologna lo scorge’).24
The third opera in Provenzale’s list given in Theseo is Artemisia, which again
seems to have been the arrangement of an opera by Minato and Cavalli, performed
in 1656 in SS. Giovanni e Paolo.25 We have no sources (libretto, score or
documents) concerning its revival in Naples, perhaps for Carnival 1658. Indeed, the
only evidence that all three of the titles discussed above were ever set to music by
Francesco Provenzale appears in the libretto of his Il Theseo, overo L’incostanza
trionfante, performed in the Palazzo Reale on 28 November 1658 ‘per il
compleanno di S.A. nostro Prencipe’:26
NOTE TO THE READER. This time you have a play which you cannot find other than
pleasing. The poet is a virtuoso, and even more so the composer of the music, who was
Signor Francesco Provenzale, your fellow Neapolitan, who, if he was able to entice you
with his Ciro, Xerse and Artemisia, will be able to do so far more with this, where he has
tried to demonstrate far better the vivacity of his spirit.
Theseo was staged during Carnival 1658 in the Teatro S. Cassiano in Venice,
with music by Pietro Andrea Ziani to a libretto by Francesco Maria Piccioli
(adapted in Naples by Gregorio delle Chiavi). A new edition of the libretto which
appeared in the same year testifies to a second staging in Venice.27 In Naples it was
performed by the Armonici, who signed the dedication to Count Castrillo. A few
months earlier (on 4 March), viceroy Castrillo had already received the dedication
of an opera, composed by his maestro of the Real Cappella, Filippo Coppola, to be
included in an extensive series of festivals for the birthday of Prospero Felice, the
son of Philip IV of Spain.28 The company at S. Bartolomeo that year comprised
Angela Angelotti, Marianna Rutini, Cinzia Buonomo and Vincenzo Nenci.29
Viceroy Castrillo, who wanted to pursue the policies of Oñate in protecting the
Armonici, was suddenly called to Spain at the end of 1658, thus causing great
difficulties for the company, and as a result, after December 1659 no operas were
staged at S. Bartolomeo for the following two years.
Meanwhile, after Venice and Naples, Provenzale found new opportunities in
Palermo, where a number of operas composed or reworked by him, including Theseo,
were performed. In the 1650s and 1660s there developed in Sicily, mostly in Palermo
and to a lesser extent also Messina, a circuit of diffusion for operas previously
performed in Naples. The trend started in 1655 with the revival of Giasone in
Palermo, and in 1657 with Il ratto d’Elena in Messina. The third Neapolitan opera
produced in Sicily was Provenzale’s Il Ciro, for which there survives a libretto
published in Palermo in 1657 ‘Per il Cirillo … ad instanza di Rocco di Mercurio
libraro’.30 If we compare the content of the libretto printed in Venice in 1654 with that
of the one printed in Palermo in 1657, we discover that both the prefaces ‘Al Lettore’
and the title-pages are identical in terms of their content and their format.
Another three works set to music by Provenzale were all staged in Palermo: Xerse
in 1658, Artemisia in 1659 and Theseo in 1660. The libretto of Xerse was
published by Andrea Colicchia ‘ad istanza dell’Accademia dei Musici di Palermo,
a spese di Giuseppe di Lorenzo’ and dedicated by the same academy to Marchese
Pallavicino.31 Artemisia was staged at the Teatro alla Misericordia and the libretto
was dedicated by Pietro Costantino on 30 March 1659, to Don Giacinto Airoldi, an
abbot in Milan.32 Theseo bears a dedication by Giuseppe Di Lorenzo to the Barone
del Murgo, Matteo Scamacca, signed on 30 January 1660.33 The libretto for Theseo
in Palermo in 1660, similar to the one printed in Naples in 1658, cites Gregorio
delle Chiavi as being the author of the text and not, as in Venice, Francesco Maria
Piccioli; this reveals the direct dependence on Naples of the Palermo revivals.34 In
the following years other works attributed to Provenzale were presented in Palermo
after Naples, including La Cloridea (1667) and perhaps La colomba fuggitiva
(1669, possibly La colomba ferita?).
The mechanism for the transmission of operas from Naples to Palermo is still not
clear.35 Some insights may be forthcoming in connection with an important figure
who appears in Provenzale’s biography, the Roman singer Lorenzo Colli, whom
scholars have not yet studied.36 This singer spent some years in Sicily before
entering the Accademia degli Armonici in Naples on March 1653: on 1 December
1653, he is recorded in the first extant list of members of the Unione di Santa
Cecilia dei Musici in Palermo.37 In March 1660, Colli was the last member of the
already dissolved academy remaining in Naples to pay the final expenses left by the
Armonici.38 Colli was also a witness at the marriage of Francesco Provenzale, on

13 January 1660.39 Thus this strong connection between Colli, the Armonici and
Provenzale might suggest that the performance of Neapolitan operas in Sicily was a
direct result of friendships and contacts between a leader of the Neapolitan
Armonici and colleagues from the Unione in Palermo. However, we must not
overlook the links between Palermo and Naples prompted by two important
librettists associated with Provenzale, Giuseppe Castaldo and Andrea Perrucci, who
were both involved there during their career.
Another witness (‘compare d’anello’) at Provenzale’s marriage was Don Pietro
Sanz di Palomera y Velasco, who wrote the libretto of the only opera performed in
Naples in 1660, La Cloridea, dedicated to the viceroy, Count Peñaranda, and
celebrating the Spanish crown. The libretto unusually presents a Spanish translation
of the original Italian text, with the title:40
La Cloridea reprecentacion para musica de D. Pedro Sanz de Palomera y Velasco

dirigida al illus. y excellent. señor D. Gaspar de Bracamonte y Gusman conde de
Peñaranda, gentil hombre de la camara de su magestad virrey y capitan general del
reyno de Napoles traducida de italiano en español por el mismo autor.
The personal relationship with Pietro Sanz di Palomera41 induced Ulisse Prota-
Giurleo to attribute with certainty the music of Cloridea to Provenzale, and to date
the performance to the last period before the closure of the Accademia degli
Armonici, i.e., Carnival 1660.42 Judging from the text, a clearly encomiastic
homage to the Queen of Spain, who had recently given birth, it is possible to date
the performance to the end of that year: in addition to the Peace of the Pyrenees on
28 November, there was also the birthday of the heir to the throne, Charles, to
celebrate (it is no coincidence that viceroy Peñaranda established the tradition of
celebrating the birthdays of members of the Spanish royal family with music).43 The
Spanish translation of the libretto suggests that the performance was also attended
by important guests from Spain, but it does not necessarily mean that the music was
sung in Spanish, as was to be the case twenty years later with the two performances
of El robo de Proserpina (1678, 1681).44 Indeed, on the contrary it was more
common for Spanish comedies, in particular by Calderón, to be translated into
Italian.45 Cloridea undoubtedly has some features in common with previous operas
by Provenzale. One of the characters in the libretto, Artemisia, had already been the
subject of an opera in 1658. But the other characters do not coincide, and this is not
a reworking of Artemisia with a different title. Nevertheless, it is interesting to note
that Cloridea also has an encomiastic prologue sung by the River Sebeto (a
personification of Naples), Fortuna, Pace and Giustizia. The opera itself contains
the inevitable lower-class comic characters: Trillo, Belarda, Tariffa and Florindo. A
libretto of 1665 for Cloridea, drama per musica dedicata alla Sacra Cesarea
Maestà di Leopoldo augustissimo imperatore, a ‘compositione di Antonio Draghi’
performed in Vienna, cites Pietro Andrea Ziani as being the composer of the
original music. Even if Ziani did produce the score used in Naples in 1660, this
does not exclude the possibility of Provenzale having been involved, as in the case
of Theseo. Indeed, and as we have seen, Cloridea was performed again in Palermo
in 1667, suggesting that Provenzale did have a part to play in it.46
In September 1664, Pedro Velasco, Marchese di Freno, left Naples with his
whole family to follow viceroy Peñaranda on his return to Spain.47 We cannot be
sure if Don Pedro Velasco, who was Provenzale’s compare di anello (best man),
and the Marchese di Freno were one and the same person. In fact, Pedro Sanz di
Palomera y Velasco would later be the dedicatee of an opera performed in February
1667 by the new company of Armonici which, in the meantime, had re-established
itself in Naples (Lorenzo Colli and Francesco Cirillo were among its members).48
The opera was La Bisalva, o vero Offendere chi già s’ama, and the libretto was
dedicated to Palomera y Velasco by the manager of the new Febi Armonici,
Gaspare D’Amico:49
I consider the present play to be among the most noteworthy writings to issue from his pen ...
When the theft is glorious it has the title of affection or servitude ... I brought it to light, because
it was no good locking up something so full of splendour, and the Armonici, like the Febi, do
not like the retinue of the stars. Such have always been the works in the sky of this noble theatre.
So be happy with its virtue, whilst being proud of having such a sublime Apollo for an assistant,
who hopes in the coming autumn to present a new harvest to the Muses.
This opera, too, begins with a didactic Prologue (Musica, Poesia, Apollo and two
Muses). The real novelty is the abundance of popular characters as compared with
previous operas, a sign that La Bisalva was not an arrangement of a Venetian score,
but a new work born in Naples. Among these characters we find Calderaro,
Fruttarolo, Renzullo and the Turkish Solimano, Zufaina and Selim. Many of these
names will recur in succeeding operas by Provenzale and Andrea Perrucci.
As with Cloridea, in the case of La Bisalva there is no evidence for or against the
notion that Provenzale was involved, but it is true that at least until 1663, his only
known activity is the collaboration with the Teatro S. Bartolomeo. Another title that
could also be assigned to the composer is La Geneviefa, o vero Il tradimento
svelato, a ‘famosa opera’ performed first at the Palazzo Reale in November 1666
for the birthday of Charles II of Spain, and again in Palermo in 1667.50 This is
probably the ‘Genoviefa’ included in the list of Provenzale’s works compiled by
Villarosa in 1840 and reprinted by Fétis in 1878–80 as ‘La Geneviefa, oratorio’.
After 1670 the creative energies of Francesco Provenzale were devoted to the
melodramma sacro, as a result of his charge as maestro at the Conservatorio di
Loreto. But soon he would return to secular opera.
Lo schiavo di sua moglie
Of the half dozen melodrammi known to have been composed by Provenzale

between 1653 and 1678, scores survive of just two operas, copied by his former
pupil and assistant Gaetano Veneziano, entitled Lo schiavo di sua moglie and
Stellidaura vendicante. Their handwritten scores (both in the Biblioteca del
Conservatorio di S. Cecilia in Rome) constituted for more than a century the only
sources known and used by scholars to evaluate the qualities of Provenzale’s
compositional technique. Rich in wistful arias, scenic innovations and colourful
elements of local languages (such as Neapolitan and Calabrian), these two operas
induced such scholars as Rolland and Goldschmidt to claim for Provenzale a
leading role in the creation of a native style considered by Florimo as an original
and independent Neapolitan operatic school.51 These two closely dated operas do
share some common characteristics, not least in presenting a certain degree of
musical discontinuity, and, with the exception of some moments of great dramatic
effect, never reach the heights of La colomba ferita. These two operas, however,
remain of considerable documentary importance when it comes to examining
Provenzale’s theatrical style as compared with his earlier experiences with the
Armonici in the historical context of Neapolitan opera.
The manuscript score of Lo schiavo di sua moglie (I-Rsc G. MSS 28) was
compiled about four years after its first documented performance at the Palazzo
Reale in Naples on 21 April 1672. Indeed, on the last folio there appears the note:
‘Francesco Provenzale Fecit Anno Domini 1671 Gaetano Venetiano Allievo di S.
Maria di Loreto di Napoli scrivea 1675’. This note might appear only to document
the year of its composition but it has actually led some scholars to speculate as to a
previous performance in 1671 at the Teatro di S. Bartolomeo.
The 1672 performance was organized by the Eletto del Popolo, Giuseppe
Pandolfi, to celebrate the coming of the new viceroy, the Marchese d’Astorga, who
arrived in Naples on 14 February of the same year. The choice in favour of
Provenzale was natural, because he held office as the maestro of the Fidelissima
Città, as outlined on the title-page of the libretto, printed in 1672 by the
‘Stampatore Regio’, Egidio Longo: Lo schiavo di sua moglie. Melodrama del
signor Francesco Antonio Paolella arricchito di musica dal signor Francesco
Provenzale mastro di cappella di questa Fidelissima Città. The same title-page
also specifies the site of the performance: ‘rappresentato nella Real Sala del Regio
Palazzo’. The celebrative occasion is so grand as to justify choosing the Palazzo
Reale instead of the more appropriate Teatro S. Bartolomeo for a comedy with a
plot more worthy of the troupes of the comici dell’arte.
The scene is the bank of the River Termodonte, where the Amazons live:
(Act I) Garden. The Amazon Menalippa reproaches her sister Ippolita, who prefers to live
in idleness instead of handling arms. Enter the page, Lucillo, and the gardener Sciarra (a
character who sings in Neapolitan), who announce the arrival, from the sea, of the enemy
army. Enter Ercole, Theseo, Atreste and Timante with their soldiers, sure of defeating the
Amazons, whose queen, Antiope, has run away. Menalippa confronts Timante, and her
sister, Ippolita, fights Theseo, but the two Amazons are defeated. Menalippa, surprised,
thinks she recognizes in Timante her husband who was believed to be dead. In fact he is
really Leucippo, in love with Menalippa, who, so as not to reveal his identity, pretends to
be his twin brother, Timante. Theseo, in the meantime, has fallen in love with Ippolita and
Ercole, who wants Timante to intervene and take her prisoner. The warrior Atreste
announces a dramatic turn of events: the Amazons are coming back led by their queen,
Antiope. The three comic characters, Lucillo, Sciarra and the wet nurse Melinta, with their
comic language, talk about love.
(Act II) Ippolita realizes that she has fallen in love with Theseo, but she does not want to
accept the fact. Theseo delivers to Menalippa Ercole’s declarations of love, but Menalippa,
who loves Theseo, is angry. Also, Ippolita and Timante are disappointed and, together with
the other couple, show their jealousy and disdain. Timante tells Menalippa that Ercole loves
her, but Menalippa declines his love. Timante gives Ercole Menalippa’s answer and begs his
friend, Ercole, not to trust Theseo. While the usual three comic characters with their own
language remark on the facts about the lovers, Ippolita asks Melinta to go with her to search
for Theseo. When in the end Ippolita and Menalippa meet Ercole and Theseo, the latter
admits to his friend he does not love Menalippa but Ippolita instead. Leucippo-Timante
disguises himself as Selim, a Turkish slave, to spy on his wife Menalippa, without making
her suspicious. Only Atreste knows his real identity and tells Ercole that Timante died in the
fight against the Amazons after capturing Selim. Ercole gives as a gift the Turkish slave to
Menalippa as a sign of his love. In the closing comical scene old Melinta tries to conquer the
love of the young page Lucillo, inviting all the women not to miss any chance of love, age
permitting of course.
(Act III) Theseo gives Menalippa (who in reality is his wife, hence the title of the opera) the
slave Selim as promised, but Menalippa, once again disdainful, asks how she might offer her
token of love to Theseo. Atreste gives Menalippa a false farewell letter from the allegedly
dead Timante in which he confesses he is her husband, Leucippo. Menalippa faints, quickly
helped by Theseo, who tries to comfort her. All these actions are misinterpreted by Ercole,
Ippolita and Selim, who once again becomes jealous. Whilst reading the letter, Ercole is filled
with wonder, and now old Melinta tries to seduce the slave Selim. In the meantime, Theseo
persuades Ippolita of his love, and so the two reconciled lovers start singing an amorous duet.
Meanwhile Menalippa is sleeping. When she wakes up, Selim washes his face in the river
and reveals his true identity: he is her husband Leucippo, but Menalippa tells him that she
now loves Theseo. Leucippo tries to drown himself in the river, but Atreste saves him. When
Ercole hears the whole story, he asks the couples to make up and get back together again:
Leucippo with Menalippa and Theseo with Ippolita. Love prevails and the war finishes
because the Amazons are defeated. The two sisters depart with their respective lovers.
The whole is preceded by a ‘Prologo. Amore, Bellezza et Otio’, with an

explanation that links these three characters to the plot of the opera given in the
stage directions: ‘Bellezza brings in Amore chained up like a slave; and Otio is on
stage asleep’ (‘La Bellezza che porta Amore incatenato da Schiavo; e l’Ozio si
trova in scena addormentato’).
Indeed, the short opening text explicitly insists on the concept of ‘Love was
always a slave / Love was never a slave of Beauty’ (‘Sempre fu schiavo Amor /
Amor schiavo mai fu della Bellezza’), and we find it again in Amore’s declaration
to Bellezza (in reality to the audience):
Lasciami, ché vedrai,

mercé del tuo valore e de’ miei strali,
con l’Amazzoni vinte,
cangiando volto e spoglie,
fra guerrieri un che va

SCHIAVO a SUA MOGLIE
We do not know anything about the author of the libretto, Francesco Antonio
Paolella, described on the title-page as simply ‘Signor’ and so presumably not a
doctor or a lawyer. He was, perhaps, a relative of the ‘Signor Gennaro Paolella’
who was given the texts for Il ratto d’Elena by Francesco Cirillo (1655) and for the
sacred drama Il martirio di San Gennaro (1664), probably set to music by
Provenzale. The structure of the text is more similar to a play with improvised
dialogue than to the libretto of a melodramma. The most important element is the
triple disguise of the leading actor Leucippo-Timante-Selim, the slave. Crossed
lovers are a topos that makes allowances for a weak storyline and far-fetched
dialogue. In the plot, the mythological reference to one of the labours of Hercules,
the battle against the Amazons, is only limited to the choice of the characters’
names. The rest is a game, a masque for a Baroque court which delighted in idle
talk of love. Probably Paolella overheard rumours about viceroy Astorga, the
former Spanish ambassador in Rome, and his passion for women, music and
entertainment. It may well have been Astorga himself who discovered the highly
gifted singer-manager Giulia De Caro.52
It is difficult to find a definite source for the libretto, but there is some analogy
with the playful switching of lovers in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Just as in Shakespeare, here, too, courtly lovers pursue each other in a forest (in
Paolella there is a garden and a river), and by way of contrast, comic characters talk
of love. But the very weak analogy stops here. The magic element and the action
are perhaps not intended literally. The meaning behind the subtle play of symbols
that usually accompanied similar performances in difficult times is perhaps to be
sought here, for example, in the Messina revolution or in famine, which in real life
were the most important problems facing viceroy Astorga. But to identify him with
Hercules, a victor in war but a loser in love, could never appeal to a famous
womanizer who, for the love of Giulia De Caro, would leave his wife, Anna Maria
Pimentel.
An analysis of the relations between the characters fails to explain things: most of
the male figures love Menalippa, while she loves Theseo even though she knows
that her husband Leucippo (in disguise) is still alive. In the end, Theseo surrenders
to Ippolita, and Ercole generously stands aside allowing husband and wife to
reunite. The comic counterpart of this situation is the old nurse who at first attempts
to seduce the gardener, next the young page, and then in turn the Turkish slave. The
music provides the only highly improbable connection between characters lacking
in psychological vigour. This is realized by means of a setting that displays an
unusual scarcity of recitatives.
It is possible to summarize the typology of the arias of Lo schiavo in the
following way: (a) arias on a descending tetrachord (lamento) or on a basso
ostinato (passacaglia) with references to the model of Monteverdi (Prologo: Ozio;
I.8: Menalippa, ‘Lasciatemi morire’; II.10: Ippolita; III.8: Menalippa, ‘Io pur vi
miro’) or to the Roman cantata model after Luigi Rossi (I.2; II.2: duet for Theseo
and Ippolita; I.15: Timante, ‘Partirò’); (b) arias di sdegno or di battaglia (I.13:
Ercole with trumpets; II.17; III.16: Atreste); (c) arias in the style of the concerted
motet (I.13: Ercole; II.11: Atreste; II.14: Theseo; III.4; III.6).
There is some use of nonsense language, in the style of Banchieri (the false Turk
Selim, from II.13 to III.11) and chromatic passages, a debt of Provenzale’s to the
age of Gesualdo and his colleague Salvatore (I.16: Atreste; III.4: Ercole, a lettera
monteverdiana; III.7).
The distinctive element, even though by no means innovative after twenty years
of its use in Neapolitan theatre is, of course, the gardener of the Amazons, singing
in the Neapolitan idiom. He is defined as being ‘foolish’ (‘sciocco’) in the dramatis
personae, but his reflections are wise: his job is to tend the garden, not to take up
arms, and he would prefer to fall in love instead of going away to fight. The only
war that he can conceive of is that on hunger (II.10):
La zappa lassammo,
tamburro toccammo,
ca sonano a racouta le bodella:
alla guerra, su su, delle panella!
Any remaining associations between the features of the characters and their arias
are predictable: Ercole has trumpets: Atreste, sacred overtures; Sciarra and Lucillo,
comic asides; Menalippa, love laments. On the other hand, the language of the false
Turk Selim is an extraordinary combination of what was to become Turkish in the
Italian opera of the eighteenth century, from Vinci’s Li zite ’n galera to Rossini.
The finest aria in the opera is sung by Menalippa, the hiccupping passacaglia ‘Io
pur vi miro’ (III.8) to a text composed entirely of quinari:
Ex. 5.1 Francesco Provenzale, Lo schiavo di sua moglie (MS in I-Rsc), Act III, scene 8
No less disjointed is Timante’s pathetic farewell (I.15): ‘Partirò, / Pugnerò, /

Morirò’, to which are in echo the reassuring words by Atreste and Theseo:
‘Vincerai / Tornerai’. But the atmosphere changes notably in the love duet for
Ippolita and Theseo:
a)
b)
c)
Ex. 5.2 Francesco Provenzale, Lo schiavo di sua moglie (MS in I-Rsc), Act III, scene 7,
duet (Ippolita and Theseo)
There is no mistaking the easily recognizable Provenzale features in these arias

and love duets: the short, hiccupping phrases that also characterize his sacred
works; the sighs of crotchets and quavers broken by rests (effective stratagems to
create affetti).
All these touches are signs of a significant compositional art. The abundance of
quotations (from Monteverdi, Rossi, Carissimi, Cesti, Cavalli, but also from the
Neapolitan heritage, from Gesualdo to Sabino and Salvatore) makes this opera a
light divertissement in the spirit of the ancient tradition of the commedia dell’arte.
Stellidaura vendicante
Two years after the performance in the Palazzo Reale of Lo schiavo di sua moglie,
a new opera by Provenzale, Stellidaura vendicante, was performed on 2 September
1674 in a private palace, the Villa Cicinelli di Cursi at Mergellina. According to

Fuidoro’s Giornali:53
Sunday 2 September, a comedy with music was performed at Mergoglino in the house
which the Prince [di Cursi Cicinelli] rents there, and he hosted the viceroy, noblemen and
ladies. Ciulla de Caro was the head of the performers.
The earliest known edition of the libretto (Naples, Porsile, 1674) is dedicated to
the Principe di Cursi, who organized the first performance at Mergellina to pay
homage to viceroy Astorga. The copy that I have consulted (I-Nn 73 To 6/1) comes
from the library of the Jesuit Casa Professa, in Naples. A comparison with the
libretto for the third performance at the Teatro S. Bartolomeo in 1685 (copy in I-Nc
10.3.12/10) reveals numerous differences, not least in the role of Giampietro, who
shifts from Calabrese dialect to Neapolitan.
The manuscript score of Stellidaura vendicante (I-Rsc G. MSS.29), signed by
Gaetano Veneziano (who also copied Lo schiavo di sua moglie), was probably
completed soon after 1674. Both books bear on the cover the coat of arms of the
Duca di Maddaloni, indicating one member of this Neapolitan family as the
addressee of the manuscripts. Unlike the previous opera, however, for Stellidaura
there exist other musical sources—a nineteenth-century copy of the score in B-Bc
(based on the Rome manuscript), and eight extracted arias (from the role of
Orismondo) for voice and basso continuo (‘Arie di Stellidaura’: I-Nc MS Cantate
5)—as well as librettos relating to different performances. The Rome score and the
arias in the Naples manuscript follow the text of the first edition of the libretto
reasonably closely; the Naples manuscript, however, contains so many inaccuracies
in the text that it would seem to have been prepared by someone who was either
illiterate (possibly the singer?) or a foreigner.
This was a period of change in Provenzale’s career. In 1673, without abandoning
his position in the Conservatorio di Loreto, Provenzale had accepted his
nomination as maestro of the Conservatorio dei Turchini in place of Giovanni
Salvatore. But the 1674 libretto of Stellidaura vendicante does not refer to this new
position; instead, as in the case of Lo schiavo di sua moglie, Provenzale is styled
‘maestro della Fidelissima Città’. And despite the location for the 1674
performance of Stellidaura vendicante, the opera remained closely associated with
the viceregal court: Principe di Cursi, who had rented a sea-front villa at
Mergellina, was in fact the father of viceroy Astorga’s wife. He was one of those
Neapolitan noblemen who left scant traces in Baroque Naples.54 Many biographers
have emphasized the passion of viceroy Astorga for gambling, women and above
all entertainments. In 1672, the Eletto del Popolo, Giuseppe Pandolfi, had tried to
use the expensive production of Lo schiavo to satisfy the specific appetites of the
new viceroy with the hope of avoiding having to pay for the traditional public ‘festa
dell’Eletto’, which would surely ruin his personal finances. Even after being
reconfirmed as Eletto for the fourth time in 1672, Pandolfi again took great care to
avoid paying for the feast. This eventually contributed to his downfall, and in 1673
his place was assigned to Pietro Emilio Guaschi, who was supported by the greatest
aristocrats in Naples. The latter, in turn, gained more freedom from the viceroy in
exchange for their complicity in festini and any kind of entertainment.55
The true protagonist of the 1674 performance at Mergellina was undoubtedly
Ciulla (Giulia) De Caro. A few months before, she had become the new impresario
of the Teatro S. Bartolomeo, where she had performed several roles, starting with
the 1669 production of Eliogabalo.56 Giulia De Caro had taken the place of her
Roman colleague Cecilia Siri Chigi, who in turn had been involved with the Febi
Armonici since at least 1666. And De Caro is mentioned in a Febi Armonici
contract for the 1669 opera season at S. Bartolomeo. Among her companions that
year, we discover for the last time one of the first and most eminent adaptors of
Venetian operas for the Neapolitan stage, Francesco Cirillo. Between 1670 and
1671, Ciulla travelled to Rome in order to find a singing teacher (whose name is
unknown) there. She reached such a high standard as to be able to compete with the
best Roman singers such as the celebrated Caterina Porri: the latter was invited by
De Caro to Naples for the 1673 season.
The protection of viceroy Astorga strengthened her position in Naples and helped
her become the director of the theatre: the printed librettos of the two operas
performed at S. Bartolomeo in November and December 1673, Marcello in
Siracusa and Eraclio, both composed by Ziani, have dedications to viceroy Astorga
signed ‘Giulia de Caro Armonica’. However, De Caro was more famous in Naples
for reasons other than artistic ones. A ferocious pamphlet entitled Il bordello
sostenuto was compiled by Antonio Muscettola, Duca di Spezzano, with the aim of
exposing De Caro’s activities as a courtesan, complete with a list of her most
illustrious clients.57 De Caro was, at the same time, the lover of the viceroy and of
Giovanni Cicinelli, son of the Principe di Cursi and Astorga’s brother-in-law, who
dedicated to her a cantata collection.58 The participation of what the Giornali of
Naples called ‘the princess of the brothel’ in an opera produced in a Neapolitan
noble house, namely that of the Cicinelli, in effect offered an official endorsement
of her activities, undertaken with impunity. Already on her return to Naples from
Rome, Giulia De Caro had avoided the strict measures imposed upon prostitutes
and, under the protection of her clients and friends, she took up residence in the
vicinity of Cicinelli’s villa at Mergellina. Only four months before the 1674
performance of Stellidaura, Fuidoro reported the enticing news that59
It was arranged for Ciulla de Caro, the famous old prostitute, to go to the house of the
sensual and old Cicinelli, together with another girlfriend, and they sang so that their
voices were amplified from the mouth of two mechanical instruments, like two mutes of
tin rather long like a reed and wide in the end, of which they are like two vulgar mutes but
twelve palms around in circumference, which carries the voice two miles away and more
with the silence of the night.
Apart from the organological interest of these voice ‘amplifiers’ (which in turn
may cast light on the conduct of the open-air concerts during the summer serenatas
at Posillipo), Fuidoro reveals that already in June 1674 Ciulla was visiting Cicinelli
at Mergellina.
Provenzale and Giulia De Caro were often in contact during her short period of
activity as an impresario. There were musicians and singers who worked for both of
them, and in April 1672 De Caro had taken one role in Lo schiavo di sua moglie,
the first Neapolitan opera dedicated to viceroy Astorga. Stellidaura vendicata
seems to have been written expressly for her, while she, in turn, decided to stage it
at the Teatro S. Bartolomeo in September 1675, just one year after the performance
in Cicinelli’s villa.
Provenzale was now returning to comic opera after having been engaged with his
students at the Conservatorio di Loreto in several performances of his two
masterpieces in the field of the melodramma sacro: La colomba ferita and La
fenice d’Avila.
Stellidaura vendicante has turned out to be an emblematic work within the
history of Neapolitan theatre: it is the last opera by Provenzale, in effect his
theatrical swan-song, and at the same time it was the first libretto by Andrea
Perrucci, who became the chief poet of the Neapolitan stage in the second half of
the seventeenth century. The score lacks an opening sinfonia and, unlike many
operas presented at S. Bartolomeo during that period whose scores survive, the
work has no prologue. However, the libretto printed for the first private
performance contains an Epilogue (not included in the manuscript score in Rome).
The Epilogue is very interesting as a document of the power relationships in
Neapolitan high society, and also for its references to classic Spanish theatre of the
Golden Age, which was an unquestionable model for Andrea Perrucci (who was
also one of the most important translators of foreign theatrical works for Naples).
The 1674 Epilogue (called ‘Licentiata giocosa di Giampietro’) was composed
specially for the occasion by Orazio da Fermo, a lesser-known musician who, at
least at Villa Cicinelli, conducted an orchestra of musicians coming from the Real
Cappella as well as from the instrumental ensemble employed at the Teatro S.
Bartolomeo.60 Orazio had already assisted Provenzale in the 1672 performance of
La fenice d’Avila, according to Castaldo’s preface to the libretto.61
The Epilogue bestows lavish praise upon the viceroy in language that typically
mixes Castilian and Neapolitan, partly in an attempt to help the viceroy’s
comprehension of some crucial words and phrases, but also to produce a highly
comic effect for the public’s delight:
LICENTIATA GIOCOSA DI GIAMPIETRO

Parole del Signor Oratio da Fermo.
Su Antoniu Petru, à Dios, ti sugnu garzu,

beso, beso tu manu,
escucha na tanticchia lu paisanu:
ben’haia d’hoi, Vosté stà muy luzido,
mucho, mucho atrevido,
guappu tambien, par Deu, diri lu vuogliu,
pari nu mpiraturi,
chi sedi triunfanti in Campiduogliu.
Esta die iuviali
mi fici divintari nu paddali,

rimasi ammarmuratu, nu sumeri
a tanti Cavaleri sciambirganti,
guappi, bielli, e galanti,
iu pri mia mi cunfundu,
stù scoghiu divintàu nu novu mundu.
Pues a quel que me pesa, à tantu honuri
Ci vulìa na Cumiedìa famusa,
di Vega, ò Calderon;
como soy maccaron, ciotu nnimali,
s’è stata sienza sali,
y nò, como merese, susuria
sta mbisca pisca nostra,
tienga pazienzia, fratri,
(nun ci su chilli vuci ncilicati)
yà se acabò la Fiesta,
ma nù scunchìu, par Deu,
l’affiettu di lu Principi di Cursi,
para sirvir Vusticca, mu lu sai,
e na Fenici, chi nun mori mai,
Quieres algo di Zumpanu,
yò mañana mi la sticchiu,
e laudari m’apparicchiu
el tu nombre soberano.
A qualquier yò direi tu linda entraña,
Mejor ombre de ti no tiene España.
Vatindi à lu iazzu,
Si straccu, par Deu,
Finìu lu mbarazzu,
A Dios, cori meu.
Mi su purtatu bravu
ASTORGA, bona notti, ti su scavu.
In the 1685 libretto, dedicated to the new viceroy, Gaspar de Haro, Marquis of
Carpio,62 there is instead a brief prologue of similarly flattering intent. Three
singers, the winds Zefiro and Espero and the goddess Venere in a star, explain the
story to the audience, anticipating the lieto fine. Venere also pays homage to the
viceroy:
Se cortese n’assisti
giusto, e saggio GASPAR, ben’ è ragione,
che consacrin le Sfere
un tributo di STELLE al tuo sapere.
Grande Eroe gradisci il core,
che ti viene in voto offerto,
se olocausto al tuo gran merto
hor lo da la Dea d’amore.
Venghi si si fin dal Celeste Carro
Coro di STELLE a riverir GASPARRO
Both the librettos I have consulted (1674 and 1685) contain an Argomento which
explains the background to the plot. In 1674, this follows a letter of introduction ‘a
chi legge’, signed ‘Dottor D. Carlo Maria Benestante Sifolo’:63
The STELLIDAURA, a melodrama by Signor Andrea Perruccio and Fardella the

Younger, has been made public, for your information. This is sweetened by the music of
Signor Francesco Provenzale, a virtuoso, who has an instinctive talent when it comes to
recitative, and knows how to dispel any coarseness in the verses with a melody, in which
if any defect can be perceived do not mangle it, rather for music cadences are needed. I
believe that your benignity will prevail and that this work will not be criticized by some
malicious tongue, since it would be a cruel impiety against a child: under orders the
author resolved to print it, and not knowing to what heights he could aspire, having
composed works which are much more worthy of being placed in the hands of the most
erudite in the world. If you like, you can listen to five swans who enchant the same
SIREN with their song; in fact to grant you polite satisfaction, it has been arranged by
Signor Horatio da Fermo, a talent whom you know very well. Therefore receive this work
with courtesy, which is presented to you by my friend. Even if in the end you are not
passionate, I know that you will do it in such a way that is worthy of laurels, so as not to
subject it to any more thunderbolts. Live happily.
Carlo Benestante was an older musician, much respected in the city and the court:
he had been a soprano castrato in the Real Cappella since 1639. He was also active
as a singer at the Annunziata in June 1641, and, at least in 1645, at the Casa
Professa (the Jesuits). He was one of the founders and the first priore of the
Congregazione dei Musici (1649), and at the time of Stellidaura vendicante he was
decano of the Real Cappella.64
For all Castaldo’s skill as librettist of the melodrammi sacri, Perrucci
demonstrates no less talent in his first work for Provenzale. He was born in
Palermo in 1651 and studied literature and law in Naples, whilst also initiating his
career as a translator and writer for the theatre.65 From 1678, he was the official
poet of the Teatro S. Bartolomeo, given the task of adapting foreign operas to
Neapolitan tastes. His treatise Dell’arte rappresentativa, premeditata e
all’improvviso was published in Naples in 1699. It is considered the most important
theoretical work on the theatre of the time. Perrucci’s experience in the field of the
opera is attested by the attention paid to the genre in the treatise:66
Works set to music, either introduced or reworked during our time, like those that incline
to tragedy, deserve the most pleasing and beautiful settings of colonnades, chambers,
rooms, antechambers, rich galleries, majestic cities, sea views and others, introducing for
the most part emperors, kings, princes ... or introducing deities, who must necessarily go
accompanied by the ostentaciousness of magnificent and wonderful views, and the theatre
will be even more majestic, with a fantastic view, more so that it will approach reality and
will stimulate delight as desired, as seen in the festivities held in Rome, Vienna, Tuscany,
Naples and other cities in Italy.
Shortly before Perrucci’s work appeared, another treatise by Giuseppe Gaetano

Salvadori had been printed in Naples in 1691 with the title Poetica toscana all’uso.
This gives even more technical details on the relationship between the librettist and
the opera composer:67
It is necessary to give notice of many things in dramas set to music, many of which poets
cannot so easily know of, if they are not musicians, or if they have not been taught with
much diligence, for I have dealt with similar material, and I know how many times I
myself have been constrained (and nonetheless I delight in music) to change my verses
owing to the corrections of maestri di cappella, and I know how difficult it is, indeed
impossible, for other poets ... First of all one must consider that a drama set to music has
to be very short, with few acts, fewer scenes, and very little verses ... The recitatives are
loathed like the plague and one uses them as little as possible since the audience does not
like them ... Then the short arias stand out and there is not one scene without them ...
Scenes can open with arias, but it is better to begin with recitatives, so that the aria will be
more appreciated.
The characters should all be different, in the same way that in good music there should
not only be sopranos ... One should think carefully about the main parts, so that they are
not rendered inferior to the humbler parts, and one should make sure that everyone sings,
because singers yearn with good reason to have a part which will give them enough
honour, especially famous singers, who bear great shame if they do not have a part
suitable for them. It is known through experience that works set to music truly succeed
today when the poet and the maestro di cappella work together, and the musicians know
what they have to perform.
A similar declaration of the unity between poet and composer had been made in
an anonymous Prologue, probably performed in S. Bartolomeo in 1673, shortly
before Stellidaura was composed. This is an important document in that, beneath a
veil of satire, it exposes with raw realism the difficulties encountered by poets and
composers in having their works accepted by the public and the critics. It is just
possible that the anonymous poet and composer cited here are none other than
Andrea Perrucci and Francesco Provenzale.
The score of this Prologue is placed at the beginning of the manuscript (in I-Nc)
of Francesco Antonio Boerio’s Il disperato innocente, performed in 1673.68 Boerio
is an enigmatic composer whose style is closely linked to that of Provenzale. The
Prologue is delivered by two characters, ‘Micco con Calascione, e Cuosmo con
Violini’. These two musicians are in fact two actors, typical masks of the commedia
dell’arte. The musical style of this composition is far enough from that of the rest
of the opera to suggest two different composers. The real surprise is in recognizing
in this text a collection of musical quotations from the ‘fathers’ of Neapolitan
poetry, Basile and Cortese, and also from Filippo Sgruttiendo’s La tiorba a
taccone, edited as a poem in 1646 and reprinted in Naples only five years after Il
disperato innocente. In this poem in Neapolitan, we find (Corda settima) most of
the popular characters cited in the anonymous prologue: Dottor Chiaiese, Sio
Perillo, Cicco lo Vavuso and other singer-storytellers and improvisers of earlier
times who, so the text says, have now disappeared. Well-known places in the city
such as Porto and the Pendino are also cited, as well as popular instruments such as
the colascione, the chitarra and the ribecchina (the alternative Neapolitan name for
the violin), plus Apollo’s harp. Giovanni della Carriola, also cited, was a celebrated
storyteller of the late sixteenth century and a contemporary of Mastro Ruggiero,

remembered by Cortese in Micco Passaro (to whom perhaps our Micco from the
prologue refers).
In the prologue, the two comedians start introducing ‘un’opera musechesca /
meza grave e brulesca’ (‘an opera set to music, half serious and half burlesque’)
and apologies are made to the audience in advance for the criticism which will
inevitably be made of the poet, of the composer (‘maestro di cappella’) and of the
actors; they also inform the audience that the opera will last at least three hours and
make a plea for silence: ‘perdete per tre ore la parola!’ In an appendix to the same
manuscript score there is an Intermezzo which, for the first time in Neapolitan
opera, includes four comic roles: a Calabrese, a Neapolitan, a Boy and a
Spaniard.69 Perrucci in his treatise discusses the ‘bravi’ roles:70
Tanto pratticate dagli antichi … e tanti altri oggi si pratticano in diversi linguaggi,
havendoli fatti in Toscano, altri in Napolitano … e molti altri autori pratticandolo per lo
più i forastieri per deridere i Napolitani vanagloriosi, se ne sono fatti anche in Spagnuolo,
in Romanesco, in Calabrese ed in Siciliano.
He then refers to various formulæ for improvising in ‘Calabrese’ or in Neapolitan.71

It is interesting to note that, before Perrucci’s Stellidaura vendicante, a Calabrese
role was already present in both of Castaldo’s drammi sacri, La colomba ferita and
La fenice d’Avila, as well as in the anonymous intermezzo for Il disperato
innocente. The Calabrese in Stellidaura receives the same name as the one in La
fenice d’Avila, namely Giampetro. Provenzale may well have had a role in this.
Stellidaura vendicante, ovvero Difendere l’offensore is a comedy of action and
love, very different in structure from Lo schiavo di sua moglie, and in turn more
similar to the schemes of the old commedia dell’arte. Perrucci’s libretto is full of
disguises, secret machinations and revelations. There are only five characters.
Three are noble heroes: Orismondo Prince of Claro, who does not know that he is
the brother of Stellidaura; the knight Armidoro, Stellidaura’s lover; and Stellidaura,
a woman thought to be a foreigner and the unknown sister of Orismondo. The
remaining two characters come from the world of the commedia dell’arte:
Giampetro Calabrese, who sings in his regional language, is the servant of Prince
Orismondo; and Armillo is Stellidaura’s page. The plot is fairly simple:
(Act I) The scene opens in a city. Orismondo, tyrant of the island of Claro in the Greek
archipelago of the Cyclades, expresses a lover’s anguish. He has unreciprocated
feelings for Stellidaura, a mysterious woman of noble but obscure origins who comes
from the island of Delos. Intercepting a letter, Orismondo discovers that Stellidaura
loves Armidoro, a knight of his court. Finding his rival outside Stellidaura’s house,
Orismondo is unable to withhold his fury and he shoots him with a gun in the arm, and
escapes without being recognized. Stellidaura decides that it is up to her to revenge her
injured lover, but mistakes Orismondo for his servant Giampetro, a Calabrese rendered
comic by his incomprehensible dialect. The act closes with a tender love-duet between
Stellidaura and Armidoro.
(Act II) Armidoro has by now realized that his mysterious assailant is Prince
Orismondo, but he feigns friendship in his presence. In turn, the tyrant hides his
jealousy and hatred. They each prepare a love letter to their beloved and charge their
servants Giampetro and Armillo to deliver them to Stellidaura. The two servants,
meeting, decide to play cards. In the confusion, the letters are exchanged, which is the
cause of all the subsequent confusion. Stellidaura refuses the letter delivered by
Armillo, unaware that it comes from Armidoro. The disconsolate Armidoro, who does
not understand this behaviour, intercepts a letter sent to him from Stellidaura that he
believes to be addressed to Orismondo. The latter, in the meanwhile, has ordered
Giampetro to kill Armidoro, but he is saved by the fearless Stellidaura, who now
realizes the identity of the assassin.
(Act III) Stellidaura, disguised as a man (only the servant Armillo knows her true
identity), heads for court in order to kill the despised Orismondo, but Armidoro
prevents her, unaware of who she is, and sends her to prison. The pride of the masked
woman does not allow her to reveal herself. Orismondo, following Armidoro’s advice,
procures through Giampetro a poison which she is forced to drink and which kills her.
Orismondo then learns from his servant what he has done and, desperate, he orders
that Stellidaura’s body should be carried to the tomb of his ancestors, where she will
receive a worthy burial. Armidoro enters and sees the body of his beloved; he loses his
senses and collapses. She awakes at that same moment only to find that she is in a
grave where she discovers her beloved’s body. Stellidaura decides to seek revenge
against Orismondo. But Armidoro recovers, and reaches Orismondo just in time to
defend him from Stellidaura (‘Difendere l’offensore’). In the meantime, Orismondo
has read in a forgotten book on his family that Stellidaura is in truth his older sister,
sent away as a child by their father Eridano to a friend on the island of Delos. Owing
to the jealousy of the Queen of Delos, Stellidaura was forced to leave the island and go
to Claro. Now Orismondo is happy to give faithful Armidoro, who has saved his life
twice, the hand of Stellidaura in marriage.
The dramatic situation in Act III, with Stellidaura waking in the grave and
discovering what she believes to be the lifeless body of Armidoro, who in turn
believes that Stellidaura is dead, has obvious echoes of Romeo and Juliet. But it is
not a simple parody: the Shakespearean relation between love and death is
transformed in Stellidaura vendicante into that of revenge and loyalty, with
Stellidaura wanting to revenge Armidoro and those defending the cruel king. Some
years later, the plot of Stellidaura was reworked by Francesco Massari into a type
of novel, published in Naples in 1690 with the title of La viva sepolta ovvero la
Stellidaura.72
Despite the highly tragic elements woven into the work, it remains fundamentally
a comedy. In addition, there are quite a large number of scenes (called ‘Apparenze’
in the 1674 libretto): City, Royal Rooms, Gaol, Royal Warehouse, Gallery. The
prison scene anticipates a topos of late-seventeenth-century opera.73 The comic
elements include references to scenes from everyday life, such as the giuoco di
primiera played by the two servants in Act II scene 6. Other elements instead are
surreal and anachronistic, such as the gun that appears in the hand of the king of an
ancient Greek island, who declaims in highly Baroque verse:
Su, su ferro tonante,

vomita nel suo sen morte volante,
in quel petto, in quel cuor fatti la strada:
l’empio Fetonte, fulminato cada.
The warlike atmosphere, the violent deaths and the theme of revenge are all
realistic and recognizable elements for the public of 1674 and 1675 given the
current Revolution of Messina.74 The librettist Perrucci, a native of Sicily, adds
obvious references to his island. In the same scene as the game of primiera (II.6),
Armillo says: ‘Credo scampar Cariddi, ed urto in Scilla’, an obvious reference to
the dangers in navigating the straits of Messina, between the perilous rocks of
Scylla and Charybdis. For the 1674 production (and the revival in 1675) we only
know the name of one singer, Giulia De Caro. In the case of the 1685 revival at the
Teatro S. Bartolomeo we are more fortunate. The 1685 libretto lists the following
performers:
Orismondo: Sig. Felice Mastr’Angelo

Stellidaura: Sig. Antonina Balestriera
Armidoro: N.N.
Giampetro Calabrese: Sig. Domenico Ferro
Armillo Paggio: Nicola Grimaldi
The 1685 performance of Stellidaura vendicante is also important in the

biography of Provenzale because it occurred shortly after the nomination of
Scarlatti following Provenzale’s dismissal from the Real Cappella. The only
famous name among the 1685 performers is the castrato Nicola Grimaldi, who
would become famous as ‘Nicolino’. Born in Naples in April 1673, he was just
twelve years old when he took the minor part of the page, Armillo, at
S. Bartolomeo.75 In the following years Nicolino and his brother, Antonio Grimaldi,
were to appear on several more occasions associated with Provenzale.76
Even Nicolino’s first stable employment, as a soprano in the chapel of the Tesoro
di S. Gennaro starting in 1690 (in place of Antoniello da Montesarchio), was a
position under Provenzale’s control, and in 1691 Grimaldi became a soprano in the
Real Cappella, of which Provenzale was honorary maestro. Before the end of the
century, from 1697, Nicolino was singing in the majority of operas performed in
Naples. From 1699 he began his international career in the theatres of Bologna and
Venice, also going to Spain in the service of the king. A further link with
Provenzale is that the latter’s student, Nicola Fago, became Nicola Grimaldi’s
brother-in-law, having married his sister in 1701.77
The tenor Felice Mastrangelo (Orismondo in the 1685 production) was in
Palermo in 1690, taking part in the performance of Scarlatti’s Pompeo.78 In that
same year he was admitted to the Cappella Palatina of Palermo with the obligation
of ‘asistir a tocar el organo de dittha Real Capilla’; his presence there is
documented at least until 1706, and in these same years, by strange coincidence, the
names of the musician Bartolomeo Provenzale and the priest Francesco Provenzale
appear in connection with the Real Cappella of Palermo.79
From the musical point of view, Stellidaura vendicante is very similar to Lo

schiavo di sua moglie: the arias are mostly in the old-fashioned form of the
canzonetta or passacaglia, with some infrequent duets and ensembles. The
instrumental ritornellos are pleasant enough and provide variety within the singing.
However, the role of Giampetro Calabrese has more virtuoso elements than his
equivalent in Lo schiavo di sua moglie, the Neapolitan gardener. Stellidaura and
Orismondo are strongly characterized, and their music abounds in arias of rage and
scorn. The figure of the good lover Armidoro is instead more pathetic, and to him
are assigned the chromatic lines of the lament:
Ex. 5.3 Francesco Provenzale, Stellidaura vendicante (MS in I-Rsc), Act II, scene 11,
‘Le pene, i tormenti’ (Armidoro)
However, Stellidaura is capable of feelings of love that Provenzale emphasizes, as

with Menalippa in Schiavo di sua moglie, by short phrases interrupted by rests (see
Ex. 5.4).
‘Cupido se fido’ (Stellidaura)
As for the Calabrese, some of his arias focus on vocal display that is used to good
effect in the exhilarating comic parody of the tragic situation of Stellidaura’s
supposed death (Ex.5.5). As in all of Provenzale’s compositions, one must here
admire the composer’s harmonic skill and richness, even in the simplest of
canzonettas. But most successful in the complex score of Stellidaura vendicante,
and more so than the more abstract scenes, are the moments of comedy, rich in
musical delights in ways similar to La colomba ferita and in part also to Lo schiavo
di sua moglie.
‘Amanti chiangiti’ (Giampetro Calabrese)
We do not know what the scenic resources of the Teatro S. Bartolomeo were in
order to realize the ‘Apparenze’ promised in the libretto. But Provenzale’s last
opera bears all the hallmarks of his earlier works, giving them a clear and
consistent authorial voice.
It is worth making a brief note of the problem of attributing the setting of
Perrucci’s next libretto, Chi tal nasce tal vive, ovvero Alexander Bala (performed
in 1678). According to Anna Mondolfi, the music was composed by Provenzale:
she also tries to identify the impresario and dedicatee of the work, Francesco della
Torre, with Francesco Provenzale (Mondolfi 1962–63). In fact, and as Lorenzo
Bianconi has demonstrated, one aria of this opera (‘Crudelissima sentenza’, II.4)
can be found in a manuscript miscellany in I-Nc attributed to Pietro Andrea Ziani,
probably the composer of the opera.80 The arias that I have been able to study from
Alessandro Bala are a far cry from the typical style of all Francesco Provenzale’s
writing for the theatre. This work must therefore be definitively removed from the
catalogue of Provenzale’s works, even if the 1678 performance involved a prologue
‘d’altro autore’ that may mark a further, and final collaboration, between Perrucci
and Provenzale.
Notes
1
Prosperi Cappellae Aversani Soc. Iesu: Cineralium Conciones ad Lyram (Naples,
Mosca, 1699), 47–48. In the corresponding footnote the author explains: ‘Cum in
theatro chori canunt Satanici, summa est quies, et maximum silentium. D. Jo. Crys. In
ps.4. Nota: Phoebus Harmonicos esse Choros Satanicos’.
2
Cf. Lettere ecclesiastiche di Monsignor Pompeo Sarnelli, 9 vols. (Venice, 1716), I,
‘lettera IX’, 30–35 (first ed. Naples, 1686).
3
On the relationship between the Febi Armonici, commedia dell’arte and opera, see
Pirrotta 1955; Bianconi and Walker 1975 and Commedia dell’Arte e spettacolo in
musica 2003.
4
No elements in common with the opera season are traceable in any of the early
attempts at opera production in private palaces in Naples, such as Il giudicio di Paride
(1639) or La Galatea (1644), on which see Stalnaker 1968; Bianconi 1979;
D’Alessandro 1984; Antolini 1987.
5
Bianconi and Walker 1975; Bianconi 1979; and new documents edited by
D’Alessandro 1984, 412.
6
D’Alessandro 1984, 413 and footnotes 30–31, argues that both titles may have been
correct: Ergasto, as related in the Avvisi di Napoli, is a name that also corresponds to
the protagonist of an anonymous score surviving in two copies in I-Nc (Rari 6.6.8–9);
Egisto is an opera by Cavalli and Faustini (Venice, 1643) whose Neapolitan
production took place early in 1651. The surviving libretto (GB-Lbm 905.a.3.1) gives
no dates: ‘In Napoli. MDCLI. Per Egidio Longo Stampatore Regio’. D’Alessandro
points out that the same publisher was responsible for Didone, and those were the only
other librettos printed in Naples before Nerone.
7
The score is in I-Nc Rari 6.4.1; libretto printed by Roberto Mollo (Naples, 1651) in I-
Nc Rari 5.2.6. See Chiarelli 1974; Bianconi and Walker 1975, 381; Bianconi 1979,
47; D’Alessandro 1984, 413 and footnote 36. On the authenticity of Monteverdi’s
authorship see Curtis 1989. More recently Ellen Rosand has formulated a new
proposal about the role of Cavalli in the preparation of the score and maybe the
Neapolitan performance of Nerone: ‘L’incoronazione di Poppea di Francesco Cavalli’,
La circolazione dell’opera veneziana del ’600 2005.
8
‘From Naples the last day of January 1651 ... the talk is that given the certitude of Her
Majesty the Queen of Spain’s pregnancy, this Excellency wishes to have public
demonstrations of joy; and in the palace a beautiful comedy will be performed by
many gentlemen, including entertainments consisting of choreographed dances.’ (‘Di
Napoli ultimo di Gennaro 1651 … Si discorre che stante la certezza della gravidanza
della Maestà della Regina dio Spagna, questa Eccellenza disegni farne publiche
demostrationi d’allegrezze; e che in Palazzo si debba rappresentare una bellissima
comedia da molti signori cavalieri, con festini di balletti’). The evidence that the
‘comedia’ was an opera in musica comes from an expert witness, the Venetian
ambassador Paolo Vendramin, who wrote from Naples on 21 February 1651:
‘Yesterday Monsignor the Nuncio and I were invited by His Excellency to the
performance of a musical work in the palace’ (‘hieri fui, insieme con monsignor
Nuntio, invitato da S. E. alla rappresentatione in palazzo di un’opera musicale’): both
documents quoted by D’Alessandro 1984, 413.
9
Madrid, Biblioteca Nacional, MS 1432: Cartas de Avisso de Nápoles el año de 1651,
ff. 13v–14.
10
Prota-Giurleo 1952a, 20–21; Bianconi and Walker 1975, 379–80; Ciapparelli 1987,
390.
11
The Spanish Avvisi also give information on the commedia prepared for the birth of
the Infante: 29 July (f. 35v) ‘In response to the news of the Queen’s childbirth ... the
comedy called Pastor fido was being prepared.’ (‘Per la nuova del parto della
Regina…se studia la Comedia del Pastor fido’) and 19 August (f. 41v) ‘Aguardan el
Parto de la Reyna para gocar del Indulto y se prebienen grandes Fiestas y Mascara
dignos de un Principe’. But the final festivals were very light, because ‘la Reyna …
tuvo travalloso Parto, con que los que esperavan el indulto quidaron disgustados,
prevenente algunas leves fiestas, quando el aparato hera de solemnecarla muy grande’
(26 August, f. 41v). See also the reports on 2 September, f. 43: ‘fue el Virrey a cantar
el Te Deum Laudamus en el Combento de Nuestra Señora de Costantinopola
dispararon, y hiceron Salva Real los Castillos, y Galeras con que hasta oy no se han
visto otras fiestas’. The opera performed after the birth of the Infante was Cavalli’s
and Cicognini’s Giasone, of which are preserved three manuscript scores in I-Nc
(D’Alessandro 1984, 414 and footnote 46).
12
Bianconi and Walker 1975, 379–80; Ciapparelli 1987, 390–91.
13
Bianconi and Walker 1975, 384; Bianconi 1979, 48; D’Alessandro 1984, 416 and
footnote 81. The libretto was printed by Onofrio Savio in 1653 (no dates): copies in I-
Nn, Sala 6° Misc. B.35/1 and RvatAllacci 287(1).
14
He disappeared from the Real Cappella in 1660. See Fabris 1983b, 107–09.
15
‘LETTORE. Questo Drama ha sortito i suoi natali in Napoli, sotto felice influsso di
servire alle scene di Venetia: ma quando egli s’è ritrovato di qui s’avvide, che non
haveva adobbi all’uso di questa Città. La differenza del costume l’haveva, sì nelle
parole, come nel soggetto, allevato con maniere differenti dal genio Veneto
delicatissimo in ogni sentimento: l’ha preveduto la virtù, e la prudenza dell’Auttore,
che gli fu padre, onde ha concessa facoltà di regolarlo, accrescerlo, e sminuirlo. E
stata scielta a questa applicatione la virtù di sogetto, che se bene professa l’Oratoria,
tuttavia ne’ suoi studij tal volta ricrea le fatiche con il trattenimento delle Muse. Le
mutationi, che egli hà fatte nel sogetto poco rileva, che si sappiano; basta che sono
state approvate, e conosciute necessarie per seguire lo stile delle nostre scene. Molti
sono li versi mutati, ma ritenuto il concetto, che vi era prima, e questi non importa il
conoscerli. Li altri, che verdrai segnati nel margine con questo segno ,, sono quelli che
intieramente sono stati aggionti, si come anco il Prologo è d’inventione di questo
sogetto già qualche tempo discorsa anco da lui à qualche suo confidente; & hora gli ha
fatta la poesia. Ti prego io sopra tutto per sua parte a non formare da queste aggiunte
concetto alcuno di lui, perche io ti assicuro, che le altre sue occupationi, e la fretta del
comporre non gli ha dato modo di usar le frasi, & i concetti, che suol pratticare ne
gl’altri suoi componimenti, che egli suol dire di voler fare a suo gusto, & a suo modo.
Per ispiegarti la fretta, con che egli ha composto, basta che io ti giuri, che in due soli
giorni ha aggiunto il terzo Atto, e fattivi li versi, che in quello vedi segnati ,, come ti
ho già detto; havendo variato anco l’ordine del sogetto, ch’è molto differente da
questo che era prima. Egli però protesta, e si dichiara, che quelle mutationi, si come le
ha fatte con permissione dell’Autore del Drama, così ha mutato non per migliorare, ma
per accomodarsi al costume. A tutti li versi aggiunti, o mutati ha fatta la musica il
signor Francesco Cavalli, Apollo dell’Armonia: ti direi i luochi particolari dove la
sentirai, ma basta, che l’ascolti, che senza altra notitia la riconoscerai, per l’esperienza
della sua esquisitezza. Vivi felice.’ I have consulted copies of the libretto (Venice,
Pinelli, 1654) in I-Bc 914 and US-Wc ML 18, Schatz 1736; listed in Sartori 5,663.
16
Giovan Battista Balbi started his career by taking charge of the balli in the first of the
Venetian opera productions, Andromeda at S. Cassiano in 1637. See E. Povoledo,
‘Balbi’, Enciclopedia dello spettacolo, II, 1298–99; F. Marotti, ‘Balbi’, DBI, V, 367–
69.
17
‘Riuscirà questo Drama? / Sarà pari alla Fama? / Fia gradito? piacerà? / Che si spera?
Che farà?’.
18
The document, edited by Prota-Giurleo 1952b, 21, gives the names of the first
‘Accademia de’ Musici detta de’ Febi Armonici’ in 1655: Antonio and Angelica
Generoli (from Rome), Catharina Gabrieli, Angela Visconti, Francesco Cirillo,
Francesco Sarleti and, for a short time in 1656, also Paolo Russo. Generoli had
travelled to Rome in February 1654, to try and increase the number of musicians, with
the assistance of Giacomo Carissimi.
19
S. Bartolomeo was destroyed during the Masaniello revolution in 1647 and rebuilt in
1652 by Oñate, and it depended on the governors of the S. Casa degli Incurabili, to
whom was paid the jus repræsentandi (the same tradition as the corrals in Spain). See
Prota-Giurleo 1962a, 123–43; D’Alessandro 1984, 418.
20
See Fabris 2005. Here I discuss the additions of new music, possibly by Provenzale,
for the Neapolitan production (the score in I-McNoseda A 28 corresponds to the
Statira libretto printed in Naples in 1666, and 15 Arie della Statira are copied in the
MS I-Nc 33.4.21. The style of the additions is very different from Cavalli’s in the
partially autograph score in I-Vnm, Cl.IV, 372).
21
The members of the Accademia were Angela Angelotti, Francesco Bevilacqua,
Antonia Bucella, Lorenzo Colli, Giuseppe Petrucci, Francesco Sarleti (the only
remaining from the previous group of Armonici) and Annibale Brandone. They were
the performers of the operas by Provenzale in the years 1657–58. Gregorio was the
father of Gennaro delle Chiavi, architect and collaborator of Provenzale. See Prota-
Giurleo 1952b, 23; D’Alessandro 1984, 420.
22
Copy in I-Bu V, Tab. I.F.III.50/7. See Bianconi and Walker 1975, 386; Bianconi
1979, 51; D’Alessandro 1984, 546 footnote 132; listed in Sartori 25,237.
23
Libretto in I-Bc 7387 (Verona, Merlo, 1665).
24
‘Seconda impressione con Prologo, & Intermedij nuovi, e con qualche aggionta, e
mutatione per maggior novità … Questo mio Drama nacque alle Scene del Teatro
Grimano: si estese ad altre da noi più remote: hora la Fortuna a quelle di Bologna lo
scorge’: libretto in I-Bc 7386 (Venice, Giuliani, 1657).
25
We have not only copies of the libretto (Venice, 1656), Sartori 3,126, but also
Cavalli’s score (I-Vnm), which has been recently studied by Hendrik Schulze (‘The
1657 Production of Francesco Cavalli’s Artemisia’, paper read at the Biennial
Conference on Baroque Music, Dublin 2000: cf. Schulze 2004). On the autograph
scores and Venetian performances of Cavalli’s operas, see: Glover 1978; Jeffery 1980;
Glixon and Glixon 1992.
26
‘AVVISO AL LETTORE. Questa volta hai un Drama, che non può se non piacerti. Il
poeta è virtuoso, molto più il compositore della musica, che fu il Sig. Francesco
Provenzale, tuo Napolitano, quale, se ti seppe allettare nel Ciro, Xerse et Artemisia,
molto più lo farà in questo, dove ha procurato di mostrare meglio la vivacità del suo
spirito’: libretto in I-Nc Rari 10.9.10 (1). Sartori 13,068; Melisi 1985, 1,378. See
Prota-Giurleo 1958a, 55; Bianconi 1979, 52; D’Alessandro 1984, 420–21.
27
Sartori 13,068 and 13,069.
28
‘La Gara de’ Sette Pianeti, opera rappresentata in musica nella sala del Palazzo Reale’
(see description in Cirino 1659, 113 ff). The text of this Drama in musica was written
by Giuseppe Castaldo, who would later collaborate with Provenzale in connection

with his sacred dramas.
29
Prota-Giurleo 1952b, 25; D’Alessandro 1984, 547, footnote 143.
30
Copy in I-PLPagano and I-RvatAllacci. Sartori 5, 664; Donato 1987, 608. See Pagano
1969. I wish to thank Roberto Pagano for allowing me to study his copy.
31
Copies in I-Plcom; RvatAllacci; US-Wc. Sartori 25, 240; Donato 1987, 609.
32
The only copy in I-Bu; see Sartori 3, 127; Donato 1987, 609.
33
Copies in I-Plcom; RvatAllacci; Rn. Sartori 23, 116; Donato 1987, 609.
34
Pagano 1969, 451. On this circuit of Venice–Naples–Palermo and the role of the
Unione dei Musici di Santa Cecilia in Palermo, see also Tedesco 1992, 26–27.
35
New methodological perspectives are traced in Tedesco 2005.
36
A reference to Colli’s role in the operatic connection between Naples and Palermo is
given in Pagano 1988.
37
D’Arpa 1988, 19–36: 30–31; Tedesco 1992, 242.
38
Quoted in Prota-Giurleo 1952b, 26.
39
Naples, Archivio Storico Diocesano, Processi matrimoniali, sub anno 1660, ‘F’:
Magnifico Francesco Provenzale-Candida Basile; document quoted in Chapter 2.
40
Copy in I-Nc Rari 10.4.1(5) (see Melisi 1985, 381); another in I-RvatAllacci.
41
If this Spanish gentleman, described by Prota-Giurleo just as a ‘venditore delle galee’,
were the same Pietro Velasco Marchese di Fresno, brother-in-law to the viceroy
Peñaranda, the entire project of producing the Cloridea as a celebration of the Spanish
nation in Naples, not to mention the viceroy’s family, would make more sense. See
D’Alessandro 1984, 547, footnote 156. He might still be identified as the composer
Pietro Velasco, however, who published two sacred music books in Sabino’s lifetime:
Messa e vespri a 4 op.3 (Naples, Beltrano, 1632) and Messa e vespri a 4, Mottetti a 2–
3 op.4 (Naples, Beltrano, 1636); listed in Larson and Pompilio 1983, 130–31.
42
Prota-Giurleo 1952b, 31; Prota-Giurleo 1958a, 54–55.
43
Bianconi 1979, 52, lists Cloridea in ‘1660 (December?)’. D’Alessandro 1984, 421,
records a festival on 28 November, starting with a Te Deum sung in the Duomo at the
request of the viceroy for the Peace of the Pyrenees, and concluding at the Palazzo
Reale: ‘per esser giorno natalitio del serenissimo principe di Spagna fu rappresentata
in Palazzo una bella commedia’.
44
See the modern edition of the score preserved in I-Nc Rari 6.7.5: Filippo Coppola and
Manuel García Bustamante, El robo de Proserpina y sentencia de Júpiter, ed. by L. A.
Gonzáles Marín (Barcelona, 1996). My hypothesis is that the role of Coppola, as
maestro of the Real Cappella, was just to re-arrange a score already prepared by a
Spanish composer and performed in Spain; see my review in Revista de musicología,
XIX (1996), 421–25.
45
For example: Il Finto incanto. Comedia Spagnuola Tradotta, accresciuta, & abbellita
dal Dottor Cesare De Leonardis di Serino (Naples, Passaro, 1674): ‘quando una
Comedia tanto famosa, e che tanto ha potuto meritare, andasse per le bocche di pochi,
anzi pochissimi professori della lingua spagnuola, e non più tosto sotto gli occhi di
tutti nel nobilissimo idioma italiano. L’ho tradotta dunque, acciò, che possa ciascuno
contemplare col pensiero, quello, che non meritò di vedere, quando fu rappresentata’
(f. iii). The following operas, based on original Spanish comedias, were produced at
Naples: Il secondo Scipione (1681); La Psiche (1683) and Il Fetonte (1685) after
Calderón. On the latter see D’Antuono 2000.
46
The libretto was printed by Bua & Camagna in ‘Napoli e Palermo’, 1667; copies in I-
PLc and B-Bc; see Donato 1987, 610.
47
According to Parrino 1730, III, 131. Quoted by D’Alessandro 1984, 547.
48
In the meantime Gennaro delle Chiavi, Gregorio’s son, had started his collaboration as
architect to the Armonici.
49
‘Fra scritti più raguardevoli dalla sua penna, mi venne all’occhio il presente dramma
… Il furto, quand’è glorioso ha titolo o d’affetto o di servitù … Lo dato alla luce,
perché non conveniva la carcere, a chi è tutto splendore, et i signori Armonici, come
Febi, non amano, se non il corteggio delle stelle. Tali sempre sono state l’opere sue
nel cielo di questo nobil teatro. Resti dunque contenta si feliciti con la sua virtù,
mentre si gloria d’haver per assistente un Apollo così sublime, per cui spera nel futuro
autunno di rappresentare nuova vendemmia di Muse’: Naples, Cavallo (‘ad istanza di
Francesco Massari’), 1667; copies in I-Bu; FnPalatino; Moe; Rc; Rn; Vgc; see Sartori
4,106; Bianconi 1979, 56.
50
D’Alessandro 1984, 428 and footnotes 210–11 (quoting Rubino, Notitia di quanto è
occorso in Napoli (1666), III, 491–94).
51
Rolland 1895; Goldschmidt 1905–06.
52
On this aspect see Croce 1891 (19163), 84–87; Coniglio 1967, 300–01; Maione 1997a
and his edition of Muscettola’s Il bordello sostenuto (Maione 1997b).
53
‘Domenica 2 settembre, dal Principe di Cursi Cicinelli fu fatta rappresentare una
commedia a Mergoglino in musica nella sua casa che ivi tiene piggionata, e vi convitò
il Viceré, Cavalieri e Dame. Ciulla de Caro era capo di quelle recitanti’: Fuidoro
1934–39, I, 1674, quoted by Prota-Giurleo 1958a, 62.
54
Labrot 1993, 237. Nothing more is known about the Cicinelli villa save the collection
of paintings. The present-day Palazzo Cicinelli, in Via dei Tribunali, is not the one
rented in Mergellina for the spectacle: see description of the palace in Pane 1970, II,
154.
55
See Galasso 1982b, I, 168–74.
56
In the prologue of the Neapolitan libretto, the composer of Eliogabalo is erroneously
indicated as Francesco Cavalli; the previous Venetian performance in 1668 was
attributed to G. A. Boretti (Bianconi 1979, 58).
57
MS I-Nn San Martino 268; mod. ed. in Maione 1997b: Giulia de Caro ‘Famosissima
Armonica’ e ‘Il Bordello Sostenuto’ del Signor Don Antonio Muscettola (Naples,
1997), with new documents on Giulia’s life and activities (see also Maione 1997a).
58
Surviving works are in I-Nc Coll. 35.4.15: Aspettatemi sentite, Consigliato dal duolo,
Deh miratemi, Era de’ fiori la staggion ridente, Sciolt’ in lagrime, Qui sta il punto.
Giovanni Cicinnelli, Duca di Grottaglie, was also the author of the ‘prologo’ sung by
Ciulla in Marcello in Siracusa and part of L’Eraclio (1673). In Fuidoro 1934–39, I
(September 1673): ‘Ciulla di Caro tiene presentemente tre amanti, il Sig. Prospero
Barigiani, il Duca della Regina, nipote del Regente Galeota, che sono li corrivi, e D.
Giovanni Cicinelli, figlio del Principe di Cursi, suo favorito, senza spesa’; see Prota-
Giurleo 1962b, 293–303: 301–03.
59
‘Dal sensuale vecchio Cicinelli ... fu fatta venire la Ciulla de Caro, famosa e vecchia
puttana, con un’altra sua compagna, e cantarono con far stendere la lor voce dalla
bocca di due instrumenti mathaemati, come due muti di stagno alquanto lunghi di
canna e grossi nel fine del quale sono come due muti di taverna ma grandi da dodici
palmi di ruota e voti, che porta la voce due miglii lontano e più col silenzio della
notte’: Fuidoro 1934–39, I (29 June 1674); quoted by Croce 1891; Prota-Giurleo
1952a; Maione 1997a, 69.
60
A Father Orazio ‘l’Abate’ was employed at the Oratorio dei Girolamini in the years
1628–31, according to Di Giacomo 1921, 135.
61
‘spiccando maggiormente il concerto con l’assistenza del Signor Oratio da Fermo’.
62
Copy in I-Nc 3.8.12 C.
63
‘Comparisce alla luce del mondo la STELLIDAURA, Melodramma del Signor Andrea
Perruccio, e Fardella, Giovine, che per dartelo a conoscere, basterammi il dire, altro
non mancarli, che una buona Fortuna. Viene questa raddolcita dalla Musica del Signor
Francesco Provenzale, virtuoso, che per Genio naturale nel recitativo, sa con la
melodia fugare ogni rozzezza di verso, onde se in quella scorgessi qualche difetto, non
stratiarlo, mentre per la Musica vi vogliono l’Accadenze (cadences). Stimo, che la tua
benignità s’adoprerà, che non venghi questa criticata da qualche lingua maldicente,
che sarebbe un’empietà incrudelire contro una Bambina: l’Autore, comandato, s’è
indotto a stamparla, atteso, non sa neanche ambire, avendo composte più opere degne
d’andar per le mani de i più eruditi del mondo. Se vuoi, la potrai sentire per mezzo di
cinque Cigni, che fanno col canto, incantare la stessa SIRENA; anzi, per darti compita
soddisfattione, è stata concertata dal Signor’ Horatio da Fermo, incegno, che molto
bene conosci. Dunque ricevi con cortesia, ciò che ti presenta questo mio Amico. Se
per fine per non mostrami appassionato, so che lo farai degno di un lauro, per non
soggettarlo più a folgori de suppiattoni. Vivi felice.’
64
See Strazzullo 1955, 106 and Prota-Giurleo 1955, 273. The last adds some
biographical information on Benestante. He was a priest, soon engaged as a private
teacher of music (a contract is signed as early as in 1640). Before the new production
of Stellidaura, in 1681, he had encountered differences of opinion with the new
maestro of the Real Cappella, Ziani. In Spain (Archivo General de Simancas,
Secretarías Provinciales, leg.46, doc.233) is preserved a Súplica de Carlos Benestante,
músico de la Capilla de Nápoles (1678). Benestante died in 1698.
65
Andrea Perrucci (Palermo, 1651 – Naples, 1704) is considered the foremost dramatic
writer active in Naples during the second half of the seventeenth century. After
graduating in literature and law at the University of Naples, he started his career as
poet, writer and librettist at the Teatro S. Bartolomeo, where he was engaged officially
from 1678. On Perrucci, see the introduction by Anton Giulio Bragaglia to the modern
edition of Dell’arte rappresentativa, premeditata e all’improvviso (Florence, 1961)
and Tufano 2001.
66
‘L’Opere dunque in Musica, o introdotte, o rinovate a nostri tempi, come quelle, che
hanno più del tragico, meritano i più vaghi, e i più belli apparati di colonnate, camere,
sale, anticamere, ricchissime gallerie, maestose città, vedute di mare, & altre,
introducendosi in esse per lo più Imperadori, Regi, Principi…o siano introdotte Deità,
che necessariamente devono andare accompagnate dall’ostentazione di vedute
superbissime, & ammirabili, e quanto più maestoso sarà il Teatro, e stravagante la
veduta, tanto più s’accosterà al verisimile, e si darà al chiodo del desiderato diletto,
vedansi i festini fatti in Roma, Vienna, Toscana, Napoli & in tante Città d’Italia’: p.
74 (Regula I). See also p. 87: Regula IV.
67
‘È necessario avvertire ne’ drami per musica molte cose, le quali non così facilmente
possono sapere i poeti, se non sono musici, o se non sono loro insegnate con molta
accuratezza, perché io simil materie l’ho pratticate, e so quante volte sono stato
costretto io medemo (che pur mi diletto di musica) mutare i versi a correzzione di

maestri di cappella, e so quanto sia riuscito difficile, anzi impossibile ad altri poeti …
Primieramente si consideri, che il Drama in musica dev’esser brevissimo, pochi gli
atti, meno le scene, pochissimi i versi … I recitativi s’aborriscano quanto la peste, e si
ponga solo il necessario, che il popolo no’ gli ama … L’ariette dunque campeggino
né sia alcuna scena priva di esse … Il principio delle scene si può far con l’arie ma è
meglio il recitativo, così l’aria sarà più grata. Gl’interlocutori sieno differenti cioè non
sieno tali che dovessero in buona musica esser tutti soprani. Pensisi alle parti
principali acciò non restino inferiori alle più umili, e si procuri che tutti, cantino,
perché i cantori bramano con raggione d’haver la loro parte bastante a farsi onore, e
particolarmente i musici famosi, i quali si recarebbono a gran vergogna non aver parte
a loro convenevole. Si conosce per esperienza, che l’opere in musica allora riescono
bene veramente, quando il poeta, e ‘l maestro di cappella si uniscono, e si sanno i
musici che hanno da recitare’: quoted in Fabbri 1990, 263.
68
The manuscript score in I-Nc bears the title La Lisaura. On the performance, probably
during Carnival 1673, see Bianconi 1979, 63. The author of the libretto is the
esteemed poet Baldassarre Pisani, but there is no evidence that he was also responsible
for the prologue. See the analysis and transcription of the prologue in Fabris 2003b.
69
Croce 19163, 123, refers to a poem in ‘lengua napolitana’ by an obscure poet of the
late seventeenth century dedicated to the celebrated singer Matteuccio (Matteo
Sassano), in which characters alternate lines in their respective languages: ‘No
Spagnuolo’, ‘No Calavrese’, ‘No vecchiarello Sciorentino’ and Giorgio ‘lo Tedisco’.
On the role of the Spaniard in Neapolitan opera, see Fabris 1996–97.
70
‘Tanto pratticate dagli antichi … e tanti altri oggi si pratticano in diversi linguaggi,
havendoli fatti in Toscano, altri in Napolitano … e molti altri autori pratticandolo per
lo più i forastieri per deridere i Napolitani vanagloriosi, se ne sono fatti anche in
Spagnuolo, in Romanesco, in Calabrese ed in Siciliano’: Perrucci 1699, ed. Bragaglia
1961, 210 ff.
71
Perrucci 1699, ed. Bragaglia 1961, 210 ff.
72
Bragaglia 1961, 36, quotes Mongitore (1707): ‘Exinde prosa expressa a Francisco
Massaro; hoc titulo edita, nempè: La viva sepolta overo La Stellidaura Comedia
tradotta dal verso. Neapoli apud Franciscum Mollum 1690, in 12’. The same
Bragaglia also quotes two more librettos of Stellidaura (1678 and 1679), printed in
Genoa and Rome, which I have not found (although they suggest further productions
of the opera outside Naples).
73
See Romagnoli 1995.
74
In Massenzio, the opera produced and performed by Giulia De Caro in 1674 just at the
start of the Messina revolution, a choir of soldiers celebrates the triumph of
Costantino-Astorga: a blatantly clear allegorical allusion.
75
Faustini-Fasini 1935, 299 ff. gives documents on the early career of Nicolino.
76
See 18 November 1694 (ASBN, Sp.S., 748), 28 May 1698 (ASBN, P., 1051) and 5
October 1699 (ASBN, P., 1076).
77
Shearon 1993, I, 12–13.
78
Pagano 1972, 118.
79
Tedesco 1992, 102 ff.
80
Bianconi 1979, 22 and 70–71. There are two scores of the opera, one in I-Nc Rari
6.4.19 (olim 32.3.16) and the other in Montecassino 124.A.33. In addition there are a
few arias in the anthology I-Nc 33.5.36 and in I-Gc MS B.2b.49, the latter dated 1679.
Chapter Six
Chamber and Instrumental Music
The Chamber Cantatas and Related Forms
In the bibliographical catalogues of Francesco Provenzale’s works appearing in

encyclopædias to date, considerable space is devoted to vocal chamber works such
as arias, canzonettas and cantatas. These were studied in 1925 by Guido Pannain,
and in 1987 by Teresa Gialdroni. The following list comprises the works in this
category commonly attributed to Provenzale (see description in the Catalogue):
1. Amarilli crudel, fiero mio bene, ‘Cantata con violini. del Sig. D. Ciccio Provenzale’, S,
2 vln, bc, I-Mc Noseda P 1-20
2. Care selve, amati orrori, ‘Cantata con violini. Del Sig.r D. Ciccio Provenzale’, S, 2
vln, bc, I-Mc Noseda P 1-21
3. All’impero d’amore, Aria, S, bc, I-Nc Cantate 112 (olim 33.4.12), pp. 281–87
4. Gionto il fatal dì che Clorindo, G min., Cantata-lamento MS, bc, I-Nc Cantate 112
(olim 33.4.12), II, ff. 1–23
5. Squarciato appena havea, Aria, S, bc, I-Nc Cantate 112 (olim 33.4.12), pp. 25–56
6. A che mirarmi o stelle, Aria, S, bc, I-Nc Cantate 112 (olim 33.4.12)
7. La mia speme è vanità, D, Aria, S, bc, I-Nc Cantate 112 (olim 33.4.12), pp. 220–49
8. Sdegnosetta che vuoi tu, Aria, S, bc, I-Nc Cantate 112 (olim 33.4.12), pp. 276–80
9. Compatitemi amanti a 2, ‘Provenzale’, Duet, 2 S, bc, I-Nc Cantate 114 (olim 33.4.14),
pp.126–28
10. Pensieri che fate ‘Provenzale’, Duet, 2 S, bc, I-Nc Cantate 114 (olim 33.4.14), II, pp.
129–36
11. Voi ombre notturne, ‘Dialogo del Sig.r Francesco Provenzale’, Duet (Tirsi and Clori),
I-Nc Cantate 2: 237 (olim 22.2.5)
These compositions have almost always been considered as a whole. But in fact
they do not form a homogeneous corpus in terms of either style or form, and it
seems impossible to recognize in them a single authorial voice. Teresa Gialdroni
sees in their formal variety ‘the principal characteristic of the group of
compositions conserved in Naples’ (‘la caratteristica principale del gruppo di
composizioni conservate a Napoli’).1
The only compositions that we can confirm with certainty as having been composed
by Francesco Provenzale are the Dialogo Voi ombre notturne (I-Nc) and the two
cantatas in I-Mc,2 purchased in Naples by the noble Milanese collector Gustavo Adolfo
Noseda in the mid-nineteenth century.3 The authenticity of the two Milanese pieces is
borne out by the title’s attribution: ‘Del Sig. D. Ciccio Provenzale’ (the styling also
appears in payment documents of the Bank of Naples in connection with a house of the
Fathers Girolamini rented by ‘D. Ciccio Provenzale’ around 1671). These are also
the only works attributed to Provenzale that are concerted with two violins. These
cantatas were studied in 1901 by Hugo Riemann, who sought to identify their
relationship with operatic writing of the late seventeenth century.4 The two Noseda
cantatas are probably late compositions dating from the last years of the
seventeenth century: indeed, their structure is already that prescribed for the
cantata da camera of the 1700s, with the symmetrical alternation of two recitatives
and two arias after an instrumental introduction. The two compositions have the
same origin and the same format, and are in the same hand.5
Amarilli crudel, fero mio bene (see Figure 16a) is a cantata for soprano with two
violins and basso continuo, given in score (31 pp.) in the following scheme:
Table 6.1 Scheme of the cantata Amarilli crudel (MS in I-Mc)
Instrumental introduction C Allegro C min.

Recitative 1 ‘Amarilli crudel, fiero mio bene’ C G min.
Aria 1 ‘Nato appena, mesto e languido’ 3/8 Adagio F min.
(two parts with da
capo)
Recitative 2 ‘Deh riedi ormai adorata’ C C min.
Aria 2 ‘Riedi ch’il prato e il rio’ C Allegro (two parts) C min.
The bucolic text is in the style of the Arcadians:
Recitative 1 Amarilli crudel, fiero mio bene,

se le mie crude pene
non placan del tuo cuor la crudeltate,
che ancor vuoi star lontana,
deh, senti almen pietade
del prato a te si caro,
del rio che già fu specchio alla tua fronte,
e del bosco, e del monte,
stanza di vaghi, e di canori augelli;
tutto or variò sembianza
per l’amara distanza
de cari lumi tuoi vezzosi, e belli.
Aria 1 Nato appena, mesto e languido,

dal tuo stelo cade il fiore;
più non mormora, ma torbido,
tutto brutto, e pien d’orrore,
il ruscello al mar sen va.
Et il monte et il boschetto
senza frondi ha ogni pianta,
né l’augello v’ha diletto
ma sen fugge, e non vi canta:
sol sospira, che non mira
l’adorata tua beltà.
Chamber and Instrumental Music 189
Recitative 2 Deh riedi ormai adorata

Amarilli, amata e cara,
deh, non essere avara
di tanto ben ch’a noi,
al bosco, al prato, al rio esser tu puoi
con la presenza sol de tuoi bei rai:
poiché da gl’occhi tuoi
riceve tempra il nostro cielo,
che nel prato ogni stelo
s’adornerà di nuovi, e vaghi fiori,
rischiararà gl’umori
il ruscello, et il bosco,
e il mont’opaco, e fosco,
rinoveran le foglie,
riederan gl’augelletti,
e le mie fiere doglie,
si cangeranno in gioie e bei diletti.
Aria 2 Riedi ch’il prato, e il rio

altro che te ben mio
non bramo, e non desio
per suo, per mio piacer.
Te chiedon gli arboscelli,

te cercano gl’augelli
te brama l’alma mia,
per più non si doler.
The recitatives have elaborate harmony, rich in chromaticism and modulations.

The arias, on the contrary, are less adventurous, and the voice is limited to its
plaintive dialogue with sighing violins. The theme of Aria 2 (Ex. 6.1) is richly
evocative and would not be inappropriate in other contrapuntal environments (for
example in Provenzale’s Mottetti), while the continuo presents the unambiguous
formula of the lamento (a descending tetrachord).
Ex. 6.1 Francesco Provenzale, Amarilli crudel, fiero mio bene (MS in I-Mc), aria 2,
‘Riedi ch’il prato’
The second cantata for soprano and two violins, Care selve, amati orrori (Figure
16b), also in score (32 pp.), can be subdivided as follows:
Table 6.2 Scheme of the cantata Care selve, amati orrori (MS in I-Mc)
Instrumental introduction C Allegro G min.

Aria 1 (a) ‘Care selve, amati orrori’ Lento G
(b)‘In voi dolente io veggio’ C
Recitative ‘Ecco l’alto cipresso’ C Eb
Aria 2 ‘Vorrei lasciar, oh Dio!’ 12/8 Adagio G min.
Here is the text:
Aria 1 Care selve, amati orrori,

che lo spirto di mia Clori
in voi serbate,
Ascoltate
il mio dolor.
In voi dolente io veggio

arsi i fiori, tetre l’ombre, e secchi i fonti.
Orridi e scoronati,
rimir’a voi dintorno
l’annosa quercia, il pino, il faggio, l’orno
che per dolor di Clori,
lascian coi rami al suol e frondi e fiori.
Recitative Ecco l’alto cipresso

Nel di cui tronco antico
lasciai, quando vivea la bella Clori,
e ‘l su bel nome impresso,
In quel pratello assisa
il mio canto ascoltò e mi rispose.
Qui di giacinti, e rose
il sen[o] si adornò si cinse il crine;
e qui di fresche brine,
colmi i novelli pomi a lei donai.
Ahi rimembranza! Ah, vista al cor funesta:
La fredda tomba è questa,
che le ceneri accoglie
della ninfa gentil, del mio tesoro,
che sovente spargea di frondi, e fiori,
ed inondai di pianto:
ed or di lei accanto,
per l’ultimo ristoro,
chieggio morte al dolor e pur non moro.
Aria 2 Vorrei lasciar, oh Dio!

In quella tomba anch’io
incenerito il cor d’ardor fedele.
Vorrei lasciar il cor in questa tomba,

così lo spirto amante
girar potrìa vagante
seguendo l’alma bella
ch’il fato mi rapì fiero e crudele
The two cantatas are similar even in the handling of the poetic text, even if the
second shows a less precise division between aria and recitative. Indeed, in Care
selve the rhyme-scheme is irregular both in the aria and in the recitative (arioso),
with occasional rhyming couplets or alternating rhymes, but often with the
insertion of unrhymed verses or ones of irregular length. The two cantatas are
chiefly narrative. At least one of their characters belongs to a famous literary
source, Battista Guarini’s Il pastor fido: Amarilli (with Mirtillo as the speaker),
while in the other one the shepherdess Clori appears (Tirsi speaks). The incipit of
Care selve, amati orrori echoes the beginning of Amarilli’s lament in Pastor fido,
Act II scene 5, ‘Care selve beate, / e voi solinghi e taciturni orrori’.6 This incipit
also recalls Orismondo’s first aria in Provenzale’s Stellidaura vendicante: ‘Ombre
care, amati orrori, / deh, scorgetemi, sorgete / a mirar il mio bel sole’. It is possible
that the references to Il pastor fido and similar old pastoral plays arose from the
use of these cantatas in academic surroundings or in particular places such as in
noble palaces.
We do not know the destination of the several seventeenth-century collections of
arias and cantatas now in the Biblioteca del Conservatorio in Naples.7 It is clear
that the great poets of the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries were still set to
music by Provenzale and his Neapolitan contemporaries: as an example, a
handwritten collection of Madrigali a 5 voci con istromenti by Cristoforo
Caresana, dated May 1687, survives in I-Nf, containing words by Battista Guarini,
Maria Caccianemici, Cesare Rinaldi, Francesco Scaglia, Livio Celiano (alias father
Angelo Grillo), Carlo Fiamma, Giovan Battista Leoni, Torquato Tasso and
Parabosco.8 It is also possible that the compositions in Provenzale’s manuscripts
were used personally by the composer with his colleagues in the course of his
duties as the viceroy’s maestro di cappella, as seems suggested by one of the
Noseda cantatas, Care selve, amati orrori: on a cartouche pasted onto the back of
the cover, on one side, is the name ‘Provenzale’ (in what seems an eighteenth-
century hand) and on the other, the names: ‘Gerace / Marchitelli / Ragazzi’. Two of
these, at least, Pietro Marchitelli and Angelo Ragazzi, were famous violinists at the
Real Cappella during the last years of the seventeenth century.9
Care selve, amati orrori is a composition in Provenzale’s mature style. The
melodies are constructed on chromatic scales over complex harmonies in the basso
continuo. The instrumental introduction is here expanded in scale almost to the
proportions of a sinfonia. Elsewhere, the close attention paid to the harmony is
particularly clear in the second half of the recitative, with its remorseless
descending chromatic lines. An analysis of the text suggests allusions in both
Provenzale’s cantatas to compositions ‘per serenata’. The elements typical of this
genre are in fact present: the night, the marine atmosphere, the pastoral names
quoted. It can be no coincidence that Alessandro Scarlatti’s serenata Il giardino di

amore (composed around 1705–06), starts with the following verses of Venere solo:
Care selve, amati orrori,

Rispondete, per pietà
E, commosse al mio martoro
Quel bell’idolo ch’adoro
Dite, oh Dio, dov’è, che fa …
Scarlatti’s music shows similar strategies to Provenzale’s setting, which includes

among others chromatic patterns and violins echoing the voice.
Ex. 6.2 Francesco Provenzale, Care selve, amati orrori (MS in I-Mc), recitative, ‘Ahi
rimembranza’
At least another eight compositions, preserved in I-Nc, have conventionally been

attributed to Provenzale, but their authorship is not certain. Indeed, in many cases
the indication ‘Provenzale’ in the manuscripts seems to have been added much
later, whether by the nineteenth-century librarian Francesco Rondinella, or by the
twentieth-century librarian, Anna Mondolfi. Although they are commonly called
‘cantatas’, according to Teresa Gialdroni this term does not appear in the
manuscript sources.10 This is a heterogeneous group of compositions lacking unity
in form and style, where a variety of genres is recognizable, including cantatas and
lamenti in the Roman style, arias taken from operas, plus canzonettas and duets.
It is clear from the outset that the duet for two sopranos, Pensieri che fate, is not
by Provenzale,11 not least because it appears in a large number of mid-seventeenth-
century Roman sources with conflicting attributions to Luigi Rossi, Giacomo
Carissimi and Marco Marazzoli. In any case, it seems clear that the composer is
Roman.12 The manuscript containing this duet (and another, Compatitemi amanti,
also attributed to Provenzale),13 I-Nc Cantate 114 (olim 33.4.14), is a large
anthology with several anonymous pieces and others, for the most part, written by
musicians active in Rome around the mid-seventeenth century, including
Carissimi, Antonio Farina, Lelio Colista and Carlo Caproli. Caproli’s Bambino
vezzoso is headed ‘Per il Natale 1646’, which is surely too early for Provenzale.
However, the attribution to Provenzale of Compatitemi amanti does seem to be in
an authentic seventeenth-century hand. It has a short and fairly inelegant text:14
Compatitemi amanti:
era libero già di schiavitù,
anzi giurai di non amar mai più.
The duet is composed in a style typical of Provenzale, reminding us of the

angels’ dialogues in his motets and in La colomba ferita. The writing of the two
voices is in thirds and always homophonic, in triple time. It is possible that it is a
duet from an opera or a melodramma sacro, if not by Provenzale then by some
contemporary composer close to him.
Of the other cantatas attributed to Provenzale, almost all come from the same
anthology in I-Nc, the manuscript Cantate 112 (olim 33.4.12). This source chiefly
contains works by Roman composers of the mid-seventeenth century, including
Luigi Rossi, Antimo Liberati, Mario Savioni, Marco Marazzoli, Marc’Antonio
Pasqualini, Giacomo Carissimi and Carlo Caproli. The presence of Francesco
Provenzale is suspicious from both geographical and chronological points of view.
In fact, the name ‘Provenzale’ was added systematically by the librarian of the
twentieth century, Anna Mondolfi Bossarelli, who also attributed in this way other
works to Provenzale not currently considered to form part of his output.
But there is at least one other cantata, in a different manuscript in I-Nc (Cantate
2: 237 olim 22.2.5), that actually should be a true work by Provenzale: Voi ombre
notturne, a ‘Dialogo di Tirsi e Clori’.15 This is a quite old-fashioned composition
for soprano and tenor that would seem to pay homage to Monteverdi, and not only
in terms of its subject.16 But it also shares many characteristics with Provenzale’s
operatic writing. The structure is as follows:
Duet (‘A 2’) Voi ombre notturne 3/2; D min.

guidatemi a Tirsi / Clori
se luce nemica
mi neiga il gioire
tu notte più amica
non farmi languire.
Tirsi Incognito è il sentiero, C; 3/2; A min.

non so dove mi guidi!
O cieli o stelle
se pur fia ch’io ritrovi
l’adorato mio bene,
faran gara al gioir anco le pene.
‘Recitativo’ S’in questo nero speco C; A min.
Clori sola
solo guidommi amor,
guidommi un cieco
ma se cïeco e bendato
fra caverne d’orrori,
tu sii mia scorta amor,
tu mio duce, mio caro Tirsi.
Duet (‘A due’) Mia cara / Mio caro, ove tu sei 3; C; E min.
che vagando affatichi i passi miei?
Ma s’amor cossì vuole,
godasi pur fra l’ombre il mio bel sole.
‘A due’ Oscure tenebre, 3; D min.
atre caligini,
oh, quanto funebri
siete al mio cor.
Dense caligini,
mostri più orridi
nutrisco al sen.
‘Recitativo’
Tirsi Crederò che m’inganni … C
Clori E mi dirò tradita …
Tirsi … la mia adorata Clori?
Clori … del mio fedele Tirsi?
Tirsi / Clori No ch’amor mi difende./ No la fe’ mi protegge
Duet (‘A 2’) Quanto bella è d’amor dura è la legge, 3; C; D min.
nel bel regno di Cupido
cor infido non vi stà
sol vi regna fedeltà.
Andrò per queste rupi
chiedendo aita ai venti,
girarò questi lidi
finch’abbia il ciel pietà de miei tormenti.
In amor non si disperi C; 3; D min.
chi s’ingolfa, o ciechi amanti,
mentr’incogniti sentieri
sol ci togliono da’ pianti.
né fido cor si crede,
ché chi è stato fedel perda la fede.
Provenzale’s ‘signature’ is recognizable in some elements, many of them

theatrical, of this complex cantata. Chief among them is the widespread use of the
passacaglia, alongside the descending tetrachord of lament and also the frequent
changes of metre. The expressive climax occurs at the phrases (presented by the
two characters with each line in alternation) referring to Hell: ‘Oscure tenebre /
atre caligini, / oh, quanto funebri / siete al mio cor. / Dense caligini, / mostri più
orridi / nutrisco al sen’. We seem to be in the middle of a melodramma sacro such
as La colomba ferita, with the usual dialogue/argument between the Angel and the
Devil. Also, the short lines (with versi sdruccioli) seem typical of an opera libretto.
There seems to be some kind of connection between the texts of the two Noseda
cantatas, the Tirsi and Clori dialogue and the lament of Lilla abandoned by
Clorindo, the subject of the following cantata, Gionto il fatal dì, in the same
Neapolitan manuscript (I-Nc 33.4.12). The piece is scored for mezzo-soprano (C2
clef) and basso continuo. In this case, too, the attribution to ‘Provenzale’ in the
manuscript may well be reliable.
Recitative 1 Gionto il fatal dì C; G min.
che Clorindo vezzoso
da Lilla si partì,
la sconsolata amante
di Sirena alle sponde
parea statua di marmo
assisa a uno scoglio.
Il diluvio di perle
che da gli occhi versò
diede indizio bastante
che ben era costei
Con un languido ‘ahimé!’
l’occhio piangente aprì
e al suon de sospir suoi cantò
così:
‘Aria’‘Piano’ Fidi amanti chi vivrà C; G min.
per saper che cos’è pena?
l’alma mia ve lo dirà.
fidi amanti chi vorrà.
Prova la mia costanza 3/2; B

‘2.astrofa.Passacaglio’ Donne mie, vi posso dir: C; G min.
chi non ha lungi il suo bene
dir non può che sia martir.
Recitative 2 Barbaro fato e come, C; F Æ G min.
Senza la vita mia
giusto è ch’io mora,
che più non viva giorni tanto rei:
uccidetemi voi, tormenti miei.
Senza Clorindo, oh Dio!
Con speme agonizante
e di contento priva:
Che ritrovino fine
mie penose ruine
già ch’ai sospiri trovo

uccidetemi voi tormenti miei.
Ma che dico inaccorta?
Vò mendicando morte
Ma se finir mia vita
Che concludo, che fò?
uccidetemi voi tormenti miei.
Recitative 3 Mentre la bella si dolea così
oppressa dal dolor, tacque, svenì
publicatrice del suo duolo intanto
tacque la voce e più parlò col pianto.
There can be no doubt that this cantata was written in Naples: the abandoned
Lilla is described ‘di Sirena alle sponde’, that is, on the shore of Parthenope-
Naples. Also in this case, the textual references in both the duet of Tirsi and Clori
and in this lament of Lilla could be considered compositions for serenata to be
performed during the summer festivals at Posillipo. The marking, ‘passacaglio’, is
very intriguing. The metrical scheme of the music, like that of the text, is most
irregular and varied. The scheme includes just one aria with three recitatives
(recitative–aria–recitative–recitative).
The other pieces headed ‘Provenzale’ in this same manuscript (33.4.12) would
seem to present a different case. Nineteenth- and twentieth-century attributions
also appear on compositions never taken into consideration by scholars as works
by Provenzale and may have been added just because they follow the first
composition in the manuscript, Gionto il fatal dì, which does seem authentic. In the
following list, an asterisk indicates works usually attributed to Provenzale:
Table 6.3 Content of the MS I-Nc, Cantate 112
1. Gionto il fatal dì*

2. Squarciato appena havea*
3. E poi cosa farete
4. O ch’io non son contenta
5. Havea la notte oscura
6. D’un erma spiaggia
7. Per quegli occhi insidiosi
8. A che mirarmi o stelle*
9. Come io viva Dio lo sa*
10. La mia speme è vanità*
11. Me l’ha detto chi lo sa
12. Sdegnosetta e che vuoi tu?*
13. All’impero d’amore*
As we have seen, there is no direct proof that these pieces were really written by
Provenzale, not even the ones considered genuine by Pannain (1925) and Gialdroni
(1987). Most of them are in fact arias and canzonettas in a typically Roman style,
like most of the pieces in the collection (in the style of Rossi, Savioni and
Marazzoli). But at least one of these compositions, however, deserves our
attention. Squarciato appena havea, already examined by Pannain and Gialdroni,
is a typical cantata-lament in Roman style, but with a particularity already noted by
those scholars, namely the presence of seven popular songs breaking in at various
points in the sequence of sections in recitative style. This led Gialdroni to invite an
ethnomusicologist to examine this ‘componente popolare’ of the cantata attributed
to Provenzale.17 She also established that the subject of the cantata is the famous
episode of the death of Gustavus Adolphus, the husband of Queen Christina of
Sweden, in Lützen in 1632, an episode also recalled in the cantata-lament by Luigi
Rossi, Un ferito cavaliero, whose text, perhaps not by chance, was compiled by the
Neapolitan preacher Giacomo Lubrano.
The bizarre Squarciato appena havea can be considered a satire or a parody of
Rossi’s famous cantata, re-proposing, but hyperbolically, the queen’s lament (she
seems to die in each strophe only to recover):
Squarciato appena havea,

con strali d’oro, i tenebrosi horrori
la rilucente aurora,
a rendere ai mortali,
col nuovo sole, il desiato giorno,
quando anelante e mesto
ecco che giunto
un messagger dolente
alla reggia s’invia
della Sveva regina,
e con flebile voce,
ferendo l’aura e i venti,
formò simili accenti:
(a) La Bella Margherita

l’è bianca come un fior
fa li la li lera.
Ammesso in un istante
il mesto ambasciator entro la reggia,
riverente s’inchina
a pie’ della Regina,
e con voce dolente,
così rivolta a quella
l’infelice favella:
(b) Fra’ Jacopino

a Roma se n’andava,
bordon in spalla
e in coll’una schiavina.
Udite appena le infelici nuove,

dunque misera, disse
il mio Gustavo è morto?

Dunque il gran Re de Gothi esangue cadde
invendicato al suolo,
e non m’uccide il duolo?
Poscia dal dolor vinta,
fatta pallida e smorta,
con voce flebile e soave,
da mover a pietà un cor crudele,
così seguì l’amare sue querele:
(c) Amici miei (fa la lera) son maritata

Cotognella già mesi sei.
g’ho trovà un Padoà fatt’a mio modo,
l’ è tanto buon baran bi ri bio
viva pur sto marìo.
Da cordoglio infinito allor percossa

la vedovella afflitta,
invocando Gustavo,
l’amato suo consorte
cadde vinta dal duol in grembo a morte.
Qui s’accrebber le strida
delle afflitte donzelle
ch’al ciel sen givan a impietosir le stelle.
Una però più saggia
e tra dolor più cara
all’egra moribonda
si volge a consolarla
e in tali accenti parla:
(d) Chi t’ha fatte queste scarpette

che ti stan sì ben, Girometta?
me l’ha fatte lo mio Amore
che mi vol gran ben, Girometta.
Mentre tacquero tutte

ad ascoltar la parlatrice intente
proruppe in un sospiro
quella bella languente
e volta al suo Gustavo col pensier,
quasi nuova Baccante,
grida cotai parole in un istante:
(e) Gallo di mona fiera non sei già tu

ch’a pena sceso sei, vuoi montar su.
Poscia pensier cangiando

par che torni in se stessa
e quasi accolga in seno
chi a morte la ferì
s’ode parlar così:
(f) Caccia su e ghigna

e non ti dubitar,
grugna e rigrugna.
Ch’io per me tanto
non me ne curo già,
pure ch’io ghigni
con quello che mi và.
Col mio fratellino,
che pare un Paladino,
voglio andar ghignando
per questo contorno,
a tutte l’ore
di notte e di giorno.
Così la bella delirando va,

sì che dal duol uccisa
sol cader desta in altrui pietà.
Onde morta ed esangue la Regina
mille donzelle accompagnar col pianto
s’odono, in mesto suono, all’infelice
ognuno così dice:
(g) Ơ morto Saione

voi grandi e piccini
cantate vicini
un falso bordone.
The purpose of popular songs breaking into a tragic text would seem to be to
create a paradoxical contrast. Indeed, they are not simply popular songs but
children’s lullabies and well-known airs in the repertory for voice and guitar of the
seventeenth century:18
Table 6.4 Popular tunes quoted in the cantata Squarciato appena havea (MS in I-Nc)
‘La Bella Margherita’ La Bella Margherita19
‘Fra Jacopino a Roma se n’andava’ Fra Jacopino
‘Amici miei (fa la lera) sono maritata Cotognella Cotognella

già mesi sei’
‘Chi t’ha fatto queste scarpette che ti stan Girometta

si ben Girometta’
‘Gallo di mona fiera non sei già tu’ Gallo di Mona fiore
‘Caccia su e ghigna e non ti dubitar’ Caccia su e ghigna/

Ballo di Mantova
‘È morto Saione voi grandi e piccini

cantate vicini un falsobordone’ Saione
This satirical use of popular songs as an ironic commentary on a tragic subject,

and also on a famous Roman composition, may suggest a Neapolitan provenance
for this piece, even if it was not by Provenzale. A similar example is provided by
the already cited collection of cantatas and serenatas (for one to two voices and
violins) by Simone Coya, L’amante impazzito con altre Cantate, e Serenate a solo,
et a due con violini (Milan, 1679). In this case the cantata that gives the title to the
collection is interrupted by the captions: ‘Si sona la Sfacciata’, ‘Si canta la
Sfacciata Napolitana’, and then the same for ‘la Siciliana’, ‘la Tarantella’, ‘la
Carrese’ and ‘la Pastorale’ (see Figure 3). Even though Coya’s collection was
printed in Milan, it can be considered the first printed collection of Neapolitan
cantatas and serenatas.20 The next and final one was issued by a frequent colleague
of Provenzale’s, Cataldo Amodei, Cantate a voce sola, libro primo, opera seconda,
di Cataldo Amodei, maestro di cappella di San Paolo Maggiore de’ molto
reverendi Padri Teatini, del Collegio di San Tomaso d’Aquino de’ molto reverendi
Padri Domenicani, e del Real Conservatorio di S. Honofrio di Napoli (Naples, De
Bonis ‘stampator arcivescovile’, 1685).21
The cantatas of Amodei (a Sicilian who moved to Naples, like the librettist
Andrea Perrucci) are virtuosic with none of the ironic or playful elements similar
to those seen in Neapolitan works embracing popular elements. But there is
another anonymous cantata-lament that works in much the same way as Squarciato
appena havea and thus could be by the same poet and composer. This is the
manuscript Lamento di Marinetta per la morte di Masaniello suo marito (I-Bc Q
47). The text is also copied in a manuscript attributed to the poet Melosio in the
Fondo Chigi at the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana. But the text of this Lamento,
inspired by another tragic event, the repression of the Masaniello Uprising, can
hardly be by the Roman Francesco Melosio given the frequent intrusion of
Neapolitan dialect. The composition records an actual funeral rite typical of the
Neapolitan lower classes.22 Whatever the case, the piece is strongly anti-Spanish
and may have been composed in the same years as the revolution, for example by a
Neapolitan exile mixing in French circles in Rome.23 This brings us back to the
question of the lack of biographical information about Provenzale in the years of
his youth before 1654, perhaps as a result of his support of the revolution. But this
is mere supposition and offers little help in attributing this interesting composition.
The considerations made thus far about the authentic or apocryphal compositions
attributed to Provenzale allow some generalization about the cantata da camera in
seventeenth-century Naples. As revealed by Mauro Amato’s statistical
investigation of some forty manuscript collections dating from 1665–90, and at
present in the Biblioteca del Conservatorio in Naples,24 the origins both of the
manuscripts and of their repertories are chiefly Roman. There is a small percentage
of works by Neapolitans variously added to the Roman core. There are also some
collections imported from Venice and the Veneto.25
While the typologies and functions of Roman cantata anthologies have received
much critical attention,26 and there are also interesting studies on the production of
cantatas by individual seventeenth-century composers such as Luigi Rossi and

Alessandro Stradella,27 in contrast, hardly any work has been carried out on the
Neapolitan cantata of this period. It is consequently very difficult to distinguish a
Neapolitan style (except, of course, in the use of dialect) as opposed to a Roman or
Venetian cantata of the same period. Instead, scholars have focused attention on
the first half of the eighteenth century, when ‘secular cantatas for solo voice
flourished significantly in Naples’ and ‘in Naples, as in other centres such as Rome
and Venice, the cantata became the second focus of interest for a generation of
musicians who inherited the tradition of Alessandro Scarlatti and represents the
most refined, intimate and elitist aspect of that Neapolitan style which finds its
most well-known and celebrated expression in theatre’.28
The studies that have appeared thus far (almost exclusively dissertations) on the
production of cantate da camera by musicians such as Scarlatti, Fago, Pergolesi,
Vinci, Sarro, Porpora and Leo have demonstrated the importance and diffusion of
the repertory,29 even if we lack a synthetic overview of it.30 But the lack of study of
the earlier period causes problems, not least in terms of defining what ‘cantata’
might actually mean.31 After studying 294 compositions by Luigi Rossi defined as
‘cantatas’ (Rossi was trained in Naples even though he died in Rome in 1653),
Eleanor Caluori has identified six different formal types within the genre:32 binary;
rounded binary; ternary; rondo; lamento; ‘aria in più parti’ (i.e. a canzonetta or aria
in diverse and multiple sections); and free form in several parts.
These types can be found in all the compositions attributed to Francesco
Provenzale discussed thus far. However, the questions posed by the commissioning
and use of cantate da camera in Naples during the Spanish period are much more
complex and varied.
During the last forty years of the seventeenth century, we can observe a shift
from the absolute predominance of the Roman model of Rossi, Carissimi and
Marazzoli to the creation of an autonomous Neapolitan native style drawing upon
the experience of Venetian opera, whose arias were often easily extracted and
adapted for other uses.
Cantatas and similar pieces seem to have been performed in a number of
different environments, including academies, aristocratic palaces, and middle-class
homes, in particular those of lawyers, famous in Naples and often given the
nickname of ‘paglietta’ (‘little straw’).33 But we also find them in the viceroy’s
court, the open spaces of the popular festivals, the church and even the
monasteries.34
From 1660 to 1680, a group of Neapolitan musicians seems to have specialized
in compositions such as cantatas and serenatas with violins (the two genres coexist
in the manuscript sources), presumably as a result of noble commissions. This
group includes Antonio Farina, Lorenzo Minei, Francesco Antonio Boerio and
Giovan Cesare Netti. I suspect that Francesco Provenzale was also involved, even
if he rarely appears officially in sources associated with this specialized pool of
musicians (such as I-Nc 33.4.4, which contains Provenzale’s sacred cantata Sui
palchi delle stelle).
Farina is the author of a piece with a title very similar to Provenzale’s Ombre
care, amati horrori, a serenata entitled Bella notte, ombre care, amici horrori.35
Almost all these composers were priests and they also wrote a great deal of sacred
music.36 Boerio and Netti, like Provenzale, also composed operas.
The manuscript I-Nc 33.4.4 (Cantate 39) contains the cantata Cadea da ripa
alpestre by a certain ‘Lorenzo Menini’; this must surely be read as Lorenzo Minei.
The same anthology also has cantatas by the Abate Orazio Antonio Fagilla, whom
we can identify with the Horatio da Fermo who collaborated with Provenzale in the
production of La fenice d’Avila (1672) and Stellidaura vendicante (1674); perhaps
this was the same person as the ‘Abate Oratio’ in the service of the Oratorio dei
Girolamini around 1630.
In addition, there is Giovanni Cesare Netti, a very famous musician in Naples,
who successfully contended with Provenzale for the position of maestro of the
Tesoro di S. Gennaro.37
Neapolitan Instrumental Music in the Age of Provenzale
No pieces of purely instrumental music can with any certainty be attributed to

Francesco Provenzale. However, we do find numerous instrumental insertions
(such as sinfonias and ritornellos) in most of his vocal compositions, both sacred
and secular.
The Sinfonia to Lo schiavo di sua moglie (1671) has recently been analysed and
is considered, together with the one for Ziani’s Chi tal nasce tal vive (1678), as
standing among the earliest examples of the Neapolitan sinfonia before Scarlatti.38
Douglas MacGreen summarizes the characteristics of Provenzale’s piece thus (see
Ex. 6.3):39
It consists of two short sections in triple meter, basically homophonic and apparently
calling for a slow tempo, followed by a contrapuntal section, presumably fast, in duple
meter. In G minor, it is written in three parts and was most likely intended to be played by
violins and continuo instruments. The bass is unfigured. Except for the reversal of the
duple and triple meters, the sinfonia has much in common with the two-movement
Venetian canzona overture.
These characteristics can also be applied to the only other theatrical sinfonia
definitely attributable to Provenzale, the Sinfonia avanti il prologo from La
colomba ferita, written just one year before Lo schiavo di sua moglie (see Ex. 6.4).
While the latter includes two relatively equal parts of fourteen and thirteen bars,
the former is also in two sections (nine and eleven bars). In the key of D major, the
piece begins with a rush of semiquavers in violin 1. The chief difference is that in
the sinfonia for La colomba ferita, the first section is in duple time, and the second
in triple. The bass is unfigured, there are few imitative episodes, and in general the
writing is extremely simple, more similar to that of the ritornellos of contemporary
Venetian opera than to that of the future sinfonias ‘avanti l’opera’ by Scarlatti.
Ex. 6.3 Francesco Provenzale, sinfonia from Lo schiavo di sua moglie (MS in I-Rsc)
Ex. 6.4 Francesco Provenzale, sinfonia from La colomba ferita (MS in I-Nc)
In Provenzale’s entire theatrical output (including the two dialogues of the

Passione) there are many ritornellos that do not deserve particular attention: they
are in styles typical of early Neapolitan opera. Similarly, there is hardly any point
in examining the instrumental interventions in Provenzale’s other sacred and
secular works (chiefly motets and cantate da camera).
In contrast with most of his contemporaries, Provenzale left no surviving
information about his activities as a performer (for example at the keyboard) or as
a composer for instruments. Provenzale’s presumed teachers or models were
celebrated organ players: Giovan Maria Sabino wrote at least one instrumental
gagliarda, and Giovanni Salvatore’s keyboard music is impressive. Provenzale’s
best pupils left few traces of music destined for instruments—we have only one
keyboard composition by Nicola Fago and one other by Gaetano Veneziano—
even though, in the time of Scarlatti, Gaetano Greco had become the most
important harpsichord player and composer in Naples, and also the most prolific.40
As we have already seen, at the Conservatorio dei Turchini Provenzale had as
colleagues two very famous instrumental teachers: the violinist Nicola Vinciprova
and the wind player Pietro Manto. Among the more or less noteworthy pupils who
studied under them, there were a great number of virtuosos of stringed
instruments: Rocco Greco, Gaetano’s brother, was one of the first Neapolitan
composers of music for violoncello;41 Francesco Sopriano was (with Francesco
Alborea) one of the greatest violoncello virtuosos of early eighteenth-century
Naples;42 and there was also the distinguished violinist Giovanni Antonio Guido.
At least once, Guido served as a copyist for Provenzale,43 and he seems to have
collaborated closely with his famous teacher between the years 1686 and 1697.
In the last decade of the seventeenth century, the Conservatorio di Loreto
gained supremacy in teaching the violin, owing to the presence of Giovan Carlo
Cailò (Chailaux), from 1686, when he arrived from Rome with Alessandro
Scarlatti. From his school emerged such violinists as Angelo Ragazzi and
Francesco Barbella. From 1698, after Vinciprova’s death, Cailò also taught at the
same time in Provenzale’s Conservatorio dei Turchini. Giovanni Antonio Piani
was among his pupils there who would be active later in a very influential group
of violinists in France in the early eighteenth century. This group included a
number of musicians trained in Naples, including Piani, Mascitti and Guido. Other
violinists spread the fame of the Neapolitan school of instrumental playing to other
European cities, as in the case of London, for example, with Matteis, Lonati and,
later, Geminiani. Also, the first violinist of the Real Cappella in Naples, ‘Petrillo’
Marchitelli, was a protagonist in the famous anecdote about the humiliation of
Corelli in Naples in 1702.44 As can be seen from a series of documents, Provenzale
actually had working relations with Pietro Marchitelli and his nephew Michele
Mascitti in the last years of the seventeenth century.45
The role of instrumentalists and instrument makers (and their confraternities) in
Naples has already been dealt with in Chapter 1. In spite of all their intense
activity, very little Neapolitan instrumental music composed before 1700 still
survives. Leaving aside the keyboard works by Gregorio Strozzi (1683–87), after
Andrea Falconieri’s Il primo libro di canzone (1650), we find only one edition
of instrumental music printed in Naples at the end of the seventeenth century,

Giovanni Antonio Avitrano’s Sonate a 3, op. 1 (Naples, Mutio, 1697; followed in
1703 and in 1713 by two similar and fairly important collections of Sonate a 3 and
Sonate a 4).46 A hitherto unknown document suggests a connection between
Avitrano and the Conservatorio di Loreto around 1689.47
But for all the lack of sources, it is clear that the duties of any maestro di
cappella included performing on the keyboard. Some surviving documents do
refer to the maestro di cappella acting in the role of organist (for example, in the
Tesoro di S. Gennaro). Apart from performance, the keyboard was essential for
teaching composition: it is from the age of Provenzale, indeed, that we find the
first partimenti, i.e., contrapuntal exercises from which to learn keyboard
improvisation. Thus, it is particularly intriguing to discover that some
compositions for organ may be attributed to Provenzale, from a manuscript dated
1675–77 preserved in the Département de la Musique of the Bibliothèque
Nationale de France in Paris (F-Pn Vm7 1817).48 This attribution is suggested by
the title of one of the pieces in the manuscript (in a difficult hand to read) ‘Franz
Provintz. Organista ... [illegible: Hispanus or Neapolitanus?]’. The pieces thus
attributed are as follows:
Ricercada 8.vi Tonj x Fran: Provintz. Anno 1675

Allegro Fran: Provintz.
Allegro 1675
Fuga eiusdem metris sive Tonj and Variatio precedentis Fugae
8vi Tonj Intonatio Sexti Tonj Composita à Fra: Provintz Organista ... Anno [16]77 die
7.mo Martij
There follow another seven anonymous pieces, sacred vocal compositions for
one or two female voices and basso continuo, which suggest that this book may
have been used in a convent.49 The style of the music for organ and that of the
sacred vocal music is not foreign to that used in Naples in Provenzale’s time. The
use of ‘Ricercada’ for ‘Ricercare’ also seems to suggest a Spanish or Neapolitan
context. More work needs to be done to confirm the hypothesis that the manuscript
may have been compiled by a German organ pupil (the hand seems typical of
Northern Europe and the names appear in German style), perhaps after a study
tour in Italy during the years 1675–77. The gaps in the records of the
Conservatorio della Pietà dei Turchini from 1675 to 1683 prevent any verification
of whether Provenzale was, during these years, travelling outside Naples and
whether any foreign students were accepted into the conservatoire at the time.
Notes
1
Gialdroni 1987, 127. Gialdroni gives a list of ten pieces by Provenzale in I-Nc. Pannain
1925, 498 gives a list of seven ‘cantate’ by Provenzale, the same number given by
Anna Mondolfi Bossarelli (article ‘Provenzale’ in Enciclopedia della musica Rizzoli-
Ricordi (Milan, 1972), V, 114). In fact there are other single pieces in I-Nc MSS
marked with the authorship ‘Provenzale’ in the modern hand of Mondolfi that I have
not considered here because of their evident inconsistencies.
2
It is interesting to note that the two authentic cantatas in I-Mc were considered dubious
(because of being too modern) by both Riemann 1901 and Mondolfi 1962–63, 19.
3
On this patron of music see Moreni 1985.
4
Riemann 1901, II, 384–90; see also Gialdroni 1987, 125.
5
They use the same paper: in fact the watermarks, even if not entirely legible, are
identical.
6
Guarini’s text had been set in Naples in Scipione Cerreto’s L’amarillide a tre voci …
Terzo libro (Naples, Vitale, 1621), 6.
7
See Amato 1998, I–II, passim.
8
Di Giacomo 1918, 40.
9
Pietro Marchitelli was born in 1643 in Villa Santa Maria (Chieti), and started his
studies in the Conservatorio di Loreto with Carlo de Vincentiis in 1657. Marchitelli
served as a violinist in the Real Cappella from 1677. Angelo Ragazzi, born in 1680,
was the pupil of Giovan Carlo Cailò at Loreto from 1690, and then entered the Real
Cappella as one of the violinists.
10
Gialdroni 1987, 126.
11
The word ‘Provenzale’ that appears on the first page (p. 129) is in a twentieth-century
hand, and there is already a doubtful new attribution added by Mondolfi Bossarelli
(‘Carissimi?’).
12
This is the list of concordances for the ‘Aria a 2 soprani’ Pensieri che fate: I-Nc Cantate
114 (olim 33.4.14), II, 129–36; I-Bc MS Q.50, ff. 83–85v, ‘Marazzoli’; I-Fc MS F.I.25, ff.
67–69v, ‘Luigi Rossi’; I-Nc MS 33.3.1, ff. 117–19v (anon.); MS 33.3.2, I, ff. 50–52v
(anon.); MS 33.3.2, II, ff. 43–44 (anon.); MS 33.4.13, I, ff. 81–90v, ‘Carissimi’; MS
33.5.10, ff. 34–37 (anon.); I-Rc MS 2,464, ff. 142–49, ‘Marazzoli’; I-Rvat MS Chigi
Q.VIII.177, ff. 171–73 (anon.).
13
Neither of the two compositions is listed in Gialdroni 1987.
14
A perfect pendant of this text is the third part of the anonymous Me l’ha detto chi lo sa
in I-Nc MS 33.4.12. (p. 250), in which the soprano sings: ‘Sia crudele o sia pietosa / è
vil cosa / d’una sola il farsi schiavo / non è bravo / quel guerriero / che d’un nemico sol
và prigioniero’.
15
This is not included in Provenzale’s lists, and neither in Pannain 1925 nor in Gialdroni
1987.
16
Monteverdi’s ballo Tirsi e Clori, was composed in 1615 for Mantua.
17
S. Biagiola, ‘Musica colta e citazione folklorica’, Appendix V in Gialdroni 1987, 151–
53.
18
All the titles are very popular in the guitar alfabeto repertoire of the first half of the
seventeenth century. In particular in Foriano Pico’s Nuova scelta di sonate per la
chitarra spagnola (Naples, 1608: but possibly a mistake for c. 1660) we find, almost in
the same order, Girumetta (pp. 24–25), La Bella Margarita (p. 35), Gallo di Mona
Fiore (p. 39), La Cotognella (p. 44). Fra Jacopino and Girometta were tunes used for
his Partite by Girolamo Frescobaldi. Saione is diffused in almost all the Neapolitan-
Spanish guitar manuscripts of the early seventeenth century. Caccia su e ghigna, which
appears also in guitar manuscripts (I-Fr), corresponds to the Ballo di Mantova.
19
‘Bella Marguerite’ was a name used in Naples for whores, according to Jean-Jacques
Bouchard’s Journal (1632). Gialdroni 1987, 134, quotes the presence of this tune in
Alessandro Scarlatti’s Gli equivoci del sembiante (Rome, 1690), Act II scene 1, sung
by the character of Lesbo.
20
Coya was born in Gravina di Puglia, part of the Kingdom of Naples, and studied in
Naples, where his probable relative, Donatello Coya, was active. The latter was a
castrato, possessing one of the most beautiful voices of the Real Cappella. He died of
the plague in 1656.
21
Modern edition: Cataldo Amodei. Cantate a voce sola 1685, ed. by G. Collisani
(Florence, 1992), ‘Musiche Rinascimentali Siciliane’,13.
22
See E. De Martino, Morte e pianto rituale. Dal lamento funebre al pianto di Maria
(Turin, 1975).
23
In MS I-Nc 33.4.4 (Cantate 39) there is one piece by Abate Orazio Fagilla, entitled
Doppo fiera battaglia (no. 22), that refers to the end of the Masaniello Uprising.
24
Amato’s research considers only anthologies with cantatas alongside arias drawn from
operas.
25
Amato 1998, I, 8 ff.
26
M. K. Murata, ‘Roman Cantata Scores as Traces of Musical Culture and Signs of its
Place in Society’, in Atti del XIV Congresso della Società Internazionale di
Musicologia, ed. A. Pompilio, D. Restani, L. Bianconi and F. A. Gallo (Turin, 1990), I,
272–84. In addition see Hill 1998, I, passim.
27
Caluori 1981. On Stradella and the Italian cantata in the second half of the seventeenth
century, see Gianturco 1987; Gianturco 1990; Gianturco 1992. See in addition the
collection The Italian Cantata in the Seventeenth Century, 16 vols. (New York, 1985–87).
28
T. M. Gialdroni, ‘Vinci “operista” autore di cantate’, in Studi in onore di Giulio Cattin,
ed. F. Luisi (Rome, 1990), 307–29: 307.
29
Hanley 1963 (A. Scarlatti); Hansell 1983 (Pergolesi); Melucci 1993 and Fago 1995
(Fago); Gialdroni 1988 and Brandenburg 1991 (Sarro); Wright 1975 (Mancini); Sutton
1974 (Porpora); Quargnolo 1997 (Leo); Veneziano 1996–97 (Vinci).
30
Daniel Brandenburg has until now been the first to attempt an outline of the general
landscape of the cantata in Naples: see Brandenburg 1990, Brandenburg 1991 and
Brandenburg 1993.
31
The only helpful research tool until now has been the bibliography compiled by
Gialdroni 1990. The ambitious project of a comprehensive electronic catalogue of all
Italian cantata sources, the Catalogo delle cantate italiane manoscritte e a stampa
conservate presso le biblioteche di tutto il mondo (founded in 1983–84 by Claudio
Sartori at the Ufficio Ricerche Fondi Musicali, Milan), has been interrupted and is
close to being abandoned.
32
Caluori 1981, I, 4.
33
The most important lawyer-composer of cantatas ‘in lengua napolitana’ is
Michelangelo Faggioli (1666–1733), celebrated author of La Cilla, a cantata-
commedia ‘in lengua’ performed in 1706. He is also the author of a burlesque satirical
self-portrait in the cantata Sto Paglietta presuntuso.
34
At least one manuscript of arias and cantatas (I-Nc 33.4.10) was owned by the monastery of
S. Carlo all’Arena (the Cistercian Fathers); see Amato 1998, I, 27. Many cantata
manuscripts are preserved today in the Library of the Monastero di Montecassino. On the
translation of secular cantatas into spiritual texts, see Veneziano 1996–97.
35
I-Rn MS 68, ff. 173–81 (a piece in C for S and bc); the reference is to Ombre care,
amati horrori by Provenzale.
36
Boerio has five motets and two Masses in manuscript in I-Nf. Farina has at least one
sacred cantata (La Maddalena sul Monte Oliveto) in I-Nc 22.2.22. Minei has two
sacred cantatas: Affetti d’un Pastore alla spelonca di Bethelemme and Eccomi o Numi
‘Per un’anima divota che di notte genuflessa innanti all’altare del SS. Sacramento, per
maggior consolatione brama di vedervi quanto vi crede’ (I-Nc 34.4.3).
37
The son of Francesco Antonio Netti and Teresa Cristolla, Giovanni Cesare Netti was
born in Putignano (Bari) in 1649 and entered the Conservatorio della Pietà dei
Turchini in September 1663 under the direction of Giovanni Salvatore (Di Giacomo
1924, 214); he then entered the Real Cappella as an organist (1679) and became
maestro at the Tesoro di S. Gennaro until his death in 1686, when he was replaced by
Francesco Provenzale. As testified by his surviving cantatas in I-Nc he set to music

lyrics by ‘Conte Valle’, probably his noble patron. The only two operas known by
Netti (Adamiro 1681, La Filli 1682) reveal an intermediate style between Provenzale
and Scarlatti: in particular La Filli has a very similar structure to Scarlatti’s Gli
equivoci del sembiante and some very advanced instrumental features.
38
MacGreen 1983, xxxiii–iv and transcription on pp. 3 (41) and 4 (42). Chi tal nasce tal
vive, ovvero Alessandro Bala is currently attributed to Ziani. The only important work
to date on Neapolitan symphonies which concerns the age after Scarlatti is Hell 1971.
39
MacGreen 1983, xxxiv.
40
See Greco’s thematic catalogue, with 359 numbers, ed. by Rizzo 1991.
41
A manuscript collection of pieces for two ‘viole’ by Rocco Greco, dating from 1699
(in I-MC), is actually the oldest Neapolitan source of violoncello music.
42
Francesco Paolo Sopriano or Scipriani was born in Conversano (Bari) in 1678 and
entered the Conservatorio della Pietà dei Turchini in 1693. Francesco Alborea was
born in Naples in 1691 and studied at the Conservatorio di Loreto, where Provenzale’s
pupil Veneziano was active. See Olivieri 1992–93 and Olivieri 1999.
43
Giovanni Antonio Guido, of Genoese origin, in late 1683 entered the Conservatorio
della Pietà dei Turchini, where he studied for seven years under Nicola Vinciprova
(Olivieri 1996, 413–14). At least one of Provenzale’s sacred compositions in I-Nf was
copied by Guido in 1691: Messa a 4 e a 7 con violini ‘Copia fatta al Conservatorio
della Pietà da Giov. Antonio Guido nel 1691’ (Di Giacomo 1918, 78).
44
In Olivieri 1996, reference is made to Burney’s anecdote (‘Si suona a Napoli’), and in
general on the violin and its repertory in Naples.
45
26 January 1695 (FP 30 ducats to Pietro Marchitelli): ASBN, S.G.; 5 March 1697: ‘A
Francesco Provenzale D.26. E per lui Pietro Marchitellio per molte musiche fatte tanto
da lui quanto da Michele suo nipote per tutto il 23 febbraio prossimo passato’: ASBN,
Sp.S., 771.
46
Bossa 1987.
47
I-Nc, Loreto 166, Conclusioni, f. 103v (10 July 1689): ‘Hanno dato licenza a ...
Avitrano figliuolo musico, che se possa andare vestito de negro, et alla scola de
cantare durante il tempo che dimorerà fuori dello Conservatorio, e che ogni volta che
detti signori Governatori lo richiamano, et lo vogliano dentro Conservatorio debbia
subito venirselo a finire l’istromento che tiene con detto nostro Conservatorio’.
48
The manuscript, before entering the ‘Bibliothèque du Roi’, was in the private
collection of Sebastien de Brossard, who has recorded it in his MS Catalogue as
follows: ‘Melanges Mus. orgue [1676] T.II Folio 8v. Il y a une Ricercata composee le
30 aoust 1676 par Francois Provintz qui ecrivit alor ce livre fort proprement t.III’ (F-
Pn Rés. Vm/8 20, 535).
49
The religious pieces are: Salve Regina (2 S), Requiem (S, A), Missa à 2 (S, A), Lytanie
B.M.V., Lytanie J. Stavl., Kyrie (2 S), Veni Sancte Spiritus (2 S). In the keyboard section
are copied well-known pieces by Johann Kaspar Kerll, ‘Principiis Bavariae Capellae
Magistro’; see J. J. Kerll, Ausgewählte Werke, ed. by A. Sandberger (Leipzig, 1901), ixx,
and Sämtliche Werke für Tasteninstrumente, ed. by F. Di Lernia (Vienna, 1991), II.
Chapter Seven
Hope and Disillusion
In the Service of the Fedelissima Città and the Tesoro di S. Gennaro
A document dated 3 August 1678, already published by Salvatore di Giacomo in

1920, shows that for many years Francesco Provenzale had aspired to the
prestigious office of maestro di cappella at the Tesoro di S. Gennaro after his
election in December 1665 as maestro of the Fedelissima Città in Naples:1
A petition was made on behalf of the magnificent Francesco Provenzale to the said Most
Illustrious Deputies, who should have given their consent, for the post of maestro di
cappella of the said Most Illustrious Office in dealing with all the musical services
needed to be carried out in the execution of the deliberations made in the year 1665 by the
Most Illustrious Piazze di Capuana, Montagna, Portanova and the Fedelissimo Popolo,
with which they gave consent for the post of maestro di cappella of this Fedelissima Città
in the musical services performed there, confirmed then the said deliberations by the Most
Illustrious Eletti of that time with another deliberation of 17 December of the said year
1665. So that the said Most Illustrious Deputies can proceed with that justification which
is appropriate, in view of the meeting of the magnificent Felippo Coppola who is
currently carrying out the said office of maestro di cappella, they have given the order
that the above deliberations be recognized, if these were carried out at the same time as
the said Magnificent Felippo Coppola was employed in the above office, and having
found that the attached deliberations were highly in favour of the said Magnificent
Francesco Provenzale, and that these were the ones performed, notwithstanding that the
said Magnificent Felippo Coppola was carrying out the duty of maestro di cappella, with
this he would be excluded from the aforementioned office. These Most Illustrious
Deputies have concluded so as to conform with the contract from the said Fedelissima
Città that the said office of maestro di cappella [of the Tesoro di S. Gennaro] be awarded
to the said Magnificent Francesco Provenzale, not only in the musical services of the
three nights celebrating the festivity in September of Glorioso S. Gennaro around the
Piramide, but also for all the other music performed in the said chapel, however with the
express condition that the musicians who perform in these services will be to the
satisfaction of and elected by the the Most Illustrious Deputies. With this the said
Magnificent Francesco Provenzale cannot expect any provision for the said duty, but
should content himself with the pleasure gained from his toils, which he will receive
every time he intervenes in any musical service in such a way and form as in the
aforementioned deliberations of the Most Illustrious Piazze and Eletti as has been
declared. As with the present deliberation, they exclude from the said duty of maestro di
cappella of the said Most Illustrious Office the magnificent Felippo Coppola on the
aforementioned grounds.
Hope and Disillusion 211
The lack of any systematic research into music at the Tesoro has until now
prevented a clear and detailed understanding of the duties these posts demanded,
and chiefly of the differences between the two complementary, but not necessarily
coincident, positions.2
The Cappella del Tesoro started its musical activity soon after the inauguration
of the chapel in the Duomo in 1646. Filippo Coppola was the first important
maestro di cappella at the Tesoro at least from 1660,3 and he had already held the
same post in the Real Cappella and in the Chiesa dell’Annunziata. The maestro’s
duties were connected exclusively to liturgical functions within the chapel, and
between the years 1660–80 the musicians he was responsible for varied from two
to four choirs of expert singers and from two to four organists and included several
instrumentalists. Di Giacomo gives the following names of the musicians
employed at the Tesoro in this period:4
Table 7.1 The rolls of the Tesoro di S. Gennaro, c.1660–80
Sopranos (2) Puccio de Benedictis,

Francesco Mondella
Altos (2) D. Francesco de Biase,
Domenico Marmitta
Tenors (2) Agostino Marzano,
‘Nufriello’ [Onofrio]
Basses (2) Francesco Falconio,
Giuseppe di Troia
Violins (7) Tonno Palumbo,

Carlo de Vincentiis ‘l’Acquaviva’,
Carlo d’Ambrosio,
Nicola Coppola,
Domenico Cuozzo,
D. Domenico Polito,
Felice Toro
‘Viole’ (3) Matteo Brancarelli,
(Violoncellos?) Paolo Sessa,
Rocco Greco
Archlute Domenico Sarao
Harp Francesco de Lise (‘Ciccio dell’Arpa’),
Francesco de Riva (the same as de Lise?)
Cornetts (2) Luca Mirabile,
Pietro Manto
Bassoon Francesco Basso
As we can see, the ensemble was very similar to that of the Real Cappella, and
an improvement on that of the Cappella dell’Annunziata, which was then on the
decline. Most of the names belong to the most important musicians in
contemporary Naples, and some of them were members of the Real Cappella. This
was possible because the duties of the Tesoro musicians were limited to a few
important festivities during the year, chiefly the three feasts of S. Gennaro. Even
today the governance of the Cappella del Tesoro is in the hands of a large
committee made up of the Archbishop of Naples (the pontifical delegate), twelve
chaplains and twelve delegates headed by the Mayor of Naples and chosen from
among the members of the highest aristocracy and the most famous and influential
individuals of the city.5
The maestro di cappella of the Fedelissima Città was chosen by the Eletti (five
representatives of the corresponding aristocratic seggi and one of the ‘popolo’).
This master was obliged to compose music for, and to direct (with musical
ensembles constituted specially for the occasion), the various outdoor
performances both in processions and in temporary theatres erected outside the
Duomo, not only for the three feasts of S. Gennaro but also for all the remaining
public festivities in which the Eletti of the city were involved. The confusion
between the two positions derives from their common involvement in the feasts for
the most important patron saint in Naples starting from the same chapel (the
Tesoro di S. Gennaro in the Duomo). The 1678 document only adds to the
confusion: why should Filippo Coppola, maestro di cappella of the Tesoro since
1660, have disputed Francesco Provenzale’s position as maestro di cappella of the
Fedelissima Città which he had held since 1665? A close reading of the document
suggests that Provenzale—proud of his position as maestro of the Fedelissima
Città (he even displayed the title on the title-pages of his opera librettos of this
period) —tried to replace Coppola as maestro of the Tesoro di S. Gennaro. Thus
the deputies of the Tesoro decided to ‘agree with the decisions of the said
Fedelissima Città’ (‘uniformarsi con lo stabilito da detta Fidelissima Città’), and
they gave Provenzale the responsibility ‘of the musical services for three nights
celebrating the festivities of glorious S. Gennaro around the Piramide, as well as of
all the other music performed in the said chapel’ (‘tanto nelle funtioni di musiche si
fanno le tre sere della festività del Glorioso S. Gennaro nel largo della Piramide,
quanto in tutte l’altre musiche, che si fanno dentro la detta Cappella’). It is
interesting that Provenzale would not receive any payment for his work at the
Tesoro, ‘but should content himself with the pleasure gained from his toils, which
he will receive every time he intervenes in any musical service in such a way and
form as in the aforementioned deliberations of the Most Illustrious Piazze and
Eletti as has been declared’ (‘ma debbia contentarsi del regalo conveniente alle sue
fatighe, che se li darà ogni volta, che intervenirà in qualsisia funtione di musica eo
modo et forma come nelle suddette conclusioni dell’Illustrissime Piazze, et Eletti
sta dichiarato’). But his antagonist Coppola was protected by the viceroy, and he
remained the maestro of the Tesoro till his death in 1680, in spite of the official
decision against him. In the margin of the 1678 document we read: ‘This
conclusion was not put into effect’ (‘Questa conclusione non ha havuto effetto’).
Provenzale did not succeed Coppola at the Tesoro in 1680; instead he was passed
over in favour of Giovanni Cesare Netti, a composer and organist of the Real
Cappella since 1676. Netti had studied with Giovanni Salvatore at the
Conservatorio della Pietà dei Turchini, and he became the full-time organist at the
Real Cappella only in 1684, the year of Provenzale’s resignation. A document
dated 24 November 1684, signed by the deputies of the Tesoro, gives an example
of Netti’s duties as maestro di cappella.6
After Netti died in July 1686, Provenzale was finally able to take up the position
of maestro at the Tesoro. His name already appears in association with the post on
31 July:7
Since the post of maestro di cappella has become vacant in our Tesoro on account of the
death of D. Gio. Cesare Netti, who held it, and since the Most Illustrious Deputies have to
elect his successor, someone with every proven virtue and talent and one of the best
figures currently flourishing in our Fedelissima Città, conforming to the ancient custom of
the said Most Illustrious Office, and knowing that all these elements courteously concur
in the person of Francesco Provenzale, maestro di cappella of the said Fedelissima Città
and of the most notable churches of the same, they have therefore concluded to elect him,
as is done through the present deliberation, as maestro di cappella of our Tesoro with the
same profits and burdens of the post as carried out by his predecessors.
A few months later, Provenzale’s duties and earnings are recorded: the festival
budget for September 1686 was 151 ducats to be shared among the musicians and
their maestro, Provenzale, and any additional instrumentalists.8
The maestro’s tasks at the Tesoro were connected above all to the three solemnities
of S. Gennaro, in May, September and December, each feast having its octave and
involving a cycle of three evenings of luminaries (‘luminarie’), with processions and
performances outdoors (in front of the Piramide, or the ‘guglia del Fanzago’) and in
the chapel.9 In addition to the standard ensemble of musicians, the principal
celebrations also involved the participation of the figlioli of the Conservatorio di S.
Onofrio, thereby favouring contacts between Provenzale and this institution as well.10
Provenzale was also responsible for the maintenance of the organs in the chapel. In
1692, his name appears together with those of two organ makers, Giuseppe de
Donato and Alessandro Galli, signing a ‘Note of expenses … for all repairs on the
organ of the first choir of the Tesoro of glorious S. Gennaro’ (‘Nota di spese … per
haver risarcito tutto quello che vi era di bisogno nell’organo del primo coro del
Tesoro del glorioso S. Gennaro’).11 There were also other festivities, such as the
‘extraordinary exhibition of the saintly relics of S. Gennaro’ (‘esposizione
straordinaria delle Sante Reliquie di S. Gennaro’) on 5 November 1686.12 Events
connected to other saints were also celebrated in music, as in July 1689.13 As for the
organization of the cappella, the standard ensemble used in Coppola’s time (two
choirs SATB + SATB, two organs, seven violins, three violas, two cornets, one
bassoon, archlute and harp) could be added to, if necessary, with two more violins,
one viola and one cornet, as well as organs and voices when music for four choirs
was needed within or outside the Cappella del Tesoro.
As a result of Provenzale’s election to the highest position of his career, he
published his first and only printed edition of music, the Motetti a due voci diverse
di Francesco Provenzale, maestro di cappella di questa Fedelissima Città.
Dedicati all’illustrissimi, et eccellentissimi signori, i signori Eletti della
Fedelissima Città di Napoli. In Napoli MDCLXXXIX Presso Il Bonis Stampatore
Arcivescovale. A document in the Archivio Storico del Banco di Napoli dated 24

August 1689 casts some light on this edition:14
To Francesco Provenzale D.7. And on his behalf to Giuseppe de Bonis, printer upon
completion of D.42 for the whole price of 500 mute of the Mottetti a due voci diverse
printed by him, which he will have to finish delivering to him, declaring that with this
payment he is satisfied.
No more than twenty editions of music were printed in Naples between 1650 and
1700, and of these only five contained sacred music.15 The volume commissioned
from De Bonis, then actively engaged as ‘stampatore arcivescovile’,16 was printed
in 500 copies, of which only two still survive.17 The dedication to the Eletti, in the
1689 edition, is in a cultivated style revealing Provenzale’s (or its real author’s)
literary knowledge. In fact, it was planned as an acknowledgement to thank the
Eletti for having helped him succeed in being appointed maestro at the Tesoro. It
also demonstrated to the Neapolitans that the composer had achieved this honour
during a critical period for Provenzale, following Scarlatti’s rise in the Real
Cappella. It cannot be coincidental that in 1690, soon after the printing of his book,
Provenzale was readmitted to the Real Cappella as honorary maestro.
The thirteen motets in the 1689 collection do not explicitly refer to Provenzale’s
duties as maestro of the Tesoro (i.e., for the feasts of S. Gennaro and other
celebrations). Rather, for commercial reasons, it would seem—and also perhaps so
that Provenzale could demonstrate his wide-ranging skills—the focus is on works
of more general liturgical application: three motets are ‘per la Madonna’, five ‘per
il Santissimo’, two ‘per ogni santo (o santa)’ and three ‘per ogni tempo’, and one is
a pastorale (for Christmas). No doubt for similar reasons the pieces require several
combinations of voices: two sopranos; soprano and alto; soprano and tenor; alto
and tenor; and soprano and bass.
The elevated technical difficulty of these pieces suggests that the motets were
intended for virtuoso singers who regularly worked with the composer, perhaps the
whole group of singers who had resigned from the Real Cappella in 1684 in
solidarity with Provenzale, including the sopranos Aceti, Ghezzi, Guida, the alto
Servillo, the tenor Carrano and the bass Jacobelli. They were all active in the
following years in musical performances directed and organized by Provenzale.
If my suggestion is correct, then the virtuoso style of the 1689 motets does not
reflect, as has been assumed, contamination by the world of opera; rather, it is a
consequence of Provenzale’s dissociation from the new style imported by Scarlatti.
In addition, these pieces are the longest Neapolitan motets of the century. They are
often shaped as spiritual dialogues between the two voices, and in general their
structure is multisectional. O Jesu mea spes, in A minor, has the plan Largo (6/4) –
Spiritoso (C) – Largo (6/4) – Allegro (C) – Presto (6/8); here, particularly effective
words are systematically reflected in the music (‘accende’, ‘languere’).
Ex. 7.1 Francesco Provenzale, O Jesu mea spes from Mottetti (Naples, 1689), bars 48–59
Angelicae mentes, in F major, has a similar, but more extended structure: Largo
(3/4) – Spiritoso (6/4) – Largo (3/2) – Largo (C) – Allegro (6/4) – Allegro e presto
(C). This motet is full of surprises, not least in the bass line an obbligato for
violoncello solo (which anticipates similar pages in the age of Bach, particularly in
the fugato of the third Largo), or the interplay between the two voices in the
Spiritoso to provide madrigalisms and rhetorical tricks (‘accede’/‘recede’;
‘bonus’/‘malus’).
Ex. 7.2 Francesco Provenzale, Angelicae mentes from Mottetti (Naples, 1689), bars 91–
111
Both these motets, with a common destination ‘per il Santissimo’, receive a

pyrotechnical conclusion with an elaborate ‘Alleluia’. On the other hand, Audite
coeli, in D minor, ends differently: this motet starts with a solo voice recitative (C),
followed by a duet (Allegro (6/4), Allegro (6/4), Largo (3/4), Spiritoso (C)), and
after another solo (C), it concludes with a duet marked ‘Spiritoso’ (3/4). Cantemus
psallamus is a motet ‘per la Madonna’ which reflects the joyous dance recalled by
the title. Its structure is: Allegro, C major (C) – Largo (6/4) – Spiritoso (C) – Largo
(6/2) – Largo (C) – Presto (6/4) – Largo – Presto (C). In conclusion there is an
appealing ‘Alleluia’ based extensively on parallel thirds between the two voices.
Ex. 7.3 Francesco Provenzale, Cantemus psallamus from Mottetti (Naples, 1689), bars
5–17
The theme of the evocative power of music often appears in the texts of these
motets, which do not appear frequently in the seventeenth-century repertory. This
typical focus on the musical element may have played an important rhetorical role
during the public ceremonies in Naples. See, for example, the text of the only
motet that may have been dedicated to the patron, S. Gennaro (who is never
officially mentioned in the 1689 texts), O ingens divini Praesulis ‘A due Canto, e
Basso, per ogni Santo’. The second section, Spiritoso e Largo (3/4), reads:
Vos linguae sonantes

ad maelos venite,
vos fundite cantus,
vos dicite plausus,
laetantes, gaudentes,
ad cantus venite.
An unusual piece at the end of the collection is the pastoral motet for soprano
and alto, Obstupescite coeli. It begins with an Allegro (3/4), after which enters the
pastorale theme (3/8), followed by a soprano solo (C), answered by an alto solo.
After that, the piece returns to ‘a due’ Allegro (3/8) and ends again with the
pastorale (Presto), whose theme is easily recognizable in the different refrains. The
piece recalls, in part, the atmosphere of Provenzale’s only Christmas cantata, Sui
palchi delle stelle. Echoes can also be found in similar pieces in the later
Neapolitan repertory, as in works by Gaetano Veneziano,18 and in the pastoral
cantatas of Cristofaro Caresana.19
The absence of any pieces directly connected to S. Gennaro’s festivities shows
that the 1689 motets cannot be discussed exclusively in relation to their
performance at the Tesoro. Rather, they are to be considered the summa of
Provenzale’s output for the numerous churches and chapels of the town in his
multiple role as maestro of the Conservatorio dei Turchini, the Fedelissima Città
and other churches and chapels. For example, Provenzale’s duties in the service of
the Fedelissima Città included responsibility for the music to be supplied during
the most important festivals organized at the expense of the Eletti.
The seat of the Eletti della Fedelissima Città was the church of S. Lorenzo
Maggiore (which housed the Archivio Municipale of Naples, later completely
burned down),20 and the most important liturgical celebration of this governmental
body was the feast of the Immaculate Conception (8 December). One of
Provenzale’s first tasks as maestro of the Fedelissima Città, recorded in the 1671
bank accounts, was to provide music for this feast at S. Lorenzo Maggiore.21
Several years later, for the feast in honour of the new viceroy, the Conte di Santo
Stefano, on 1 March 1688:22
On Monday, the first of March, the penultimate day of carnival, there was a great traffic
of maskers and coaches in the Strada Toledo, and a very beautiful ship, built by the
people and with all the customary rigging on a normal vessel, came forth from the
courtyard of the Spirito Santo. Upon it there were curious little cupids who sang music in
praise of the new Viceroy; and it traversed the entire length of the Corso to the Palace and
then returned. This ship, alluding to the one in which the Viceroy navigated from Spain to
Leghorn (since from there he came by land to Naples), was built by the Representative of
the People.
Very similar to this was the procession on the following 3 October 1689, when a
float that represented a temple23
… then stopped in front of the Royal Palace, on the balconies of which Their Excellencies
the Viceroy and the Vicereine with their children were seated. This was followed by the
harmony of sonorous instruments joined with the sweet melody of the finest voices (thirty
of which were seated within the temple) who sang excellent compositions which in very
noble verse alluded to the most happy marriage of Their Majesties, to the grand and
magnanimous spirit of His Excellency [the Viceroy], and to the great abundance of
happiness [felt] by the Representative of the People as well as by his most faithful
populace. Thus did it appear that the entire chorus of the Muses had been transported into
that chariot.
Thomas Griffin suggests that Provenzale, as maestro of the Fedelissima Città,

was the composer of the music performed on these floats in both festivities.24 The
Giornali of Naples give several descriptions of similar festivals organized by the
Eletti that probably involved Provenzale’s collaboration, even if his name never
appears there. As late as 1690, the bank accounts reveal that Provenzale was still
fully active in the city with the musical ensemble of the Conservatorio dei
Turchini. However, the first signs of his decline, at the age of almost seventy,
probably began to appear. On 24 December 1691, the Eletti decided to nominate a
young composer of Provenzale’s circle, Gaetano Greco, to act as his assistant:25
The Most Illustrious Eletti having received good reports on the merit of the maestro di
cappella Gaetano Greco in his profession as a musician, and that he is capable of holding
any important post and place due to his virtue and other requisites which concur in him.
Based on the testimonials of trustworthy persons, the said Illustrious Signori have judged
that the Fedelissima Città can benefit with every satisfaction from him in the appointment
of maestro di cappella in the music of the Octave of the Holy Conception, and in all the
other music performed during the course of the year at the expense of this Fedelissima
Città. The said Most Illustrious men have concluded that with the vacancy of the post of
maestro di cappella of this Città, due to the death or resignation of the Magnificent
Francesco Provenzale, who currently holds the post, or for any other legitimate reason of
vacancy, to confer, as they do, the post of maestro di cappella of this Città to the person
named maestro Gaetano Greco with all the dues, profits, charges and honours which come
with the said post, as enjoyed by the other previous maestri di cappella. With the
condition that in time the consensus of the Most Illustrious Piazze must be obtained in an
opportune number.
Greco, who later became one of the most important Neapolitan musicians in the
first decades of the eighteenth century, was elected vicemaestro of the Fedelissima
Città and as a substitute in case of Provenzale’s death or impediment.26 In the
meantime, Provenzale’s position at the Tesoro di S. Gennaro became complicated
owing to his old age and to competition from younger and stronger composers of
the new generation headed by Alessandro Scarlatti. On 1 October 1699 the
deputies of the Tesoro took the decision to pension off the nearly eighty-year-old
Provenzale and to replace him with Cristoforo Caresana:27
The said Most Illustrious Deputies have on various occasions discussed reordering the
music to be performed in our chapel and during the three nights of Luminaries in
September, knowing that there are a lack of suitable candidates (which cannot be
immediately solved) and on account of the impotency and old age of the Magnificent
Francesco Provenzale maestro di cappella which they languish. Now with the intent of
opportunely remedying the second and most important point, they have concluded, as
they conclude with the present deliberation, that the said Magnificent Francesco
Provenzale should be relieved and discharged from the burden of maestro di cappella of
our Tesoro owing to his said impotence, clearly evident in his old compositions for every
kind of music which have been reused here for many years, and in his place D.
Christofaro Caresano detto il Venetiano will be elected, a candidate of experienced virtue
and attention, to whom by virtue of this deliberation they confer the said appointment of
maestro di cappella of our Tesoro with the same charges and profits as carried out and
experienced by his predecessors.
In reality, Caresana was not so young (he was born in 1640 and so was then
almost sixty), but his compositional style is considered as being very close to
Provenzale’s. Probably the deputies chose in favour of coherence and continuity
despite the new musical tastes prevailing in the city. Provenzale’s duties at the
Tesoro were bound to be more burdensome compared with those for the
Fedelissima Città, for which it was easier to make use of ‘antichissime
compositioni, in ogni musica sempre replicate da molt’anni’. But even this little
more than honorary position was withdrawn from Provenzale before 1703:28
To the Eletti of this Fedelissima Città D. 20. And on behalf of them to Francesco
Provenzale once maestro di cappella of the said Fedelissima Città from the 12th of the
month of September 1701 is ordered to restrain himself from the sum of D. 59 to be paid to
Gaetano Greco current maestro di cappella of the same for the music for the festivities of S.
Rocco, Santa Rosalia and Piedigrotta and pay to said Francesco his life during tantum.
Here we find hints of the financial system built up by Provenzale: his young
substitute as maestro of the Fedelissima Città, Gaetano Greco, might receive the
official position as maestro in place of the aged Provenzale, provided he paid him a
percentage of his earnings ‘sua vita durante’. This money was received by
Provenzale’s son, the clergyman Giuseppe. The percentage paid by Greco to his
predecessor was 10 per cent of his salary, i.e., 10 ducats out of the annual sum of
100 ducats assigned to him by the Fedelissima Città.29
The Real Cappella
The Real Cappella was the most important musical institution in Naples, but the
most important Neapolitan musician of the seventeenth century was denied the
chance to become its maestro.30 Provenzale was admitted to the Real Cappella very
late, in 1680, when he was fifty-six years old, in spite of auspicious signs since the
1660s, including the performance in the Palazzo of melodrammi sacri with the
students of the Conservatorio di Loreto, and then from 1671 with the production of
his secular operas with Giulia De Caro. The mechanisms that governed the
entrance into the Real Cappella were highly complicated and depended primarily
on the authority of the Cappellano Maggiore, one of the highest offices in the
Kingdom of Naples. Even the viceroy might not agree to an appointment to the
Cappella without the favourable opinion of the Cappellano Maggiore and without
objective tests of the abilities of the nominee, carried out by the musicians of the
Cappella. Moreover, the autobiography of Abate Pecorone, a singer in the Real
Cappella, shows that in the early 1700s it was very important to enjoy the favour of
the maestro di cappella (in Pecorone’s case, the famous Alessandro Scarlatti) as
well as that of the viceroy and the vicereine.
As regards Provenzale, his entrance into the Real Cappella was prevented by the
presence of a maestro di cappella, Filippo Coppola (1628–80), who was
unfavourable towards him, as is clear from the Tesoro di S. Gennaro episode.
Coppola, born in Naples, entered the Real Cappella as an organist, and, after
Andrea Falconieri’s death in 1656, suddenly became maestro at the age of thirty,
following two years of vacancy. In fact, several elements contributed to making
Coppola and Provenzale adversaries. Coppola had been trained at the Annunziata,
where he became assistant to Giovan Maria Sabino: when the latter died (1649) he
took his place as organist. Coppola’s career developed in the heart of the city, and
within a few years he occupied all the most important musical positions there: the
Annunziata, Real Cappella, Tesoro di S. Gennaro (from 1660) and Oratorio dei
Girolamini (from 1666).31 Coppola was also an important composer and arranger
of operas performed at the Palazzo Reale, including La gara dei sette pianeti
(performed in 1658 during the birthday celebrations for the Spanish Infante), the
presumed Teodosio (1676; although the attribution is not certain) and his most
significant contribution, the arrangement of El robo de Proserpina, the only opera
sung in Spanish during the seventeenth century in Naples. This opera was
performed twice, in 1678 and (after Coppola’s death) in 1681.32 With the
exception of La gara dei sette pianeti, his role was probably chiefly as an arranger
(his last work being an arrangement of Legrenzi’s Eteocle e Polinice, staged in
February 1680). The whole musical ensemble of the Real Cappella took part in
these performances according to established protocols. Except for La gara (now
lost), the other scores survive in manuscript, but it is very difficult to determine
Coppola’s additions to the originals. As for his chief activity as maestro di
cappella and organist of various sacred institutions, only a few works by Coppola
survive in I-Nf. These pieces might well have been used in the Real Cappella (and
perhaps also in the Tesoro), as they were composed for the typical double choir of
five plus four voices.33
It is not surprising that Provenzale was not admitted into the Real Cappella until
the death of his rival. At the Tesoro di S. Gennaro, things were also made difficult
for him. When Coppola died, his position at the Tesoro was passed on to Giovanni
Cesare Netti, who, by no coincidence, was an organist in the Real Cappella, under
Coppola’s direction (he was probably his most important assistant there). Coppola
never taught at a Neapolitan conservatoire, which was Provenzale’s uncontested
domain. Soon after Coppola’s death, on 26 February 1680, the Cappellano
Maggiore paid eloquent tribute to his abilities:34 only then was Provenzale admitted
to the Real Cappella, but the post of maestro was awarded to Pietro Andrea Ziani
(1620–84), already an honorary organist there. Ziani may have been judged the
most senior of musicians in Naples, and certainly he was also the only one in the
city with a renowned international career, anticipating in several ways that of
Scarlatti.35 But Ziani was already sixty years old when elected maestro of the Real
Cappella and he does not seem to have taken advantage of the position, given the
scant number of operas performed in the last years of his life in Naples.36 Indeed,
on 28 November 1680, Francesco Provenzale accepted the position of ‘Maestro de
Capilla Onorario’, following the Cappellano Maggiore’s intention to have a
substitute ready lest Ziani be unable to carry out his duties:37
Maestro de Capilla Onorario. Francesco Provenzale. Sua Eccellenza con mandato de 28

Noviembre 1680 in Mandatorum ... Attendiendo al estudio, merito habilidad y
sufficiencia del suddetto Francesco Provenzale en la profession de Musica y lo que en ella
ha travajado y adelantadose de muchos años a sta parte ha resuelto hazerle merced de
admetterlo per musico desta R. Cappilla con el grado de Maestro della onorario y con
calidad que sirva en las ausencias y enfermedades del Abad D. Pedro Andres Ziani actual
Maestro de detta R. Cappilla por la ancianidad y larga edad que padeze y en esta
conformidad alanda que al suddetto Provenzal se le haga el assento.
Something similar would recur when Provenzale acted as a substitute for

Alessandro Scarlatti. Indeed, even if not officially, Provenzale was for several
years the effective director of the Neapolitan Real Cappella until Ziani’s death and
later during Scarlatti’s repeated absences. His duties were substantial and not
merely honorary, as is suggested also by the increase in his salary in February
1683.38
As for the operas performed in the Palazzo Reale by the Real Cappella between
1681 and 1683, given that Ziani’s name never appears in their printed librettos, we
should probably assume that Provenzale was involved in some way as composer,
arranger and conductor. These operas include:
1680, 15 December Anon. Ifide greca

1681, Carnival Filippo Coppola Las faticas de Ceres (corresponds
to El robo de Proserpina, 1678)
1682, Carnival Aurelio Aureli L’Orfeo
1682 ? Anon. Il Narciso
1683, Carnival Anon. La Fiordispina
The last opera in which Ziani’s name appears is the Elice favola boschereccia
performed in the royal palace on 6 May 1680 by ‘Maestro e Musici della Real
Cappella’. The Epilogue was delivered by an old acquaintance: the ‘Neapolitan’
Orazio da Fermo.39
In the years between Coppola’s and Ziani’s deaths (1680–84), membership of
the Real Cappella was as listed in Table 7.2.40
Table 7.2 The rolls of the Neapolitan Real Cappella, c.1680–84
NAME DATES OF PAYMENTS POSITION/INSTRUMENT PAYMENT

(per year)
Pietro Andrea Ziani 1.3.1680–12.2.1684 Maestro di cappella D.140
Francesco Provenzale 28.11.1680–3.1684 Maestro di cappella D.24
‘onorario’
Tommaso Pagano 1680–84 ‘primer Organista’ D.40/93
d. Giovanni Cesare Netti 1680–84 ‘Organista D.8
sovrannumerario’
(then first organist)
d. Carlo Benestante 1680–84 Cantore D.106
Donato Villino 1680–84 Cantore D.56
Francesco Ant. Corrado 1680–84 Cantore D.56
Carlo de Mauro 1680–84 Cantore D.40
Francesco Branchino 1680–84 Cantore D.85
Pietro Palumbo 1680–84 (+15.3.1685) Cantore D.28/60
Carlo de Fons 1680–83 Cantore D.95.3
Giuseppe d’Elena 1680–2.1683 Cantore D.56
Ruggiero de Federico 1680–84 Cantore D.44/45.3
d. Antonio Guida 22.5.1682–3.1684 Soprano D.36
Tommaso Ghezzi 1680–3.1684 Soprano D.64/68
d. Antonio Aceti 1680–3.1684 Soprano D.12
Pablo de Jaymis 1680–84 Soprano D.45.3/49.3
Matteo Sassano 20.4.1684 Soprano D.21
Gaetano Servillo 1680–3.1684 Alto D.12
Carlo Carpentiero 1680–1.2.1683 Alto D.34/60
Domenico Mormita 1680–84 Alto D.52
d. Cristoforo Caresana 1680–84 Tenor D.38.4
Domenico del Vecchio 1.5.1681–1684 Tenor D.32/40
d. Antonio Carrano 1.3.1682–3.1684 Tenor D.28
Agostino Marzano 11.1682 Tenor D.34/44
Pablo Filiberto 1680–84 Tenor D.8/16
Giulio Riccio 1680– (+26.11.1684) Bass D.28
Vincenzo Jacobelli 1680–3.1684 Bass D.20
Giuseppe Preti 7.7.1683–84 Bass D.21
d. Marc’Antonio Sifola 1680– (+1685) Musico D.132
Antonio de Sartis 1680–84? Musico D.58.4
Francesco Mirabello 1680–84? Violin D.84
Antonio Palumbo 1680–84? Violin D.28
Vincenzo de Angelis 1680– (+22.5.1682) Violin D.57.3
Nicola Vinciprova 1680–84 Violin D.20/26
Francesco Antonio 22.5.1682–84 Violin (and ‘Violon’?) D.32
Nardolino
Pietro Marchitelli 1680–84 Violin D.12
Nicola Lavagna ? Cornet D.24
Antonio Ciquito 1680–84 Theorbo D.16
Francesco De Lise 1680–84 Harp D.29
Source: AS, Scrivania di Razione e Ruota de’conti, 3–4/II: Musicos y Cantores de la R.

Capilla de Palacio (f. 82).
These were good times for Provenzale given that the post of honorary maestro of
the Real Cappella was usually a prelude to becoming the official maestro. But
suddenly in February 1684 his fortunes turned, as is revealed in a curt note, without
explanation, in the musicians’ register:41
(Francesco Provenzale) Librado de primero Noviembre 1683 asta li 17 de Febrero 1684

que se licenzió de servir en dicha Real Cappilla.
(footnote) Se licenzió de servir la suddicha Plaza y dicha Plaza y dos D. al mes que
gozava se assentaron a Thomas Pagano primer organista.
This is a well-known event in the history of music in Baroque Naples.42 On the

death of Ziani, viceroy del Carpio ignored the Cappellano Maggiore’s
recommendation to nominate Provenzale as his replacement and instead appointed
the young Alessandro Scarlatti, who was present in Naples with his operatic
troupe, engaged for the season in the Teatro S. Bartolomeo. Provenzale
immediately resigned as honorary maestro, knowing that he would never replace a
musician only thirty-four years old. Six of his colleagues joined him in protest: the
sopranos Antonio Aceti, Antonio Guida and Tommaso Ghezzi, the alto Gaetano
Servillo, the tenor Antonio Carrano and the bass Vincenzo Jacobelli.43 In the
following years, they all became collaborators in Provenzale’s musical enterprises,
in part, one assumes, as a reward for their fidelity. These singers were subsequently
replaced in the Real Cappella by Roman musicians in Scarlatti’s entourage.44 The
revival of Stellidaura vendicante in the Teatro dei Fiorentini in 1685, performed by
Provenzale’s students at the Conservatorio dei Turchini, with the participation of
the very young castrato singer ‘Nicolino’ Grimaldi, was probably a symbolic
attempt on the composer’s part to respond to the success of Scarlatti’s operas at
court.
In his attempt to defend Provenzale from a clear injustice, also an offence to his
own dignity, the Cappellano Maggiore, Don Geronimo della Marra, reminded the
viceroy of his rights and prerogatives in the Real Cappella:45
Ex.mo Señor. Aunque el summo zelo de V.E. no ha menester de estimulos y el servicio de

Su Mg.d es el blanco de sus deseos, sin embargo los inconvenientes passados sirven de
luz á los Principes para evitar escandalos y solemnizar los aciertos. En complimento,
pues, de las obligaciones de mi cargo, los devo representar á V.E. á fin de que con
verdaderas y provechosas noticias salga el Govierno de V.E. á todas buces glorioso. El
Abad Pedro Andres Ziani, Maestro de la Capilla desta Real de Palacio, Vassallo de la
Republica de Venecia, y de costrumbres que no acreditavan su vida de ajustada, pretendió
y alcanzó aquel Oficio, no par el camino del merito, si no del fabor, quedando
atropellados los largos y experimentados servicios de los Vassallos de Su Mag.d por el
amparo que tubo un extrangero subdito de Nacion opuesta. Se está aora muriendo, y
puede ser que con su exemplar se atrevan otros semejantes á la misma pretension. Me ha
parecido representarlo á V.E., á fin que ponderando el absurdo passado, honre y haga
merced á los Vassallos del Rey N.ro Señor (si el caso de la muerte sucediére). Por ser tan
proprio y conatural de la justitia distributiva de V.E. premiar á los que sirven con
puntualidad y que han nacido con obligaciones de servir á su Rey: siendo gran
desconsuelo que subditos de otros Principes usurpen á los de Su Mag.d, y en su propria
patria, los puestos y conveniencias, y que sea antepuestos á los leales y virtuosos
Vassallos, personas extrañas de inferiores prendas y nó conocida fidelidad. Guarde Dios á

V.E. multos años, come deseo. De esta Real Capilla, á 9 de Febrero de 1684.
This document is of great interest, not least because so authoritative a witness as

the Cappellano Maggiore states that Ziani (even though he was ‘un extrangero
subdito de Nacion opuesta’) had obtained the position of maestro di cappella ‘no
par el camino del merito, si no del fabor’. The Cappellano Maggiore was now
trying to avoid a similar ‘extrangero’ gaining a position intended for the
Neapolitan, Provenzale (who is one of ‘los que sirven con puntualidad’). But the
decision was already taken: Alessandro Scarlatti began his distinguished career at
the Neapolitan court, Tommaso Pagano took Provenzale’s place as honorary
maestro, and Provenzale, for his part, resigned and turned his attention to the
Tesoro di S. Gennaro, where finally a few years later, in 1686, he was appointed
maestro.
On 15 November 1687, Marchese del Carpio died: of all the viceroys, he had
most supported music and theatre in Baroque Naples. A few months after his
death, in January 1688, Scarlatti resigned from his post of maestro in the Real
Cappella for family reasons, and the Contestabile Colonna, who was for a short
time the regent, pending the arrival of a new viceroy from Madrid, suddenly
appointed the organist Tommaso Pagano as maestro in Scarlatti’s place, and
Pagano’s previous post went to Provenzale. At the same time, Provenzale was also
appointed the viceroy’s ‘maestro di camera’. The official registration, now lost,
was published by Prota-Giurleo:46
24 Jenero 1688 ... Attendiendo al estudio, meritos servicios, habilidad y suficiençia que
concurren en persona del Magnifico Francisco Provenzal en la profession de la Musica y
a lo que en ella ha trajado y adelentandose de muchos años a esta parte y a la estimacion
que por estos motivos han hecho del los SS.es Virreyes nuestros predecessores segun nos
consta por las fees de Officio que nos ha presentado, hemos resuelto que se assienten los
diez y nueve duc. al mes que tenía Thomas Pagano, quando passó ultimamente a ser M.ro
d’esta R. Capilla actual de nostra Camara que lo hemos encargado y las ausençias y
enfermedades del dicho Thomas Pagano, sin que el uno se intrometta con el otro en sus
empleos sino quando por impedimiento que tubiere Pagano, aya de suplir su ausençia
como va expressado. Tenemos por bien que en esta conformidad se le haga a los libros de
esse Officio el assiento de tal Maestro de Capilla de n.ra Camara con los referidos 19 duc.
al mes.
But once again the situation suddenly changed: Scarlatti applied to regain his
former position and on 11 March 1688 everything returned as it was before, with
Provenzale once more excluded from the Cappella. Paologiovanni Maione recently
uncovered and published a few documents (previously considered to be lost)
referring to this complicated story, which include an autograph “supplica” by
Provenzale: 47
Ecc.mo Signore
Francesco Provenzale Maestro di Cappella di questa Fedelissima Città humilmente
espone à V. E. come sin da venticinque anni à dietro ha servito di musica il Real Palazzo
in tutte le occasioni che si sono offerte, tanto di Comedie, quanto d’opere di Camera, e
nella Real Cappella; per li quali servitij si degnò l’Eccellentissimo Signore Marchese de
los Velez nel anno 1680 conferirli il carico di Maestro della Real Cappella nelle absentie,
et infermità del Abbate Don Pietro Andrea Ziani attual Maestro di detta Real Cappella, e
perché il detto Ziani era molto vecchio servì sempre il supplicante con puntualità, e senza
soldo come il tutto appare per fede della Scrivania di Ratione; Ultimamente
l’Eccellentissimo Signor Contestabile diede la Piazza di Maestro di Cappella in capite à
Thomase Pagano, e quella del Pagano al supplicante con peso che dovesse servire da
Maestro di Cappella di Camera, e nella Real Cappella. Poi nel felice arrivo di V. E.
ordinò, che al Scarlati fusse restituita la Piazza, e che il Pagano ripigliasse la sua, con che
il supplicante restò escluso. Ricorre dunque alla benignità di V. E. supplicandola, che
vacando detta Piazza si degni provederla in persona del supplicante che il tutto lo riceverà
à Grazia Ut Deus.
Finally, Pagano died in June 1690, and Provenzale took up the permanent post of
vicemaestro, with a salary of 19 ducats per month and the responsibility of
deputizing for Scarlatti during his numerous protracted absences:48
El Conde mi Señor se ha servido hacer merced a Francisco Provenzal de la placa de

mastro de la Real Capilla que ha vacado por muerte de Thomas Pagano, con calidad de
que sirva las ausencias y enfermedades de Alesandro Escarlati, actual mastro de dicha
Real Capilla: con los 19 D. al mes que gocava el defunto. I me manda S.C. avisarlo a
V.S. para que tenga esta notizia. Llamando participar al referido Provenzal sempre que
fuere menester por enfermedad o otro impedimento de Alesando Escarlati ... à 27 de
Junio 1690. Antonio de Lites
According to Ulisse Prota-Giurleo, already by Christmas 1691 Scarlatti’s

absences were being reprimanded by the Cappellano Maggiore; they became much
more frequent from 1693, the year in which he was director of opera at S.
Bartolomeo.49 In that period, Provenzale also became chief administrator of the
Confraternity of Santa Cecilia dei Musici at the Real Cappella, entirely financially
supported by the ‘Arrendamento del tabacco’, as is documented in a viceregal
letter dated 1690.50
The only surviving documents about the Real Cappella in these last years of
Provenzale’s life always bear his name at the head of the list of musicians: only
rarely do we find the two Scarlattis, father and son.51
A fragment of an inventory of the Cappella dated February 1705 (shortly after
Provenzale’s death) lists no music but only liturgical books:52
… 8 missals, that is:

Two missals with red covers, in quite good condition, and six others used, one preserved
by R. do D. Sebastiano Mascolo, and another in the Cappella Segreta of His Excellency.
Two manuals with their covers, one of which is new, and the other very worn.
Three small missals for the Messe de’ Morti, all old and very worn.
One small ritual and a libretto of the Te Deum, used
Two large pontificals used
One small pontifical for use by Monsignor Most Illustrious
One large breviary, used
Newly published research on the Real Cappella between the last years of the
Spanish age and the first years of Austrian rule has shed light on variations in its
organization compared with that of the seventeenth century.53 In October 1703,
when Scarlatti’s repeated absences could no longer be tolerated, the new
Cappellano Maggiore54 announced a public competition to appoint a new maestro
di cappella. At least four of the most important musicians, already in the service of
the Cappella, applied for the post: Gaetano Veneziano, Cristofaro Caresana,
Domenico Sarro and Francesco Mancini.55 The winner was Gaetano Veneziano,
Provenzale’s former pupil and assistant, who was officially appointed on 25
October 1704, only a month after Provenzale’s death.
Notes
1
‘Essendo stata fatta istanza per parte del magnifico Francesco Provenzale a detti
Illustrissimi Signori Deputati, che dovessero assentarlo, per maestro di cappella di detta
Illustrissima Deputatione per tutte quelle funtioni di musiche che occorreranno farsi da
quella in esegution delle conclusioni fatte nell'anno 1665 dall’Illustrissime Piazze di
Capuana, Montagna, Portanova e Fedelissimo Popolo, con le quali l’assentarono per
maestro di cappella di questa Fedelissima Città nelle funtioni di musiche che da essa si
fanno, confirmate poi dette Conclusioni dall’ Illustrissimi Eletti di quel tempo con altra
Conclusione del 17 Decembre di detto anno 1665. Per procedere detti Illustrissimi
Signori Deputati con quella giustificatione, che si conviene, stante il ritrovarsi il
magnifico Felippo Coppola esercitando attualmente detto officio di maestro di cappella
hanno dato ordine, che si riconoscessero le conclusioni sudette, e se quelle furono fatte
nel medesimo tempo, che il detto Magnifico Felippo Coppola stava nell’esercitio
suddetto, et essendosi ritrovato esser verissime le Conclusioni allegate a favore del detto
magnifico Francesco Provenzale, et esser state quelle fatte non ostante, che il detto
magnifico Felippo Coppola stasse esercitando la detta carrica di maestro di cappella, con
che vennero ad escluderla dell’officio predetto. Hanno concluso detti Illustrissimi Signori
Deputati per uniformarsi con lo stabilito da detta Fedelissima Città, che resti conferito,
come per la presente conclusione conferiscono detto officio di maestro di cappella [del
Tesoro di S. Gennaro] al detto Magnifico Francesco Provenzale tanto nelle funtioni di
musiche si fanno le tre sere della festività di settembre del Glorioso S. Gennaro nel largo
della Piramide, quanto in tutte l’altre musiche, che si fanno dentro la detta Cappella con
espressa conditione però, che li musici haverano da intervenire in dette funtioni siano ad
elettione, e sodisfattione dell’Illustrissimi Signori Deputati, che pro’ tempore sarano. Con
che non si possi pretendere da detto magnifico Francesco Provenzale provisione alcuna
per detta carrica, ma debbia contentarsi del regalo conveniente alle sue fatighe, che se li
darà ogni volta, che intervenirà in qualsisia funtione di musica eo modo et forma come
nelle suddette conclusioni dell’Illustrissime Piazze, et Eletti sta dichiarato. Restando
escluso come per la presente Conclusione escludono da detta carica di maestro di
cappella di detta Illustrissima Deputatione il magnifico Felippe Coppola per la causa
suddetta’. (In the margin: ‘Questa conclusione non ha havuto effetto’). Ed. by Di
Giacomo 1920, 5–7, and Di Giacomo 1924, 198–200. The original document is in
Tesoro, 66/1603, f. 56r–v.
2
In 1997 I was able to make only a preliminary survey of the rich archive of the Tesoro
di S. Gennaro, thanks to the generosity of Principe di Somma Carlo del Colle: the
results are given in this chapter. The present work had already been completed when
Paologiovanni Maione and Marta Columbro started work on a systematic investigation

of the archive which will eventually establish a full reconstruction of the musical
activity at the Tesoro during the seventeenth and the eighteenth centuries: see
Columbro and Maione 2002.
3
The fact that we do not know who the predecessor of Coppola was at the Tesoro arises
from the lack of Conclusioni della Deputatione di San Gennaro for the years 1645–60.
The only musical event recorded before 1660 is the contract signed in 1649 by the
organ-maker Pompeo di Franco for the building of two organs ‘nelli due coretti della
… cappella del Tesoro del glorioso S. Gennaro’ (Romano 1979, 177). In the years
1650–55 Francesco Marinelli was the maestro di cappella at the Duomo, and it is
possible that he was also in charge of the music at the Tesoro.
4
Di Giacomo 1920 (I have corrected some of the names quoted inaccurately by Di Giacomo).
The ensemble varied considerably from one occasion to another: for example, in May 1680
it consisted of 4 sopranos, 1 alto, 2 tenors, 2 basses, 4 violins, 1 viola, 1 harp, 1 cornet, 1
bassoon, 2 organs (I wish to thank Paologiovanni Maione for this information).
5
Strazzullo 1978, ix ff.
6
‘Spese di musiche D. centoquarantotto #3 ho pagati per detto Banco (di S. Salvatore) a
D. Gio: Cesare Netti maestro di cappella del nostro Tesoro per doversi dividere inclusa
la sua persona alli musici e sonatori di istrumento che hanno fatte le musiche
infrascritte e sono cioè: D. 40.4.10 per le musiche fatte nelle tre sere delle luminarie
fatte in onore di nostro Santissimo Protettore S. Gennaro in dette tre sere ... per l’ alloco
delli due organi serviti in dette musiche D. 1.1.2 pagati per tutte le tre sere alli
tiramantici, e D. 7.2.10 per li due violini, e la viola, aggiunti più del solito dell’anni
passati, come si pratticò anche nell’ultimi tre anni.’ (In addition an extra 58 ducats ‘per
le musiche’): Tesoro, 103–4/2124, f. 124 (and f. 132).
7
‘Essendo vacata la Piazza di maestro di cappella del nostro Tesoro, per morte di D.
Gio: Cesare Netti, che l’esercitava, e dovendo l’illustrissimi signori Deputati venire
all’elettione del successore in persona d’ogni sperimentata virtù, e talento, et in uno de’
migliori soggetti, che al presente fioriscono in questa fedelissima Città, conforme è
stato l’antico costume di detta illustrissima Deputatione, e conoscendo che tali parti
compitamente concorrino nella persona di Francesco Provenzale maestro di cappella di
detta Fedelissima Città e delle più cospicue chiese della medesima hanno perciò
concluso d’eligerlo, come per la presente conclusione l’eligono, per maestro di cappella
del nostro Tesoro con li medesimi lucri, e pesi conforme hanno esercitata detta Piazza
li suoi predecessori’: Tesoro, 66/1604, p.9 (cited by Di Giacomo 1920, 9, and Di
Giacomo 1924, 202).
8
‘Expenses for music one hundred and fifty-one, to # L paid through the Banco de
Santissimo Salvatore to the Magnificent Francesco Provenzale maestro di cappella of
the Treasure [of San Gennaro], elected by our Delegation of 31 July last due to the
death of D. Cesare Netti: D.151.1; that is D.144.8 to be divided between himself, the
musicians and instrumentalists, who have performed the said music, that is: D.86 for
music performed during the three evenings of the luminaries before the Piramide of
our Most Saintly Protector S. Gennaro on 17, 18, 19 September; and [D.]58 for music
performed during the sung masses during evenings inside our chapel in the next octave
of this Most Illustrious Saint as per usual, and the other sums [D.] 7.1 are for expenses
incurred by the said Magnificent Francesco, that is D.6 for the leasing of two organs
for the said music of the three evenings of the luminaries ... given to the bellows
operators ... for the music of the luminaries ... included are [D.]7.10 for two violins and
a cornet added by order of the Deputies beyond that which was stipulated in the
agreement for the conclusion of the said luminaries. Paid through the Banco del
Salvatore.’ (‘Spese di musiche cento cinquant’uno, a # L pagati per Banco

del Santissimo Salvatore al Magnifico Francesco Provenzale maestro di cappella del
nostro Tesoro, eletto con conclusione della nostra Deputatione delli 31 luglio prossimo
passato per morte di D. Cesare Netti: D. 151.1; sono cioè D.144.8 per doverli dividere
inclusa la sua persona alli musici e sonatori di istromenti, che hanno fatte l'infrascritte
musiche, cioè: D.86 per quelle fatte nelle tre sere delle luminarie erogate avanti la
Piramide del nostro Santissimo Protettore S. Gennaro nelli 17, 18, 19 Settembre; e [D.]
58 per le musiche, fatte nelle messi cantate e versetto delle sere dentro la nostra
cappella nella prossima spirata ottava di esso Illustrissimo Santo conforme il solito, e
gl’altri [D.] 7.1 sono per tanti da detto Magnifico Francesco spesi cioè D. 6 per l’allogo
di due organi per dette musiche delle tre sere delle luminarie ... dati alli tiramantici …
per le musiche delle luminarie ... vi sono inclusi [D.] 7.10 per due violini, e cornetta
aggiunti per ordine de’ Signori Deputati di più del stabilito per conclusione in dette
luminarie. Pagato per Banco del Salvatore’): Tesoro, 103–4(2124), f. 9 (and f. 82).
9
A few years later, for the September 1688 festivities, the Deputati del Tesoro
established an amount of 157,37 ducats ‘per doverli dividere inclusa la sua persona alli
musici cantori et sonatori d’istrumenti di detto Tesoro che hanno fatte le infrascritte
musiche’ (ASBN, S.S., 316: 20 October 1688).
10
In December 1684: ‘Per quattro figlioli di Santo Onofrio per rispondere à messa’; in
December 1689 a sung Mass ‘nel giorno del Vesuvio’ with four to eight ‘figlioli di
Santo Onofrio’ (Tesoro, 30, fasc. 22, years 1684 and 1689).
11
Romano 1979, 178 (he also quotes a similar ‘nota di spese … in haver risarcito
l’organo del secondo chore’ signed by Felice Cimmino and Alessandro Galli, in the
following 1693). Among previously unknown documents in the Tesoro, currently being
investigated by Maione and Columbro, there should be other autographs by Provenzale
concerning the organs. On the contrary, the report that an unknown manuscript score
by Provenzale (one Dixit) is preserved in the Tesoro archives seems to be without
foundation (I thank Paologiovanni Maione for this information).
12
‘Music and hangings for the extraordinary exposition of the saintly relics of S.
Gennaro ... the maestro di cappella should have a motet sung during the ceremony by
two voices and two violins from the same Tesoro, upon which ... the said altars will
appear in the above mentioned form, and the music will be performed in the above
mentioned form’ (‘Musica, e parati per l’espositione estraordinaria delle Sante
Reliquie di S. Gennaro ... Far avvisato il maestro di cappella acciò ... intervenghi con
due voci, e due violini del medesimo Tesoro a cantar qualche mottetto durante la
funtione, sopra la qual ... s’aparino detti altari nella forma suddetta, e se facci la musica
nella forma suddetta’): Tesoro, 66/1604, p. 11.
13
‘Dui Cori d’Organi per la ricevuta di Santa Chiara nel Tesoro’: Tesoro, 30/26.
14
‘A Francesco Provenzale D.7. Et per lui a Giuseppe de Bonis, stampatore a
complimento di D.42 per l’intiero prezzo di 500 mute de Mottetti a due voci diverse da
lui stampateli, quali doverà finire da consegnarli, dichiarando che con detto pagamento
resta da lui sodisfatto’: ASBN, Sp.S., 694.
15
Larson and Pompilio 1983.
16
Giuseppe De Bonis printed nearly all the collections of Neapolitan pedagogical and
sacred music which appeared during the second half of the seventeenth century:
Amodei 1679; Caresana Duo 1681; Strozzi Elementorum musicae praxis 1683; Strozzi
Capricci 1687; Provenzale 1689; Scorpione 1691; Caresana Duo op. 2 1693; Caresana
1700 (Larson and Pompilio 1983).
17
The two volumes are preserved (three partbooks) in Nc and I-Bc: I have checked both
copies, and they show no differences.
18
See Veneziano’s compositions in Nf: Mottetto pastorale per il SS. Crocifisso del
Carmine con due trombe, violini, arcileuto, e nove voci (dated 16 December 1706) and
Mottetto pastorale in lode del SS. Crocifisso del Carmine, a nove voci con violini,
tromba, due cornetti e due flauti (Di Giacomo 1918, 93).
19
The pieces in Nf are: Pastorale a 5 voci con violini (1670), Pastorale a 5 voci con
violini (1672), Pastorale a 4 con violini (1681) (Di Giacomo 1918, 42).
20
In particular, before the fire, four series of documents were preserved in the Archivio
Municipale: (1) Notamentorum (Eletti’s expenses from 1502); (2) Litterarum (from
1520); (3) Conclusionum Parvularum (5 vols. from 1585 to 1800); (4) Appuntamenti
(from 1607). In the third volume of Conclusionum Parvularum the names of masters
and musicians hired by the Fedelissima since 1660 were registered. Only the large
catalogue remains today, compiled in the nineteenth century by Capasso 1876–1920.
The only information on the annual expenses for music of the Fedelissima occurs in
1769: ‘spese di musiche’ for D. 456 and 50 grana (vol. I, 58). We can also note that in
the series of Deputazioni were comprised documents of Deputazione del Tesoro di S.
Gennaro (vol. III, 4).
21
(22 December 1671) ‘Alli Signori Eletti D.100. Et per loro a Francesco Provenzale
come maestro di cappella di detta Fidelissima Città per la musica fatta nella festa della
Santissima Concezione et Ottava nella Chiesa di S.Lorenzo’: ASBN, S.S., 170.
22
Confuorto 1930, I, 217 (1688); see original with English translation in Griffin 1983,
135–36.
23
Succinta relazione delle Feste celebrate in Napoli nel Mese d’Ottobre 1689 ... per li
sponsali effettuati dal Serenissimo Re d’Ungheria a nome della Maestà del nostro Re
Carlo Secondo che Dio guardi con la Serenissima Prencipessa Marianna di Neoburgo
(Naples, 1689); see original with English translation in Griffin 1983, 160–61.
24
Griffin 1983, 161.
25
‘A 24 di Dicembre 1691. Havendo l’illustrissimi Signori Eletti buona notizia del
merito del maestro di cappella Gaetano Greco nella sua professione di musico; e che è
capace di ogni riguardevole posto, e luogo per la sua virtù, et altri requisiti, che in esso
concorrono; di che tengono anche pieni attestati da persone d’intiera fede, hanno però
detti illustrissimi Signori giudicato poter questa Fedelissima Città valersene con ogni
sodisfatione nella carica di maestro di cappella nelle musiche dell’Ottava della
Santissima Concettione, et in tutte le altre, che nel giro dell’anno si fanno a spese di
questa Fidelissima Città. Per tanto hanno detti Illustrissimi Signori concluso
succedendo vacanza del mastro di cappella di questa predetta Città, o per morte, o
rinunzia del magnifico Francesco Provenzale, che in atto l’esercita, o per altra legittima
causa di vacanza, di conferire, come conferiscono detta carica di maestro di cappella di
questa Città in persona del nominato maestro Gaetano Greco con tutti gli emolumenti,
e lucri, pesi, et honori, che vanno annessi al detto posto, e come hanno goduto gli altri
maestri di cappella predecessori. Con conditione che, a suo tempo, debbia impetrarsi il
consenso dell’illustrissime Piazze in numero opportuno. D. Gennaro Brancaccio, D.
Francesco di Gennaro, D. Lutio Capece, D. Antonio Plastena’: Capasso 1899, II, 219,
from a document now lost, originally in Naples, Archivio Municipale, Conclusionum
Parvulum, III, f. 118v.
26
Gaetano Greco (Naples, c.1657–1728) and his brother Rocco both entered as students
in the same Conservatorio dei Poveri di Gesù Cristo in which Francesco Greco, their
probable relative, was active as maestro of wind instruments. Gaetano’s teachers were
Giovanni Salvatore and Gennaro Ursino, but it is plausible that Greco also studied with
Francesco Provenzale: the contract with the Eletti della Fedelissima Città in 1701 is
typical of a teacher-pupil relationship.
27
‘Essendosi in più, e diverse occasioni da detti Illustrissimi Signori Deputati discorso di
dar qualche sesto alle musiche che sogliono farsi nella nostra cappella, e nelle tre sere
delle luminarie di settembre, per essersi conosciuto che cossì per mancamento di
sogetti (al che di presente non può remediarsi) come per l’impotenza, e vecchiaia del
magnifico Francesco Provenzale maestro di cappella quelle languiscono. Ora
intendendo dare opportuno remedio al secondo capo quale è il più importante, sono
venuti a concludere, come per la presente conclusione concludono, che detto magnifico
Francesco Provenzale resti esimito, e discaricato da tal peso di maestro di cappella del
nostro Tesoro per causa di detta sua impotenza conosciuta chiaramente dalle sue
antichissime compositioni, in ogni musica sempre replicate da molt’anni a questa
parte, e che in suo luogo resti eletto D. Christofaro Caresano detto il Venetiano sogetto
di sperimentata virtù, et attentione, al quale in virtù di questa Conclusione conferiscono
detta carica di maestro di cappella del nostro Tesoro con li medesimi pesi, e lucri,
come, e con li quali si è esercitata dalli suoi predecessori’: Tesoro, 66/1604, p. 82
(quoted in Di Giacomo 1920, 9–10 and Di Giacomo 1924, 202–03).
28
‘Alli Eletti di questa Fidelissima Città D.20. E per essi a Francesco Provenzale olim
maestro di cappella di detta Fidelissima Città per tanti deve conseguire da 12 del mese
di settembre 1701 sta ordinato di ritenersi dalla somma de D.59 che si pagano a
Gaetano Greco hodierno mastro di cappella della medesima per le musiche nelle
festività di S. Rocco, Santa Rosalia e Piedigrotta e pagarrasi a detto Francesco sua vita
durante tantum’. In the margin of the document, a later hand has written: ‘pagandoli
però costandoci di sua vita’: ASBN, P.G.C., 797.
29
‘Alli Eletti della Città D.10. E per essi a Francesco Provenzale olim maestro di cappella di
questa città per tanti in virtù di loro conclusione de 12 settembre 1701 sta ordinato ritenersi
dalla summa di D.100 che si pagano a Gaetano Gregho [= Greco] hodierno maestro di
cappella della medesima per la musica della festività et ottava dell’Immacolata Concettione
e pagarrasi al detto Francesco Provenzale sua vita durante’: ASBN, P.G.C., 798.
30
On the Real Cappella during Provenzale’s lifetime, see Maione 2006.
31
Coppola’s biography is summarized by Prota-Giurleo 1952b, 29–31.
32
See the modern edition: F. Coppola and M. G. Bustamante, El robo de Proserpina y
Sentencia de Júpiter, ed. by L. A. Gonzáles Marín (Barcelona, 1994) and my review in
Revista de musicología, XIX (1996), 421–26.
33
Confitebor a 9 con violini dated 1658 (‘dono del Sig.r D. Francesco de Maria’);
Laetatus a 9 voci, 2 chori dated 1658; Magnificat a 9 voci dated 1658; Vox Domini
super aquas. Mottetto a 4 voci (Organo, violini, cornetto, fagotto); see Di Giacomo
1918, 47.
34
‘Noi Don Geronimo della Marra, Regio Cappellano Maggiore per S. M. in questo
Regno … il quondam Filippo Coppola assentò piazza di maestro di cappella a 20
dicembre 1658 e servì in quella per tutti li 26 febbraio 1680, giorno di sua morte, senza
mancamento alcuno e con puntualità et eminenza nella sua professione e tale concorso
nelle sue opere, che lo più delle volte restavano con ammiratione li circostanti, e con
quella gloria di virtuoso è passato all’altra vita’; given in Prota-Giurleo 1952b, 30.
35
After being organist and maestro in Venice and Bergamo, Ziani started his
international career in Vienna (1663–67) and Dresden. In 1669, he returned to Venice,
succeeding Cavalli as organist at S. Marco. His operas were already being performed in
Naples around 1673 and he decided to transfer to that city in 1677, becoming teacher at
the Conservatorio di S. Onofrio (1678–80).
36
See the list in Bianconi 1979.
37
AS, Scrivania di Razione e Ruota dei conti, II (3–4): 1660–84, f. 91. Prota-Giurleo
1958a, 76, quotes a similar document, not surviving today, from AS, Mandatorum, 275,
f. 71: ‘Attendendo al studio, merito, habilidad y suficiencia del Maestro Francisco

Provenzal en la profesion de la y lo que en ella hà travajado, y adelantadose de muchos
años à est[a] parte, hemos retenido hazerle merced de admitirle por musico desta R.
Capilla, con el grado de Maestro della onorario, y con calidad que sirva de tal en las
ausençias y enfermidad del Abad Dom Pedro Andres Ziani, actual Maestro de dicha R.
Capilla, por la ançianidad y larga edad que padeçe, y en esta conformidad tenemos por
bien que al referido Provenzal se le haga el assento en los libros desse Officio. 28 de
Noviembre de 1680’.
38
‘Sua Eccellenza con mandato de primo Febrero 1683 ... tiene que los diezysiette D.
s.4.10 que han vacato en esta Real Cappilla cumpimento a los 25.4.10 que gozava el
defunto Carlos de Fonso Musico della se assenten … dos D. al suddetto Francesco
Provenzal Maestro de Cappilla onorario in ausencias y enfermedades del proprio y
demas assistencias que le estan señaladas segun el asiento que tiene hecho el medemo
de su antecessor en este cargo’: AS, Scrivania di Razione e Ruota dei conti, II (3–4):
1660–1684, f. 91. Prota-Giurleo 1958a, 76, refers to a payment of 2 ducats from AS,
Mandatorum, 285, f. 125.
39
He had conducted the first performance of Provenzale’s Schiavo di sua moglie in 1671.
40
The dates refer only to the presence of the musicians in the vol. III of the Scrivania di
Razione (1664–84) and not to their effective fixed employment by the Real Cappella.
The payments are indicated in the same order in which they appear in the document:
this is very confusing because for the most part they refer to only three to four months,
while for some they are annual payments. I have not tried to reconstruct the true
income per year. For earlier lists (1648–64) of rolls in the Neapolitan Real Cappella,
see Fabris 1983b, 106–10. For other sources see Maione 2003.
41
AS, Scrivania di Razione e Ruota dei conti, II (3–4): 1660–84, f. 91.
42
Prota-Giurleo 1952a, 39–41; Pagano 1972, 71–73.
43
In the quoted register (AS, Scrivania di Razione e Ruota de’conti, 3-4/II: Musicos y
Cantores de la R. Capilla de Palacio, f. 82 ff) under the names of each singer is
annotated, in March 1684: ‘se despedio de servir en esta R.Capilla’.
44
See the entire story told in Pagano 1972, 71–75.
45
Prota-Giurleo 1958a, 76, doc. VIII (from AS, Varietà, Cappellano Maggiore, Consulte,
fasc. 48: lost).
46
Prota-Giurleo 1958a, 77. The original document now lost, was AS, Mandatorum, 292, f.
62.
47
AS, Affari diversi della Segreteria dei Vicerè, fascio 771, ex. 28 June 1690. See
Maione 2004.
48
AS, Cappellano Maggiore, Diversi 1161, f. 7. Prota-Giurleo 1958a, 77–78 has given a
very similar resumé in Italian from an original document in Spanish, today not
surviving, that was preserved in AS, Mandatorum, 297, f. 42: (27 June 1690) ‘A
Francesco Provenzale, maestro di cappella, si assenta la piazza di maestro della R.
Cappella che è vacata per morte di Tommaso Pagano, con la mansione di servir nelle
assenze ed infermità di Alessandro Scarlatti, attuale maestro della detta R. Cappella, e
al Provenzale con questo carico si asentano i 19 duc. al mese, che godeva il defunto
Pagano’.
49
50
‘Carta di Sua Maestà delli 11 Aprile 1690. Ordi[ni]amo che alli capitani e musici della
Real Cappella, se li paghi il loro soldo sopra la medesima parte, e forma, che
espressano nella loro supplica, cioè sopra l’arrendamento del tabacco, et nell’istesso
tempo che si pagano li consiglieri sopra di quella senza che se li facci novità. N°340’
SSP, MS XXV Q.1 (vol. IX), 492.
51
Domenico Scarlatti entered the Real Cappella in 1701 as ‘organista soprannumerario’. I
have found a previously unknown sacred piece by him signed in the same year, that
may have been intended as an admission test for the chapel: Antra valles, five-voice
motet with instruments. See Fabris 1997–98.
52
AS, Cappellano Maggiore, Diversi, 1154: Liber Obligationum Capp. Realis (1588–
1708), f. (88 but new numbering). On f. 50 are listed among other objects: ‘Un quadro
di Santa Catarina—un organo piccolo—un pulpito’.
53
Krause 1993; Cotticelli and Maione 1993; Maione 2003.
54
His predecessor, Geronimo della Marra, died on 4 March 1693 (Prota-Giurleo 1958a, 70).
55
‘D. Diego Vincenzo de Vidania Regio Cappellano Maggiore of His Majesty in this
Kingdom. His Excellency has ordered that the post of maestro di cappella of the
musicians of the Real Cappella be opened to competition, as previously practised by
Alessandro Scarlatti with a monthly salary of 35 ducats, that is 30 ducats to be paid up
front, deriving from the said post, and 5 ducats from the first posts which will be vacated
in the same Real Cappella. Therefore wishing to carry out the orders of His Excellency,
we wish to inform all those practitioners who wish to compete for the said post, that in
thirty days, starting from the day of the announcement of this notice, they register
themselves in our presence for the said competition, after which date they will no longer
be admitted, and then the abovementioned competitors will be given the subject-matter
and material on which they are to compose, specifying the time limit and format in the
presence of His Excellency; and then they will be expected to sing and perform their own
compositions publicly in the Real Cappella, to be judged by the experts to be chosen by
His Excellency, with whose consultation His Excellency will make a final judgement.
And so that everyone can be informed, we have made the present notice to be affixed in
public places throughout this Fedelissima Città. Naples, 4 October 1703. D. Diego
Vincenzo de Vidania.’ [on the reverse:] ‘On 5 October 1703 in Naples, I Paulo de
Aventa, by order of the Most Illustrious Monsignore Cappellano Maggiore have posted
copies of the edict overleaf at the Cappella Reale, Santa Maria della Nova, Spirito Santo,
in front of the Palazzo Sieggio di Nido, and the Regio Tribunale.’ [The signatures of four
applicants follow:] ‘I Gaetano Veneziano with the help of God will compete for the
abovementioned post’; ‘I Cristoforo Caresana with the help of God will compete for the
abovementioned post’; ‘I Francesco Mancini will compete for the abovementioned post’;
‘I Domenico Sarri with the help of God will compete for the abovementioned post.’ (‘D.
Diego Vincenzo de Vidania Regio Cappellano Maggiore di Sua Maestà in questo Regno.
Havendo S. E. ordinato, che si esponghi a concorso la piazza di mastro di cappella de
musici della Real Cappella, che si esercitava da Alesandro Scarlati con il soldo di ducati
trentacinque per ogni mese, cioè ducati trenta da pagargli subito, che sarà provisto di
detta piazza, et ducati cinque dalle prime piazze, che vacheranno nella medesima Real
Cappella. Che perciò volendo dar esecutione all’ordini di Sua Eccellenza si fa noto a tutti
li professori, che vorranno concorrere a detta piazza, che fra giorni trenta, decorrendi dal
dì dell’affissione del presente, venghino in nostra presenza a scriversi per detto concorso,
et elasso detto tempo non saranno più ammessi, e poi si darà alli suddetti concorrenti il
punto, e materia sopra la quale hanno da componere, prescrivendoli il tempo, e forma in
presenza di S. E., per poi cantarsi, et esponersi pubblicamente nella Real Cappella
l’opere da essi composte al giuditio de periti, che elegerà Sua Eccellenza, col di cui
consultivo parere risolverà l’Eccellenza Sua quello procederà di giustitia. E perché
venghi a notitia di tutti habbiamo fatto il presente editto da affiggersi nelli luoghi
pubblici, e soliti di questa Fidelissima Città. Napoli a 4 di Ottobre 1703. D. Diego
Vincenzo de Vidania’. ‘Adi cinque di Ottobre 1703 in Napoli Io Paulo de Aventa per
ordine del Illustrissimo Monsignore Cappellano Maggiore ho affisso le copie del
retroscritto editto alla Cappella Reale Santa Maria della Nova Spirito Santo avanti
Palazzo Sieggio di Nido et Regio Tribunale’. ‘Jo Gaetano Veneziano con l’agiuto del
Signore Iddio concorrerò alla suddetta piazza’; ‘Jo Cristoforo Caresana con l’agiuto
del Signore Iddio concorrerò alla suddetta piazza’; ‘Jo Francesco Mancini concorrerò
alla suddetta piazza’; ‘Jo Domenico Sarri con l’agiuto d’Iddio concorrerò alla sudetta
piazza’. AS, Cappellano Maggiore, Diversi, 1154: Real Cappella 1649–1706, fasc. 12.
Chapter Eight
Conclusion
The Pange lingua and Provenzale’s Legacy in the Eighteenth Century
So far as we can tell, the magnificent Pange lingua for nine voices (in two choirs)
and instruments is the last sacred composition by Provenzale. This piece assured
the survival of the composer’s name well into the nineteenth century. According to
previous listings of Provenzale’s repertory many different versions of Provenzale’s
setting of the famous hymn attributed to Tommaso da Celano (c.1262) were in
circulation:
Pange lingua a 9 voci C min.

Pange lingua a 3 voci D min.
Pange lingua a 2 voci D min.
These versions can be found in I-Nc, Nf, Mc (Noseda), Bc, B-Bc and D-Rb
(Proske Sammlung). This abundance of sources testifies to the long life and
diffusion, even far from Naples, of this unparalleled work by Provenzale. Ever
since the nineteenth century, these multiple versions have led to misunderstandings
as to the original. At least one of those listed above is obviously mistaken: there is
no three-voice version of Pange lingua.1 François-Joseph Fétis indicated Pange
lingua as the first item in his catalogue of Provenzale’s works, followed by two
titles as if they belonged to different works, although they are in fact only separate
internal verses:2
Provenzale, François … Ses compositions connues sont: 1. Pange lingua à neuf voix
avec orchestre, et avec des ritornelles entre les versets. 2. Tantum ergo et Genitori pour
soprano solo et orgue avec choeur pieno, ouvrage d’une grande beauté, qu’on a toujours
exécuté dans l’eglise de Saint-Dominique Majeur, pendant les quarante heures du
carnaval, depuis le temps où il a été écrit jusqu’ù l’époque actuelle, mais qui ne produit
plus aujourd’hui l’effet qu’il faisait autrefois, à cause de l’absence des voix de castrats.
There is much interesting information in this note, which Fétis took partly from
Villarosa’s Memorie dei compositori di musica (Naples, 1840).3 In the original
setting, which Fétis misunderstands, the verses Tantum ergo and Genitori are not
separate from Pange lingua but are simply solo-voice sections contrasting with the
full choir. In recent times, the Pange lingua has been examined by Ugo Giani, who
has collated the different versions of what he considers to be Provenzale’s original

composition: for nine, eight and two voices, with the two-voice setting simply
transposed from C minor to D minor.4 But in fact the two-voice Pange lingua in D
minor is instead a different composition, probably not written by Provenzale at all.
The hymn Pange lingua has been used regularly in the Catholic liturgy since the
Middle Ages. In the chant repertory there are at least ten different settings, among
which the original considered to be the oldest is in the Phrygian mode. The hymn
to honour the Holy Sacrament was performed outdoors during the Vespers
procession of Corpus Domini (and its octave). Within churches, monasteries and
chapels, its liturgical place was usually before the Blessing of the Eucharist. There
are innumerable polyphonic settings, particularly from the second half of the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. One of Provenzale’s settings was still being
performed in the late eighteenth century, as noted by Villarosa and Fétis, during
the Quarantore of carnival and repeated during the Thursday before Easter. I
should note that the earliest catalogues only ever refer to one setting of Pange
lingua by Provenzale, for nine voices.
This composition was used for devotional rites at S. Domenico Maggiore in
Naples during the late eighteenth century, as noted on the title-page of the
manuscript I-McNoseda P I-9: L’inno Pange Lingua di Francesco Provenzale che
si canta nelle cinque sere delle quarant’ore di Carnevale nella Chiesa di S.
Domenico Maggiore di Napoli ridotto a quattro parti 1770. This is an original
eighteenth-century manuscript, while other sources of the Pange lingua in the
Noseda archive were copied around March 1863 by Francesco Rondinella,
assistant librarian in the Conservatorio di S. Pietro a Majella, Naples.5 The two
versions today in the Proske Sammlung in Regensburg, though dated 1835, were in
fact copied from other later sources of this composition formerly found in Naples:
D-Rp Proske MS 1835a: Pange lingua a 4 voci con Violini di [other hand: Francesco
Provienzali] ex antiquo Ms. in Collectione Reverendissimi Abbatis Cavalcanti ad SS.
Severinum & Sosium O. Bened. Neapl. in partitionem transtelit Neapoli d .4 Martii 1835
D-Rp Proske MS 1835b: Pange lingua a 9 voci del Sig.r Provenzale Dalla Collezione del
Sign. Gasparo Selvaggio in Napoli. Napoli il 14. Marzo 1835
Let us now consider the nine-voice version in I-McNoseda (P I-7): it perfectly

corresponds to the eighteenth-century version in I-Bc, NN 192, a copy made for
Padre Martini, which adds another interesting note: ‘Copia fatta sull’autografo del
maestro altra volta posseduto dal Padre Massa Agostiniano Scalzo; indi dal
Maestro Gennaro Passis: il quale lo regalava all’Archivio del Real Collegio di
musica in Napoli’. The manuscript source from which the 1863 copy was taken (I-
Nc Rari 1.9.17) bears different information:6 ‘Partitura del celebre Pange Lingua
del Sig.r Franc.co Provenzale di nove voci con violini & basso in Do3b. Questa
Partitura è Originale tenuta dal P. Massa Agostiniano Scalzo, e regalata dal M.
Parigi’. This Neapolitan manuscript dates back to the seventeenth century, but it is
not an autograph. The copyist may have been ‘Vitus’, Provenzale’s assistant, who
copied at least the two dialogues ‘per la Passione’ in I-Nf. Another score in I-Nc
Conclusion 237
(MR 1799), accurately copied by Rondinella in 1863 (I-McNoseda P I-6), adds

new interesting information: ‘Solo Auditu peractus Anno 1770. d. Joseph
Sigismundus Modorum Delectator’. Giuseppe Sigismondo7—a composer,
historian, collector and copyist of old Neapolitan music—transcribed the hymn
directly during a live performance in S. Domenico Maggiore (‘solo auditu’),
perhaps because he was not able to find written sources, all preserved in private or
ecclesiastical collections at that time. It is possible that Gennaro Parisi, the owner
of the seventeenth-century manuscript before it passed to Padre Massa,8 used the
score of the Pange lingua during his period as director of music in the church of S.
Domenico Maggiore after Sigismondo made his transcription.
It is clear that the original version of Provenzale’s Pange lingua was for nine
voices, later adapted for different contexts and performances to the extent of
doubling the parts to four choirs of voices and instruments (sources in I-Nf). The
archetypal double-choir Pange lingua was organized thus (according to the score
in I-Nc Rari 1.9.17):
Table 8.1 General structure of Provenzale’s Pange lingua a 9 voci (MS in I-Nc Rari
1.9.17)
1. ‘Pange lingua, gloriosi’ tutti Largo assai; C C min.

Ritornello (instruments): 4 violins Adagio
and bc
2. ‘Nobis datus’ solos and tutti Largo assai C min.

Ritornello (instruments): 4 violins Adagio
and bc
3. ‘In supremae nocte coenæ’ same music as C min.

1, including
Ritornello 1
4. ‘Verbum caro, panem verum’ same music as C min.

1, including
Ritornello 2
5. ‘Tantum ergo Sacramentum’ S1 solo Largo assai; C min.

and tutti 3/2
6. ‘Genitori, genitoque’ S1 solo Allegro; 3/2 C min.

and tutti
Provenzale’s compositional style is perfectly recognizable: the theme in the bass

with four notes obsessively repeated (similar to the ‘Dies irae’ from the Missa
defunctorum); and the melodic line in imitation between the voices, based on the
descending tetrachord (E –D–C–B) derived from the chant intonation of the hymn,
but also suggesting the lament so often used by Provenzale in his theatre music
(see Figure 17b).
The structure with two choruses (S1 and 2, A, T, B + S, A, T, B) and instruments

is typical of compositions destined for the Real Cappella or the Tesoro di S.
Gennaro. Both cases would justify a date later than 1680, marking Provenzale’s
entrance into the Real Cappella and the death of Filippo Coppola, maestro of the
Tesoro. The latter had composed some nine-voice double-choir pieces (today
preserved in I-Nf) in 1658, soon after his appointment as maestro of the Real
Cappella. Among the few Neapolitans who produced similar compositions was
Giovanni Salvatore, whose large-scale concerted motet Portas caeli, for nine
voices and instruments, may have been one of the models followed by Provenzale:9
Table 8.2 Giovanni Salvatore, Portas cæli (MS I-Nf), general structure
1. Sinfonia C3 A maj.
2. ‘tutti’ C A maj.
2 choruses and bc
3. Sinfonia 2 C 3/4 A maj.
4. Solos A1 and 2 C A maj.
5. Solos B1 and 2 C A maj.
6. ‘tutti’ C 3/4 A maj.
choruses and bc
7. Solos S1 and 2 C 3/2 A maj.
8. Solos T1 and 2, B, instruments C A maj.
9. ‘tutti’ choruses and bc C 3/4 A maj.
In this motet, Salvatore inserts two different sinfonias, which contribute to the
limited Neapolitan instrumental repertory of the second half of the seventeenth
century. They are probably more advanced than Provenzale’s operatic sinfonias of
the period around 1670, but in general terms, Salvatore’s motet appears quite old-
fashioned: ‘the harmonic idiom is limited, and typical for features such as two-fold
cadence confirmations, and a motto opening in the duet for two sopranos and
strings’.10
An intermediate stage between Salvatore and Provenzale is represented by
Cristoforo Caresana, by whom numerous double-choir (for eight or nine voices)
compositions survive in autograph in I-Nf, as well as a Magnificat a 16 voci con 7
istrumenti dated 1675.11 Another earlier polychoral work by Caresana surviving in
autograph is preserved in Paris:12 Messa, e Vespero, a 16. Voci con 7 Istrumenti
divisi in 4. Chori. X.bre 1670. Di Cristoforo Caresana. The manuscript consists of
different sections, composed at different times:
1. Messa à 16 con Istrumenti Luglio 1670

2. Dixit à 16 con Istrumenti 7.bre 1670
3. Confitebor à 16. Voci 9.bre 1670
4. Beatus à 5. con Istrumenti Genn.° 1671
5. Laudate à 16 voci con Istrumenti X.bre 1670
Conclusion 239
6. Magnificat à 16 Voci con Istumenti 8.bre 1670

7. Sonata [I] à 8 Feb.° 1671
8. [Sonata II]
The single sections were used in separate liturgical contexts (as the dates
suggest) and then were collected by the author in the same volume. There are two
psalms that do not use exclusively a double choir: a five-voice Beatus vir (similar
to Salvatore’s setting published in Venice as early as 1645) and a sixteen-voice
Laudate, in which each four-voice choir is used alternatim and never together. The
title on the cover states ‘con 7 instrumenti’, and the instruments are written out in
five parts for violas ‘da braccio’ (instruments from the violin family) and bass. The
eight-part sonatas are unique in the Neapolitan repertory of the seventeenth
century. This is a very important document that testifies to the occasional use of
similar instrumental compositions ‘da chiesa’ otherwise not existing in Naples. The
score is intended for two violins, two different bass instruments and four wind
instruments (C1, C2, C3 and C4 clefs) or perhaps three or four violins, violas and
gambas. The effect of a fanfara style of writing is typical of the old Venetian
model which alternates string and wind instruments (pian e forte).13
Caresana’s career often intersected with Provenzale’s. Born in Venice in 1640
and possibly a pupil of Ziani, after a short period gaining theatrical experience with
the Armonici (in the same years as Provenzale), in 1659 Caresana entered the
Neapolitan Real Cappella, where he became an organist in 1667. He took
Provenzale’s place as maestro of the Tesoro di S. Gennaro from 1699 until his
death in 1709. Caresana experimented with works for two to four choirs both for
the Real Cappella and for the Tesoro. This particular polychoral tradition had its
roots in Padre Raimo Di Bartolo at the Oratorio dei Girolamini. The four-choir
motets for the Quarantore were still being performed long after his death, when
they were copied by the oratorian singer Camillo Franco in around 1786,
suggesting that they were still in the repertory. Very few Neapolitan composers’
works were performed posthumously to this extent.14 Thus Salvatore, Caresana and
Provenzale belonged to the same tradition that continued to be nurtured throughout
the eighteenth century in the Dominican church of S. Domenico Maggiore.
Provenzale’s first link with this church is documented in February 1667.15
Musical performances in S. Domenico Maggiore were given not only for the
Quarantore, but also for the most important festivities of Dominican saints: S.
Tomaso d’Aquino (7 March), S. Domenico and ‘8 santi dominicani’ (4 August) 16
and the Santissima Vergine del Rosario (7 October) with her Novena for which the
Dominicans, like the Girolamini, introduced the ‘Quarant’hore circolari del mese
di ottobre’.17 It is probable that Provenzale wrote his polychoral works for S.
Domenico Maggiore, which then continued to use them for festivities through to
the following century. Among the points disputed with Provenzale by deputies of
the Tesoro di S. Gennaro in 1699 were ‘his old compositions for every kind of
music which have been reused here for many years’. As with Padre Raimo’s four-
choir motets, the posthumous performances of Provenzale’s Pange lingua moved
further and further away from the original polychoral structure, and gradually
became simpler so as to permit processional performances (in the ‘Quarantore

circolari’). Such simplification produced an intermediate structure of eight voices
in two choruses, later even reduced to just one four-voice choir.
However, the Pange lingua, a 2 voci con Violini del Signor Don Francesco
Provenzale is not the extreme result of this simplification (and transposition from
C minor to D minor), but is a completely different work most probably not
composed by Provenzale at all. Manuscript I-Nc MR 1798 (olim 22.5.22/14) is a
very late document, written in the second half of the eighteenth century probably
by Giuseppe Sigismondo.18 The same hand had also copied the two-voice Salve
Regina attributed to Alessandro Scarlatti (unicum in I-Nc, 22.4.2/15).19 The Pange
lingua text set to music here is not the whole hymn but just the first strophe (thus it
is either just a fragment or an incomplete draft). Apart from the differences in
scoring and key, the musical content is also very distant from Provenzale’s
polychoral Pange lingua, adopting a style typical of the 1720s. The copyist’s
(Sigismondo’s?) attribution to Provenzale probably derives from the fact that the
text was one associated with the only composition by Provenzale still known in the
eighteenth century. In reality, the piece is just a variation on the incipit of the most
famous Neapolitan sacred work of the time, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater (1736).20
Another composition in the hand of the same copyist, Scarlatti’s two-voice Salve
Regina, is very similar, and I suspect that this attribution, too, must be revised.21
The pseudo-Provenzale Pange lingua a 2 and Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater reveal their
common origin as variations on a basso ostinato (Follia), in which the same
dissonances of violins and voices work as suspensions in the Corelli style.
However, the suspensions that characterize Pergolesi’s well-known opening are
not an invention of the eighteenth century. Provenzale uses a similar musical
rhetoric at the climaxes of his more penitential compositions: for example, the
‘Lacrimosa’ from the Missa defunctorum, a rarified moment lasting just nine bars.
This compositional style is suitable for the tradition of such a dramatic sacred song
as the Stabat Mater precisely because it was performed in Naples during
processions long before Scarlatti and Pergolesi. There also existed a typical
structure for the Neapolitan Stabat: such settings are almost always for two voices
(soprano and alto) and violins, and almost always start with a sequence of
suspensions. It is no coincidence that the oldest example I have found is in the
motets of Padre Raimo, from around 1650.22 Padre Raimo’s Stabat Mater in F
opens with upper voices from the first choir (soprano and alto with bc), to whom
respond two voices from the second choir (alto and tenor with bc). Only later, as at
‘O quam tristis’, do the four choirs sing together, but they soon break into different
formations until the end of the piece (Choir 1: ATB; Choir 2: SAT; Choir 3 and 4:
SATB; Choir 1 and 2: S1 and 2 and A1 and 2; Choir 2: ATB; tutti from ‘Virgo
virginum preclara’ to the end).
Giovanni Salvatore’s five-voice Stabat Mater follows Raimo’s archetype.
Salvatore does not set all the verses of the text; rather he stops at no. 13 (‘Fac me
tecum pie flere, / crucifixo condolere, / donec ego vixero’). We do not know why
the piece ends only halfway through. Nevertheless the work, probably the last
composed by Salvatore before his death (1688), is somewhat prophetic.
Conclusion 241
Ex. 8.1 Giovanni Salvatore, Stabat Mater ‘a 5’ (MS in I-Nc)

The dissonant clashes between the voices and their resolution turn this incipit
into an astonishing ancestor of the typical eighteenth-century Neapolitan Stabat.
The several settings of such esteemed masters as Scarlatti, Astorga and Fago up to
Pergolesi and his followers were usually commissioned by confraternities on the
occasion of a specific feast: the day (and octave) of Madonna dei Sette Dolori, on
the Friday before the Holy Week.23 It was perhaps Provenzale’s stature that led to
his becoming placed within this tradition, even if he never wrote a Stabat Mater
and if the two-voice Pange lingua is apocryphal. It is typical, though, that this
spurious composition appears in all the modern lists of Provenzale’s works and
was the first piece under his name to be performed at the beginning of the
twentieth century.24
Provenzale and the Economic System
Should we consider Francesco Provenzale’s career as typical of a seventeenth-

century Neapolitan musician? In many ways, the answer would seem to be yes. We
have often met Provenzale’s colleagues in similar multiple professional contexts:
their careers often develop in parallel and like ways. Cristoforo Caresana, for
example, started his career with the Armonici; then he entered the Real Cappella
and began his collaboration with the Oratorio dei Girolamini; he was then chosen
to replace Provenzale at the Tesoro di S. Gennaro. Other colleagues, instead,
developed mainly professional links with conservatoires, expanding their own
activities in the city using groups of music students, as did Provenzale.
However there are significant differences in the outcomes of their careers. First
to be considered is the question of finances. Even if in Spanish Naples music was a
secure source of income (given the widespread consumption of music in both civil
and religious contexts), repeated financial crises made a musician’s life as difficult
as that of any other artisan. It was not enough for a musician to find a good
position in order to support his family, even if the post he held was in a rich and
prestigious institution. The situation in Naples reveals an extraordinary mobility of
musicians in search of many and diverse opportunities for work, all at the same
time. The situation was close to that of musicians in more provincial towns, where
anyone in the service of a public or religious institution (often the only one) in a
specific area would be able, during periods free from official work, to accept other
engagements elsewhere to increase his inadequate salary.25 We can also find this
system operating during the nineteenth century, when members of musical bands
had seasonal employment in the towns close to their residence but were forced to
do other work (usually as tailors or shoemakers) to survive during the winter
months, when their musical services were not required.26
Naples attracted a great number of young boys from the provinces of the
kingdom with the promise of a successful career to improve the family income.
The city offered more chance of commissions with all the government offices and
the presence of the higher nobility of the kingdom, and better social relations, as
well as certain benefits such as tax exemptions for residents. During the Spanish
domination, the most secure career-path for a young boy in Naples was without
Conclusion 243
doubt that offered by the ecclesiastical system. The expansion of the Church, both
in the city and in the whole kingdom, increased the number of possible benefices
significantly, such that even poorer priests could earn enough money to survive.
For this reason, during the seventeenth century, out of a population of between
300,000 and 400,000, some 10 per cent (c.30,000) were associated with the
Church.27 In this period the significant consumption of music in Naples was also a
consequence of the same situation. The increase in musical activities was also
supported by the passion for music of the Neapolitan aristocracy and, gradually, of
the rich bourgeoisie. Already around 1630, the four Neapolitan conservatoires were
full of young music students, many of whom were not orphans but whose fees
were paid for by their families or by noble patrons. The annual average student
numbers during the seventeenth century was about 100 for each conservatoire, so
hundreds of new students every year started a professional career as a musician.
This is an impressive proportion of the population. The high number of students
made it difficult to gain entrance to the conservatoires, and families living in the
provinces were forced to find new solutions to assure the best musical training for
their children.
The autobiography of Bonifacio Pecorone (Naples 1729), a singer in the Real
Cappella, well illustrates the patronage system operating in the most important
musical institutions in the city. He first entered the Conservatorio di S. Onofrio
when he was fourteen or fifteen years old (around 1694, since Pecorone, whose
real name was Petrone, was born in 1679) thanks to his patron, Principe
Sanseverino di Bisignano, the feudal lord of his home-town Saponara (nowadays
re-named Grumento Nova).28 After eight years of study, he was brought to
Saponara to serve the prince. On the prince’s death in 1705, Pecorone returned to
Naples and entered the Conservatorio di S. Maria di Loreto, where he remained for
another four years, becoming at the same time a priest: his first Mass was sung ‘in
the church of S. Severino of Naples with music for four choirs, and the most
Excellent Marchese del Vaglio, a relation of the most Excellent Prince D. Giuseppe
Leopoldo, honoured me by inviting nearly all the Neapolitan nobility’ (p. 26).
During the following years, Pecorone entered into relationships with the civic
aristocracy, linking himself particularly with the Jesuits and performing ‘in the
music of many sacred works, especially at the Collegio de’ Nobili’ (p. 27). He left
the Conservatorio di Loreto (pp. 52–54)
for by now it was time to take leave from the Conservatory, which was no longer
burdened by my stay; and having become a priest, as I said, I had to resolve myself to the
state to which God had called me, and at the same time to make good use of the
profession of singing which I studied in the aforementioned Conservatories ... And
because I did not have a comfortable house in Naples, nor for my own use, I asked an
ecclesiastical acquaintance to take me into his home so that I could take care of my needs,
with the obligation of paying my portion of his house which he rented out, as well as
every other expense.
After some misfortunes, Pecorone’s career began to take off. Thanks to his
participation in two sacred operas performed by the Conservatorio dei Turchini in
the presence of the Austrian viceroy Count Daun, he received an invitation to apply
for the post of bass singer in the Real Cappella. At this point in his account,
Pecorone expresses the philosophy of that period (pp. 77–78):29
I refrained from competing for men who had nothing to offer me, or even more so to
recommend me to His Excellency, having up to this point already experienced that
without support or help, it is difficult for a person to accomplish his desires, and be
crowned with any merit or virtue.
Three friends, all singers in the Real Cappella—Gizzio, Floro and De Bottis—in
addition to Marchese Matteo Sassano (the famous singer ‘Matteuccio’), suggested
to him the best way of proceeding (p. 78):
They urged me to appeal even to the viceroy and likewise to have a word with Cavaliere
Alessandro Scarlatti, who at that time was first maestro di cappella of the royal palace,
the Orpheus of Music, and the man most accomplished in counterpoint that our time has
had, as evident to anyone who knows him and from his numerous works. So the well-
mannered Cavaliere assured me of his duties and added: ‘go to the vicereine right now on
my behalf; present her the memorial; tell her that it refers to you, that you will sing the
solo bass part for the Prophecy in the palace on the night of Christmas’.
Pecorone then met six other important musicians of the chapel who supported
Scarlatti’s suggestion. Thus, Conte Alosio introduced Pecorone to the vicereine,
and then to her husband, the viceroy, through the mediation of the Marchese di
Anguillara. Consequently Pecorone was able to gain a position, giving thanks
(probably with gifts) to all those who had contributed to his success, starting with
the viceregal couple to Scarlatti. Later Pecorone entered other Neapolitan
institutions such as the cappella of the Tesoro di S. Gennaro, and then he became
one of the governors of the Congregazione dei Musici. Without any doubt he had a
fortunate career. But the moral of his autobiography is that in order to be a
successful musician, one had to have ties with the princes and priests of one’s
native town, and continual protection during one’s period of study. Bribery helped
in gaining first and successive positions, but equally necessary were the support
and help from other colleagues already in the service of prestigious institutions.
More than once, Pecorone’s path crossed with those of pupils and younger
colleagues of Provenzale: he left the Conservatorio di S. Onofrio in the year in
which Nicola Fago was appointed maestro (he found Fago again as director of
sacred opera at the Turchini), then he studied at the Conservatorio di Loreto with
Gaetano Veneziano, whom he joined later in the Real Cappella. Thus his
experience was instructive for any musician of Provenzale’s period.
There were other possibilities too, for those who did not find effective support as
Pecorone did. Families used to entrust the musical education of their children to a
well-known maestro who would assure them admission to a conservatoire. They
signed special contracts (conductio musici), of which there are numerous examples
not only in Naples but also in many other towns in the kingdom.30 The contracts
signed by Provenzale are very explicit: a young boy is left in his charge to be
educated in music for some years, and in exchange, besides an initial payment, the
Conclusion 245
boy is expected to give the maestro a part of his future earnings; in some cases this
would be binding for life. After a brief period of training, the maestro then presents
his private pupils to his conservatoire and they are normally accepted.
I was able to reconstruct Provenzale’s banking movements starting from his first
position as maestro in the Conservatorio di Loreto until his death (1663–1704).31
On examination, these accounts (though incomplete) suggest that Provenzale was
not a poor musician: on the contrary, he emerges as one of the wealthiest in
seventeenth-century Italy. He was helped by his family situation.
In 1660, his wife Chiara Basile brought a dowry of 1,000 ducats (paid in
instalments; only 330 ducats had been received by 1697), which was later
transferred as capital in favour of their child Giuseppe. The sum became available
on the death of Basile’s father, a creditor with Duke Francesco Pignatelli. Her
father’s estate, which included land in Aversa (part of which went to the S. Casa
degli Incurabili), was worth about 1,114 ducats, of which 300 were in cash.
In turn, Provenzale later paid his son-in-law, Ignazio Palumbo (who married his
elder daughter, Giulia), a very high marriage settlement of 3,000 ducats (2,000 in
cash and the rest in instalments). Another 600 ducats were paid later to the
Monastero di Massalubrense as a dowry for his younger daughter, Anna Maria, at
yearly instalments of 15 ducats (5 per cent interest).
His total proceeds from his major positions—i.e., 120 ducats per year as maestro
at the Conservatorio della Pietà dei Turchini, 30 ducats from the Tesoro di S.
Gennaro, and from the Real Cappella initially some 2–4 ducats, later rising to 38—
would not seem enough to pay the dowries for his daughters. But in 1686, the year
of his official appointment at the Tesoro, he was able to spend 265 ducats on
jewels (diamonds and rubies), and before 1691 he acquired an enslaved ‘white
woman’ (a Bosnian Muslim) as a servant in his household. If, as I suggested in the
biographical profile in Chapter 2, Provenzale did indeed belong to the family of
Ignazio Provenzale, a plebeian who accumulated so much money in his lifetime
that his estate was valued at an impressive 100,000 ducats, the musician’s
economic circumstances would therefore seem to have been more than sound.
When Francesco Provenzale was still a young man in the theatrical world, he
was already well accepted into the Neapolitan systems of ecclesiastic and private
patronage. He had soon created a task-force of qualified musicians ready for every
circumstance, sharing with them the considerable profits of this activity.
The system set up with unusual skill by Provenzale enabled him ever to increase
the services offered by the singers and instrumentalists under his control.
Depending on the circumstance, he would conduct performances by young
conservatoire students or by celebrated professional musicians connected to him by
way of his various public positions. This system enabled Provenzale’s replacement
as maestro of the Fidelissima Città by one of his collaborators, Gaetano Greco,
who agreed to make over a percentage of his future salary to his old maestro for
the rest of Provenzale’s life.32
What is striking, however, is that despite Provenzale’s lofty reputation and
income, the chronicles of the period are relatively silent as to Provenzale’s public
activities; his name is rarely mentioned in the same way as those of many other
musicians, such as his two pupils Fago and Veneziano. Nor did his death prompt
much commentary in the records.
Nevertheless, the results of Provenzale’s teaching were apparent in generations
of Neapolitan musicians to come. Of the entire production of music written by
Provenzale in forty years of a career spent in the same city, the only lasting
memory would be of his Pange lingua, sung with devotion in the Dominican
church of S. Domenico Maggiore until the beginning of the nineteenth century.
Notes
1
In the card catalogue of the RISM branch in Milan, Conservatorio, URFM (Ufficio
Ricerca Fondi Musicali), under the name of Provenzale, there is an entry for Pange
lingua, a 3 voci con violini, in Re magg. The corresponding source (I-McNoseda P 1-
8) results as a Pange, lingua a 2 voci actually in D minor. The entry for another
version of the same piece is also mistaken: Pange lingua, a due voci, in Do min. (I-
McNoseda P 1-6), actually in D minor.
2
Fétis 1878–80, VII, 131.
3
‘Scrisse un gran Pange lingua a 9 voci con tutti gli stromenti pieno di armonia, e con
ritornelli tra un versetto e l’altro, e il Tantum ergo, ed il Genitori per soprano a solo
con le risposte e pieno de’cori: musica, che dal tempo in cui fu composta fino al
presente si esegue, e si sente con piacere nella Chiesa di S. Domenico Maggiore di
Napoli nelle 40 ore del carnevale, e nella processione del Giovedì Santo, sebbene
oggi per mancanza di eunuchi non rende quell’armonia che un tempo destava’
(Villarosa 1840, 175).
4
Giani 1993.
5
On the Noseda collection in the Conservatorio di Milan see Moreni 1985.
6
On the first page of music is written the note: ‘Maestro Parisi Padrone’. There were
two Parisis active in Naples in the time of Marchese Villarosa: Gaetano, Cafaro’s
pupil in the Conservatorio della Pietà dei Turchini, and his son Gennaro. The latter
received his father’s collection of early Neapolitan music: ‘facendo profondi studii
sulle migliori produzioni musicali degli antichi compositori, delle quali il padre di lui
era a dovizia fornito Gennaro Parise attualmente [1840] maestro di partimento del
real Collegio di Musica, maestro di musica del Duomo, delle chiese di S. Domenico,
de’ Girolamini, e di altre cospicue Chiese di Napoli’ (Villarosa 1840, 136–38).
7
On Sigismondo see Villarosa 1840, 206–12; Libby 1988; Cafiero 1993.
8
Doctor ‘don Benedictus de Massis’ was a copyist and collector of cantatas in Naples,
in the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In an already mentioned MS ‘De
Massis’ (awaiting a shelf-mark in I-Nc) in part copied in 1713, there is the modern
note: ‘Raccolta comprata unita, e, secondo l'asserzione del libraio venditore,
acquistata a Pescocostanzo (Aquila) da una famiglia di Musicisti: il De Massis dal
1690 al 1750. Il Grillo dal 1750 al principio del 1800’.
9
I-Nf, S.M. 364.5, autograph MS, analysed in Dietz 1987, 513–14. The text is an
Offertoria in the Liber usualis, 795: ‘Portas cæli aperuit Dominus:/ et pluit illis
manna, ut ederent: / panem caeli dedit illis: / panem Angelorum manducavit homo /
Alleluia’.
10
Dietz 1987b, 514.
11
Di Giacomo 1918, 36–43, at 41.
Conclusion 247
12
F-Pn MS Rés. Vmd 1685. On the cover is indicated the MS provenance from the
collection ‘Charles Malherbe’. The existence of this important source was revealed
to me by Jean Lionnet.
13
We find similar compositional characteristics in late autographs by Caresana such as
the double-choir Messa ‘Exultet orbis gaudijs’, dated the year before his death, also
kept in Paris (F-Pn MS Rés. Vmd 1684): Exultet orbis gaudijs. Messa a 8 Voci con
Istrumenti del Sig.r D. Cristoforo Caresana.8.bre 1708.
14
A late example is Nicola Sabatino, a great-nephew of the violinist Pietro Marchitelli,
who composed a Miserere which, after his death (1796), ‘ancora si canta nella
Chiesa de’ Girolamini’ as reported by Villarosa 1840, 185.
15
(7 February 1667) ‘To Father Tomaso Pascale D.94. And on his behalf to Ciccio
Provenzale maestro di cappella at the Real Chiesa di S. Domenico Maggiore of
Naples for music performed in this said church for the Quarantore during carnival of
this present year’ (‘A padre Tomaso Pascale D. 94. E per lui a Ciccio Provenzale
maestro di cappella nella Real Chiesa di S. Domenico Maggiore di Napoli per la
musica fatta in detta chiesa per le 40 ore del Carnevale nel presente anno’): ASBN,
Sp.S., 501.
16
In August 1674 Provenzale promised his service for this feast with his Loreto
ensemble: ‘D.38 given in debit to Francesco Provenzale maestro di cappella, that is
35 that he received from the monastery of S. Domenico Maggiore for the
performances of services rendered by the young boys in the festivity of the Eight
Dominican Saints, and D.3 for a performance in the monastery of Santa Chiara of
Naples, for this Provenzale 158 – D.38’ (‘D.38. Se ne da debito a Francesco
Provenzale maestro di cappella cioè 35 che ha ricevuti dal Monasterio di S.
Domenico Maggiore per le paranze di assistenze fatte dalli figlioli nella festività delli
8 Santi Dominicani et D.3 per una paranza fatta nel Monasterio di Santa Chiara di
Napoli ut per esso Provenzale 158 – D.38’): I-Nc, Loreto 14: Libro Maggiore, 1668–
78, f. 296 ff. At the same time he served also the other Dominican monastery of S.
Domenico Soriano (1677–79) and from 1683 he rented an apartment near this
church, today in Piazza Dante.
17
There is a rich documentation on the presence of important groups of musicians in all
these festivities at San Domenico Maggiore during the entire eighteenth century: AS,
Monasteri soppressi 488 (1712–14), 494 (1736–39), 498 (1747–51), 501 (1759–64),
524 (1773–99), etc. (this constitutes unpublished research by students at Venice Ca’
Foscari University, directed by David Bryant, for which I am grateful).
18
The fragment of the watermark, although legible, will not help dating because the
fleur-de-lys is one of the most common watermarks in the entire eighteenth-century
Neapolitan repertory (see Shearon 1993, II, 932–68). Nevertheless, many of
Sigismondo’s autographs have this watermark (Shearon 1993, II, 932–68). From this
source Rondinella copied in 1863 the score today preserved in I-McNoseda P I-8.
19
Also in copy at I-McNoseda. Almost all the modern scholars have accepted the
authorship of Scarlatti except Dent 1960. For a modern edition of the piece see
Vidali 1993, 188. Other Salve Regina settings by Scarlatti are intended for one
soprano or four voice choir.
20
Fabris 1993a, 353–54.
21
The reason for giving Scarlatti’s name for the Salve Regina may be the same as for
Provenzale: Scarlatti was the author of the most celebrated Stabat Mater, written
before Pergolesi in the same style.
22
I am quoting the MS GB-Lbm Add.14,202, pp. 256–81 (other sources: I-Nc and I-Nf).
23
My paper on ‘The Tradition of the Stabat Mater in Naples before Pergolesi’, read at
Versailles 1997 conference ‘Les goûts réunis’, will be published in the conference
proceedings.
24
On 15 March 1915, Renato Bellini transcribed the Pange, lingua a due di Francesco
Provenzale for two female choirs, strings and organ and then had it performed in the
Conservatorio di S. Pietro a Majella. The fact that the two-voice Pange, lingua in D
minor is not listed by Villarosa 1840 not only means that at that time the manuscript
had not yet reached the library of the conservatoire, but it also casts doubt on its
authorship.
25
For example, in the early eighteenth century Onofrio Piccinno (father of the well-
known composer Niccolò Piccinni) returned to his native town of Bari after studying
at the Conservatorio di Sant’Onofrio, then under the direction of Provenzale’s pupil
Gaetano Greco, where he started a very busy life playing the violin and double-bass
in festivals at churches in Bari, Bitonto, Acquaviva and Bitetto (see Fabris 2000, 9–
24).
26
Fabris 1993c.
27
On these aspects see De Maio 1971.
28
‘Gionto a Napoli andai a dirittura nel palazzo dell’eccellentissimo signor Principe
mio signore a Chiaja, che con amore degnossi accogliermi, e mi trattenne nel
medesimo palazzo suo, ed a sue spese per lo spazio di sei mesi e più … Questa mia
sollecitudine, e fervore di studiare piacque molto al signor Principe, onde a capo de’
suddetti sei mesi mi fece entrare alunno nel Real Conservatorio di S. Onofrio presso
il gran Tribunale della Vicaria ad apprendere la musica, che dicesi il Canto figurato:
del qual regal Conservatorio era Delegato il signor Consigliere D. Amato Danio
figlio della mia patria, gentiluomo nato, uomo di molta dottrina, di sperienza, e di
prudenza grande.’ Memorie dell’Abate D. Bonifacio Pecorone della Città di
Saponara. Musico della Real Cappella di Napoli 1729, 12–14.
29
‘Mi asteneva da concorrervi per l’hominem che non habebam da propormici, o più da
raccomandarmi a S. Ecc. Avendo io fin d’allora sperimentato, che senz’appoggio, ed
aiuto difficilmente persona conseguisce quel che desidera, e sia di qualunque merito,
o virtù ornata … [Tre amici] mi esortarono di ricorrerne a dirittura al Sig. Veceré, e
parimente di passarne parola col sig. Cavaliere Alessandro Scarlatti, allora primo
maestro di cappella del Real Palazzo, l’Orfeo della Musica, e l’uomo più inteso di
contrapunto, che a’ dì garbatissimo sig. Cavaliere accertatomi de’ suo ufizj,
soggiunsemi:—Andate a questa medesima ora dalla Signora Vice-Regina, da parte
mia; presentatele Memoriale; ditele di essere voi di quelli, che di basso contaste la
Profezia a voce sola a Palazzo la notte di Natale’: Memorie dell’Abate D. Bonifacio
Pecorone 1729, 77–78.
30
For some details on this practice in sixteenth-century Naples, see Di Giacomo 1924–
28; Prota-Giurleo 1928; Robinson 1972a; Larson 1985; Del Prete 1999; Olivieri
1999. On a parallel case in seventeenth-century Bari see Fabris 1993b, 78–80.
31
See Appendix A in Fabris 2002.
32
(25 September 1703) ‘Alli Eletti di questa Fidelissima Città D.20. E per essi a
Francesco Provenzale olim maestro di cappella di detta Fidelissima Città per tanti
deve conseguire da 12 del mese di settembre 1701 sta ordinato di ritenersi dalla
somma de D.59 che si pagano a Gaetano Greco hodierno mastro di cappella della
medesima per le musiche nelle festività di S. Rocco, Santa Rosalia e Piedigrotta e
pagarrasi a detto Francesco sua vita durante tantum come da detta conclusione
appare. E per esso a Giuseppe Provenzale’ (in the margin, later hand: ‘pagandoli
però costandoci di sua vita’): ASBN, P.G.C., 797.
Conclusion 249
(24 December 1703) ‘Alli Eletti della Città D.10. E per essi a Francesco Provenzale
olim maestro di cappella di questa città per tanti in virtù di loro conclusione de 12
settembre 1701 sta ordinato ritenersi dalla summa di D.100 che si pagano a Gaetano
Gregho [= Greco] hodierno maestro di cappella della medesima per la musica della
festività et ottava dell’Immacolata Concettione e pagarrasi al detto Francesco
Provenzale sua vita durante’: ASBN, P.G.C., 798.
Catalogue of Provenzale’s Works1
A. Dramatic
[1.] Il Ciro
opera; text by Giulio Cesare Sorrentino;
perf. Naples, S. Bartolomeo, 1653; score lost;
perf. (with musical additions by F. Cavalli) Venice, SS. Giovanni e Paolo, 1654; libretto
in I-Bc; Fm; Mb; Rist.germ.; Rsc; et al.;
perf. Palermo 1657, libretto in I-PLpagano; Rvat(Allacci);
perf. (with further musical additions by A. Mattioli) Venice 1665, score in I-Vnm.
Bibl.: Bianconi 1979, 49; Donato 1987; Sartori 5,663–64.
[2.] Xerse
opera; text by Niccolò Minato;
adaptation of the opera by F. Cavalli, Venice 1654–55? (score in I-Vnm);
perf. Naples, S. Bartolomeo, 1657; libretto in I-Bu; Nn; score lost;
perf. Palermo 1658; libretto in I-Plcom, Rvat(Allacci), US-Wc.
Bibl.: Bianconi 1979, 51; Donato 1987; Sartori 2,536–37, 40.
[3.] Artemisia
opera; text by Niccolò Minato;
adaptation of the opera by F. Cavalli, Venice 1656? (score in I-Vnm);
perf. Naples, S. Bartolomeo, 1657?; score and libretto lost;
perf. Palermo, 1659; libretto in I-Bu.
Bibl.: Bianconi and Walker 1975, 386; Bianconi 1979, 51; Donato 1987; Sartori
3,126–27.
[4.] Il Theseo, o vero L’incostanza trionfante

opera; text by Francesco Maria Piccioli (adapted for Naples by Gennaro delle Chiavi?);
adaptation of the opera by P. A . Ziani, Venice 1658? libretto in I-Bc; Fm; Nc, Rist.germ.;
1
Titles where the musical source is missing are indicated by brackets. For a preliminary
catalogue see the article ‘Provenzale’ by M. F. Robinson, New Grove (1980), entirely
revised by D. Fabris in New Grove 2001, XX, 444. The surviving music by Provenzale
will be edited by Dinko Fabris and Antonio Florio in the series ‘Opere di Francesco
Provenzale’ published by Turchini Edizioni (Centro Musica Antica), Naples (2005–).
perf. Naples, S. Bartolomeo, 20 November 1658; score and libretto lost.

Bibl.: Bianconi 1979, 51; Sartori 13,068 and 23,116.
5. La colomba ferita. Opera sacra di S. Rosalia

sacred opera; text by Giuseppe Castaldo;
score: MS without original title, second half of the seventeenth century, I-Nc Sala Riviste,
Sc.35 corn.20 (olim 21.4.20);
perf. Naples, Conservatorio S. Maria di Loreto, 1670; libretto in I-Mb;
perf. Naples, convent of Donnaregina?, 18 September 1672;
perf. Calvizzano (near Naples) 1696; libretto in I-Nc; Gb-Lbm.
Bibl.: Prota-Giurleo 1958a, 60–61; Bianconi 1979, 61; D’Alessandro 1984; Fabris 1993a,
340–42; Sartori II, 159.
[6.] La fenice d’Avila Teresa di Gesù

sacred opera; text by Giuseppe Castaldo; score lost;
perf. Naples, Conservatorio S. Maria di Loreto, 6 November 1672; libretto in I-Rsc;
perf. Naples, Palazzo Reale, 1673;
perf. Naples 1689; libretto in I-Rc;
perf. Naples 1695; libretto in I-Nn.
Bibl.: Toppi 1678, 170; Prota-Giurleo 1958a, 61; Bianconi 1979, 61; Cafiero and
Marino 1987, 483, 487, 489; Sartori III, 141; Fabris 1993a, 343; Castaldo 1998,
236.
7. Lo Schiavo di sua moglie

opera; text by Francesco Antonio Paolella;
score: Provenzale Prologo Amore, Bellezza et Otio Il Schiavo di sua moglie, MS in I-Rsc,
G. Mss. 28, 2 vols., 124 ff., 210 x 270 mm., copied by Gaetano Veneziano, dated 1675
(on f. 124 ‘Gaetano Venetiano Allievo di S. S. Maria di Loreto di Napoli scrivea
1675’); leather binding with gilded embossed and heraldic arms with crown
(Maddaloni family in Naples);
perf. Naples, 1671? (not documented);
perf. Naples, Palazzo Reale, 21 April 1672; libretto in I-Moe;
perf. Naples, Conservatorio dei Turchini, 1675? (not documented);
Modern editions: facsimile ed. score and libretto (New York, n.d.,‘Garland Italian
Opera’); ‘Che speri, o mio core’, aria, ed. by G. Guerrini, nineteenth-century MS I-Fc
D.III 367; sinfonia and three arias: Timante (III.4), Lucillo (I.19), Menalippa (I.8), ed.
in Rolland 1895, Supplément Musical, 1–12; Sinfonia ed. in ‘The Symphony 1720–
1840’, I.
Bibl.: Rolland 1895, 188; Prunières 1910–11, 578; Bianconi 1979, 60; Castaldo 1998,
238; Sartori 21,233.
8. Difendere l’offensore, overo La Stellidaura vendicante

opera; text by Andrea Perrucci;
score: Provenzale Francesco / Stellidaura vendicata / Poesia di Andrea Perrucci /
rappresentata a Napoli / nel 1678, MS in I-Rsc, G. Mss. 29 (olim N.3.18), 123 ff.,
200 x 275 mm., copied by Gaetano Veneziano c.1678? (on f. 123 ‘Gaetano Veneziano
Scrivea’); leather binding with gilded embossed and heraldic arms with crown
(Maddaloni family in Naples);
perf. Naples, Villa Cursi Cicinelli (Mergellina), 2 September 1674; libretto in I-Nn;
perf. Naples, S. Bartolomeo, 1675; libretto in I-Rc;
perf. Naples 1678? (according to Veneziano’s copy of the score, but probably a mistake);
perf. Naples, S. Bartolomeo, 1685; libretto in I-Bu, Nc;
Other sources: 8 arias, c.1675, in MS I-Nc Cantate 20 (olim 33.5.30), according to Amato
1998 nos. 15–20 copyist C, nos. i21–22 copyist D (the arias all refer to the character
Orismondo, but have been transposed from the original tenor to the soprano voice):
1. ‘Ombre care’
2. ‘Ahi da qual celeste sfera’
3. ‘Ahi qual gelido furore, ch’io rimanga invendicato’
4. ‘Ecco già sorge dal Gange’
5. ‘Su vendetta’
6. ‘Chi un eccesso di dolore’
7. ‘Fantasmi amorosi’
8. ‘Parca via’
A late nineteenth-century copy of Veneziano’s score in B-Bc;
Modern editions: aria ‘Deh rendetemi’, ed. by L. Landshoff, Alte Meister des Bel Canto, I
(Leipzig, 1912), 79; duet Stellidaura and Armidoro (III, last scene), ed. in Rolland
1895, Supplément Musical, 13–15; aria ‘Fantasmi amorosi’, ed. by G. Tintori (Milan,
1959).
Bibl.: Rolland 1895, 188; Gasperini and Gallo 1934, 518; Bianconi 1979, 64; Sartori
7,872–74; Amato 1998, II, 163.
B. Sacred
9–21. Motetti a due voci diverse,

Naples, De Bonis, 1689, 2vv, bc (2 copies surviving: I-Nc 39.1.21; I-Bc BB.191)
contains 13 compositions:
9. Cantemus, et psallamus, S1 and 2, ‘per la Madonna’

10. Angelicae mentes, S1 and 2, ‘per il Santissimo’, F
11. O Iesu mea spes, S1 and 2, ‘per il Santissimo, e ogni tempo’, A min.
12. Ad laudes, ad sonos, S and A, ‘per la Madonna’
13. Ad epulas, ad nuptias, S and A, ‘per il Santissimo’
14. Triumphalem Beati, S and A, ‘per ogni Santo, o Santa’
15. Dulcis esca, nectar grande, S and A, ‘per il Santissimo’
16. Audite Coeli, S and T, ‘per ogni tempo’, D min.
17. O quam suavis est, Domine, S and B, ‘per il Santissimo’
18. O Virgo formosa, S and B, ‘per la Madonna’
19. O ingens divini Praesulis, S and B, ‘per ogni Santo’

20. Benedicamus Domino, A and T, ‘per ogni tempo’
21. Obstupescite Coeli, S and A,‘Pastorale’
Bibl.: Gaspari 1893, II, 298; Gasperini and Gallo 1934, 161; Fabris 1993a, 330, 343–45.
22. Missa defunctorum

Requiem Mass, 4 voices, 2 vln and bc, D min.
a. Messa a 4 et 5 per li morti

score (C, A, T, B, bc): 7 ff., 225 x 295 mm., MS partially autograph by Provenzale?
(c.1666), I-Nf AMCO 432.4–1;
8 partbooks (C2, A2, T2, B2, vln1(II), vln2(II), contrabasso, bc): 28 ff., 275 x 223mm.;
bc: 280 x 224 mm., MS, second half of the seventeenth century, copied by Gaetano
Veneziano?, I-Nf AMCO 432.4–1
other 8 partbooks (S1, S2, A, T, B, viola (= violoncello), org., partimento): 44 ff., 253 x
190 mm., MS second half of the seventeenth century, I-Nf AMCO 432.3.
Bibl.: Fabris 1993a, 335–37.
[b.] Messa de morti a 4 e 8 voci

7 partbooks (choir II only: S2, A2, T2, B2, 2 vln, contrabasso, bc): 28 ff., 270 x 210 mm.,
MS ‘Copia fatta al Cons. della Pietà da Giov. Ant. Guido nel 1691’, I-Nf (not found).
Bibl.: Di Giacomo 1918, 78.
c. Missa Defunctorum del Sig.r Provenzale

score copied by Giuseppe Sigismondo, end of the eighteenth century: 44 ff., 290 x 225
mm., MS I-Nc MR 1797a (olim 22.4.202);
8 partbooks (C, A, T, vln1, vln2, vlc, cb, bc): 16 ff., MS copy from the end of the
seventeenth century (bc partbook copied by Gaetano Veneziano?), I-Nc MR 1797b.
Bibl.: Gasperini and Gallo 1934, 161; Fabris 1993a, 335–37.
d. Missa pro defunctis, per 4 voci e orchestra

score: MS 96 pp. in 3 fascicles (30 + 20 + 46 pp.), copied by Francesco Rondinella in the
mid-nineteenth century, I-Mc, Noseda P 1-5.
23. Dialogo (I) a 5 voci con violini per la Passione, 5vv. (S1, S2, A, T, B) , 2 vln,
bc
sacred dialogue; text anonymous;
score: 32 ff., 285 x 220 mm., MS copied by ‘Vitus’ in 1686, I-Nf, MS AMCO olim
S.M.432.2.
Bibl.: Di Giacomo 1918, 78 ; Dietz 1987a, 520; Fabris 1993a, 337–39; Provenzale 2005 (‘Opere di
Francesco Provenzale’, 1).
24. (title missing) [Dialogo per la Passione (II)] 5vv (S1, S2, A, T, B) , 2 vln, bc
sacred dialogue; text anonymous;
score: 39 ff. (first pages missing.; ff. 38–39 empty), 290 x 223 mm., MS copied by ‘Vitus
scripsit 1685. Aprile’, I-Nf AMCO 698.10.
Bibl.: Di Giacomo 1918, 30; Fabris 1993a, 331, 333.
25. Sui palchi delle stelle, Per la nascita del Verbo del Sig.r Provenzali
sacred cantata, S, 2 vln, bc;
score: 12ff., 210 x 310 mm., bound in a MS copied in the second half of the seventeenth
century, I-Nc, Cantate 39 (olim 33.4.4), ff.165–66v.
Bibl.: Gasperini and Gallo 1934, 161; Fabris 1993a, 331, 338–39; Amato 1998, II, 35–36.
26. Vespero breve

10 Vesper psalms, 5 vv, bc.
partbooks: S1 (18 ff.), S2 (16 ff.), A (18 ff.), T (18 ff.), B (17 ff.), bc (10 ff.), 250 x 185
mm., MS copied c.1670, I-Nf AMCO 431.3; it contains the following pieces:
26a. Dixit, G
26b. Confitebor, Bb
26c. Beatus vir, E min.
26d. Laudate pueri, C
26e. Laetatus sum, A min.
26f. Nisi Dominus, Bb
26g. Lauda Jerusalem, A min.
26h. Credidi, D min.
26i. Beati omnes, D min.
26l. In convertendo, D
26m. Magnificat, F
26n. additional bc partbook: Vespero breve à 4 e à 5° Del Sig.r Provenzale, 12 ff.
MS copied in the second half of the eighteenth century, I-Nlp Mss. II.K.29(5), formerly in
I-Nf (on the front page: ‘Oratorio dei Filippini di Napoli. Sala Manoscritti’).
Bibl.: Di Giacomo 1918, 78; Fabris 1993a, 346.
27. Beatus vir a voce sola con violini

psalm, S, 2 vln, violetta, arciliuto, bc, A min.;
6 partbooks: MS copied by G. Veneziano, second half of the seventeenth century, in I-Nlp
Mss. K.29(1) (formerly in I-Nf), with a modern transcription by Salvatore Di Giacomo,
dated 1916, enclosed: Mss. K.29(2).
28. Beatus vir a voce sola con violini

psalm, S, 2vln, bc, C min.;
4 partbooks: 16 ff., 240 x 280 mm., MS copied in the second half of the seventeenth
century, in I-Nf AMCO 431.1.
29. In conspectu angelorum

motet, S and A, 2 vln, bc, F;
score and partbooks: 8ff., 232 x 170 mm., MS copied in the second half of the
seventeenth century, in I-Nf AMCO 431.2. A modern copy of the score by Salvatore Di
Giacomo, dated 1918,in I-Nlp, Mss. II.K.29(3).
Bibl.: Fabris 1993a, 330, 339-40.
30. Magnus secundum nomen

motet, S1, S2, B and bc, C;
score and 4 partbooks: MS copied in the second half of the seventeenth century, in I-Nf.
Bibl.: (not in Di Giacomo 1918); Fabris 1993a, 330.
[31a.] O Maria. Mottetto per la Madonna

motet, 4vv, org.;
score: MS c.1679 in I-Nf (not found); according to Di Giacomo 1918, the piece was
inserted in a collection of motets by Nola, Ursino, et al. dated 1679. But it is possible in
fact that O Maria has been confused with the last strophe of the following motet, Quo
fugiam, starting with the words ‘O Maria’.
[31b.] Quo fugiam

motet, 4vv, bc, E min.;
score and partbooks: MS in I-Nf (not found); see O Maria (31a).
Bibl.: Fabris 1993a, 330.
32. Pange lingua

hymn, 9 vv, 2 vln, bc, C min.; text: attributed to Tommaso da Celano.
a. Partitura del celebre Pange Lingua del Sig.r Franc.co Provenzale di nove voci
con violini & Basso in Do 3b
score: 9vv in two choirs (S1 and 2, A, T, B + S, A, T, B), 2 vln, bc, 250 x 225 mm., no
watermark is visible, copied in the late seventeenth century (= ‘Vitus scripsit’?), I-Nc
Rari 1.9.17; on the title-page: ‘Questa Partitura e Originale tenuta dal P. Massa
Agostiniano Scalzo, e regalata dal M. Parigi’; on f. 1: ‘Maestro Parisi Padrone’.
Bibl.: Gasperini and Gallo 1934, 161; Mondolfi 1956, 40; Dietz 1987b; Giani 1993;
Fabris 1993a, 348–52.
[b.] Pange lingua a 9 voci con violini

score and 4 choir partbooks: MS copied in the seventeenth century in I-Nf (not found).
c. Pange lingua a nove voci con violini

score: 16 ff., 230 x 270 mm., MS copied in the late eighteenth century, in I-Nf AMCO
432.1 (‘partitura ricavata da un antico Originale che si conserva nell’Archivio de PP.
Girolomini’);
additional sources: copy of Choir II in score: 8 ff., 220 x 280 mm.; partbooks: 68 ff., 250
x 195 mm.
d. Pange lingua a 9 voci con VV. del Sig. Francesco Provenzale

score: fragment of 8 ff., 285 x 218 mm, MS copied in the eighteenth century, in I-Nc MR.
1800 (olim Rari 1.6.179).
Bibl.: Gasperini and Gallo 1934, 161.
e. Pange lingua a 9 voci con VV. del Sig. Francesco Provenzale

score: fragment of 1 f., MS copied in the eighteenth century (copy of 32d above), in I-Nc,
MR. 1802 (olim 15.4.162).
f. Pange lingua in Do minore a 9 con violini

score: 22 ff. MS copied in the second half of the eighteenth century, in I-Bc BB.192.
Bibl.: Gaspari 1893, II, 298; Fabris 1993a, 330.
g. Pange lingua, a 9 voci

score: 26 pp., MS copied by F. Rondinella in 1863, in I-Mc, Noseda P 1–7.
Bibl.: Fabris 1993a, 330, 350.
h. Pange lingua a 9 Voci del Sig.r Provenzale Dalla Collezione del Sign. Gasparo
Selvaggio in Napoli. Napoli il 14.Marzo 1835.
score: 230 x 300 mm., bc written an octave above the original, MS copied by Proske
dated Naples 1835, in D-Rp Proske-M Rinck 15b.
Bibl.: Bischöfliche Zentralbibliothek Regensburg. Thematischer Katalog der
Musikhandschriften. 3 Sammlung Proske. Mappenbibliothek, ed. by G. Haberkamp and
J. Reutter (Munich, 1990), 330.
i. Pange lingua a 8 in Do minore con Violini e Basso di Francesco Provenzale

score: 12 ff., 302 x 222 mm., 8vv in two choirs (S, A, T, B + S, A, T, B), 2 vln, bc, MS
copied by Sigismondo in 1770, in I-Nc MR.1799 (olim 22.5.134); on f. 12: ‘Solo auditu
peractus anno 1770 D. Ioseph Sigismondus modorum delectator’.
Bibl.: Fabris 1993a, 330, 350–52.
l. Pange lingua a due Cori (copy of 32i above)

score: 30 pp., MS copied in the second half of the eighteenth century, in I-Mc, Noseda P 1–6.
m. Pange lingua, in Do minore, che si canta nelle 5 sere delle Quarant’ore di Carnevale
in S. Domenico Maggiore di Napoli, 1770. Ridotta a 4 parti per 4 voci e archi
score: 32 pp., 4vv (S, A, T, B), orch., MS copied in 1770, in I-Mc, Noseda P 1–9; on p .22
sketch of a double choir canon: ‘Così canta nell’estate sempre grillo grì grì’;
8 partbooks: S (4 ff.), violongello (2 ff.), alto (4 ff.), vln1 (2 ff.), vln2 (2 ff.),
fagotto/controbasso (2 ff.), basso (4 ff.), tenore (4 ff.).
Bibl.: Fabris 1993a, 330, 350–352.
n. Pange lingua a 4 Voci con Violini di Francesco Provenzali ex antiquo MS in

Collectione Revenrendiss. Abbatis Cavalcanti ad SS. Severinum & Sosium O.
Bened. Neap. in partitionem transtolit Neapoli d.4 Martii 1835
score: 225 x 290 mm., MS copied by Proske dated Naples 1835, in D-Rp Proske-M Rinck 15a.
Bibl.: Bischöflische Zentralbibliothek Regensburg. Thematischen Katalog der
Musikhandschriften. 3 Sammlung Proske. Mappenbibliothek, ed. by G. Haberkamp and
J. Reutter (Munich, 1990), 330.
C. Secular
33. Amarilli che del fiero ‘Cantata con vll. del Sig. D. Ciccio Provenzale’
cantata S, 2 vln, bc, C min.;
score: 31 pp., MS of the end of the seventeenth or beginning of the eighteenth century
(same copyist as 34 below), in I-Mc, Noseda P 1–20;
Instrumental introduction: Allegro
Rec. 1: ‘Amarilli che del fiero mio bene’
Aria 1: ‘Nato appena, mesto e languido’
Rec. 2: ‘Deh riedi omai adorata Amarilli’
Aria 2: ‘Riedi che il prato e il rio’.
Bibl: Pannain 1925; Gialdroni 1987.
34. Care selve, amati orrori ‘Cantata con vll. Del Sig.r D. Ciccio Provenzale’
cantata S, 2 vln, bc, G min.;
score: 32 pp., MS of the end of the seventeenth or beginning of the eighteenth century
(same copyist as 33 above), in I-Mc, Noseda P 1–21; on the last page a fragment of
paper with the signature ‘Provenzale’ and a 1915 stamp of the Red Cross; on the
reverse of the last page, an eighteenth-century hand copied the names:
‘Gerace/Marchitelli/Ragazzi’;
Instrumental introduction: Allegro
Aria 1: (a) ‘Care selve amati orrori’ (b) ‘In voi dolente io veggio’
Rec.1: ‘Ecco l’alto cipresso’
Aria 2: ‘Vorrei lasciar oh Dio’.
Bib.: Pannain 1925; Gialdroni 1987.
35. Voi ombre notturne. ‘Dialogo del Sig.r Francesco Provenzale’

duet S (Clori) and T (Tirsi), bc;
score: MS copied in the second half of the seventeenth century, I-Nc Cantate 2: 237 (olim
22.2.5). On the cover modern handwriting (Salvatore di Giacomo?): ‘Francesco
Provenzale Dialogo a 2 voci Cantata’.
d. Dubious
[36.] La Cloridea
opera; text by Pedro Sanz Palomera; no attribution to Provenzale
perf. Naples, Royal Palace, Carnival 1660?; score lost; libretto in I-Rvat.
Bibl.: Prota-Giurleo 1958a, 54; Bianconi 1979, 52.
[37.] La Bisalva o vero Offendere chi più s’ama

opera; text. by Pedro Sanz Palomera; no attribution to Provenzale
perf. Naples, S. Bartolomeo, 22 December 1667; score lost; libretto in I-Bu; Fn(Palatina);
Moe; Plcom; Rc; Rn; Vgc.
Bibl.: Prota-Giurleo 1958a, 59; Bianconi 1979, 56.
[38.] Il martirio di San Gennaro

sacred opera; text by Gennaro Paolella;
perf. Naples 1663?;
perf. Naples, Conservatorio S. Maria di Loreto, 6 November 1664; score and libretto lost.
Bibl.: Fuidoro 1934–39, I (1664); Prota-Giurleo 1958a, 56–57; Bianconi 1979, 54.
[39.] La vittoria fuggitiva

sacred opera; text by Giuseppe Castaldo; no attribution to Provenzale
perf. Naples 1672 (adaptation after a 1653 work by F. Marinelli?); score and libretto lost.
[40.] La vita di Santa Rosa

sacred opera; text by Giuseppe Castaldo?; no attribution to Provenzale
perf. Naples 1679; score lost; a fragment of the libretto in I-Nn, Sez. Mss. e Rari.
[41.] La Geneviefa
oratorio by Provenzale, according to Fétis, but possibly corresponding to the opera La
Geneviefa performed in Palermo in the years 1666–67 (or to a later La Geneviefa
dramma per musica del Sig. Girolamo Gigli (Sienna 1685; 16893, copy of the libretto
in B-Bc).
Bibl.: Fétis 1878–80, VII, 131; Fabris 1993a, 331.
[42.] L’ infedeltà abbattuta

oratorio by Provenzale, according to Fétis, but possibly corresponding to the opera La
Rosmene overo L’infedeltà fedele melodramma da rappresentarsi nel Regal Palazzo,
music by A. Scarlatti and libretto by G. De Totis (Naples, 1688; Florence, 1689); copy
of the libretto in B-Bc.
Bibl.: Fétis 1878–80, VII, 131; Fabris 1993a, 331.
43. Exulta jubila. Mottetto a voce sola

motet S, 2 vln, bc (org.), C min.; no attribution to Provenzale
4 partbooks: 5 ff. 260 x 203 mm., parts of S, vln1, vln2, org. bound in a miscellany MS
copied by Felix Benedictus de Massis in 1713 (ff. 10–15), in I-Nc not yet catalogued.
44. Pange lingua

hymn, S and A, 2 vln, bc, D min.; text attributed to Tomaso da Celano (setting only the
first verset of the text);
a. Pange lingua
score: 2 ff., 265 x 208 mm., MS with attribution to ‘Provenzale’, copied in the late
eighteenth century (by Giuseppe Sigismondo?), I-Nc MR 1798 (olim 22. 5.22/14).
Bibl.: Gasperini and Gallo 1934, 161; Giani 1993; Fabris 1993a, 331, 348–54.
b. Pange lingua
score: 6 pp., MS copy of the 43a above, dated 3 March 1863, in I-Mc Noseda P 1–8.
c. Pange lingua a due voci Per soprano e Contralto con Archi e Organo
score: 4 ff., 301 x 230 mm., transcription adapted for two female choirs by the student
Renato Bellini, for a performance at Naples Conservatory 15 March 1915, in I-Nc
MR.1801.
Bibl.: Fabris 1993a, 331, 352–54.
45. A che mirarmi o stelle,

aria S, bc;
score: MS of the seventeenth century, in I-Nc Cantate 112 (olim 33.4.12).
Bibl.: Pannain 1925; Gialdroni 1987.
46. All’impero d’amore,

aria S, bc;
score: MS of the seventeenth century, in I-Nc Cantate 112 (olim 33.4.12), p. 281.
47. Compatitemi amanti a 2 ‘Provenzale’

duet S1 and S2, bc;
score: MS of the seventeenth century, in I-Nc Cantate 114 (olim 33.4.14), pp. 126–28.
[48.] E come oh Dei

quoted by Gialdroni 1987 but not found.
Bibl.: Gialdroni 1987.
49. Gionto il fatal dì che Clorindo

cantata-lamento, S and bc, G min.;
score: MS of the seventeenth century with an eighteenth-century attribution to
‘Provenzale’, in I-Nc Cantate 112 (olim 33.4.12), II, ff. 1–22;
Rec. 1: ‘Gionto il fatal dì che Clorindo vezzoso’
Aria: ‘Fidi amanti chi vivrà per saper che cos’è pena’
Rec. 2: ‘Barbaro fato e come’
Rec. 3: ‘Mentre la bella si dolea così’
50. La mia speme è vanità

aria S and bc, D;
score: MS of the seventeenth century, in I-Nc Cantate 112 (olim 33.4.12), pp. 220–49.
51. Lamento di Marinetta per la morte di Masaniello suo marito

cantata-lamento, S and bc;
text by Francesco Melosio, in the MS I-Rvat chigi G.VII.210, ff. 459–62v;
score: MS copy of the half of the seventeenth century, in I-Bc Q 47, ff. 87v–94v.
52. Pensieri che fate

duet S1 and S2, bc;
score: MS of the seventeenth century (with an attribution to ‘Provenzale’), in I-Nc Cantate
114 (olim 33.4.14), II, ff. 129–36; concordances: I-Bc, MS Q.50, ff. 83–85v
(‘Marazzoli’); I Fc, MS F.I.25, ff. 67–69v (‘Luigi Rossi’); I-Nc, MS 33.3.1, ff. 117–
119v (anon.); I-Nc, MS 33.3.2, I, ff. 50–52v (anon.); I-Nc, MS 33.3.2, II, ff. 43–44
(anon.); I-Nc, MS 33.4.13, I, ff. 81–90v (‘Carissimi’); I-Nc, MS 33.5.10, ff. 34–37
(anon.); I-Rc, MS 2464, ff. 142–49 (‘Marazzoli’); I-Rvat, MS Chigi Q.VIII.177, ff.
171–73 (anon.).
53. Sdegnosetta che vuoi tu

aria S and bc;
score: MS of the seventeenth century (modern attribution to ‘Provenzale’ on p. 276), in I-
Nc Cantate 112 (olim 33.4.12), p. 276.
54. Squarciato appena havea

cantata-lamento S and bc.;
score: MS of the seventeenth century, in I-Nc Cantate 112 (olim 33.4.12).
55–59. 5 organ pieces by ‘Franz.Provintz. Organista’,

Italian keyboard tablature, German provenance, MS dated 1675–77, in F-Pn, MS
Rés.Vm(7) 1817:
55. Ricercada 8.vi Tonj x Fran: Provintz. Anno 1675
56. Allegro Fran: Provintz. Allegro 1675

57. Fuga eiusdem metris sive Tonj
58. Variatio precedentis Fugae 8vi Tonj
59. Intonatio Sexti Tonj Composita à Fra: Provintz Organista ... [Hispanus?]
Anno[16]77 die 7.mo Martij
Bibl.: Fabris 1993a, 331.

Figures
1. Pierre Miotte, The city of Naples with patron-saints, copperplate (Rome,

1648), Naples, Istituto Suor Orsola Benincasa, Raccolta Pagliara
Figures 263
2. Map of the city of Naples, based on the ‘Duca di Noja’ map (c.1770)
1. Castelnuovo; 2. Teatro di Corte in the royal palace; 3. ‘Quartieri spagnoli’; 4. Teatro S.

Giovanni dei Fiorentini (‘commedia nuova’); 5. Teatro S. Giorgio dei Genovesi (‘commedia
vecchia’); 6. Conservatorio S. Maria della Pietà dei Turchini; 7. Teatro S. Bartolomeo; 8.
Gesù Nuovo; 9. Santa Chiara; 10. S.Giorgio Maggiore; 11. Oratorio dei Girolamini (S.
Filippo Neri); 13. Duomo and Seminario Vescovile; 14. Donnaregina; 15. Castelcapuano
(Vicaria Vecchia); 16. Conservatorio S.Onofrio; 17. S. Casa dell’ Annunziata; 18. Carmine
Maggiore; 19. Conservatorio di S.Maria di Loreto
3. (a) Simone Coya, L’amante impazzito (Milan, 1679), 18: ‘Canta la

Sfacciata alla Napolitana’
(b) Simone Coya, L’amante impazzito (Milan, 1679), 24: ‘Tarantella’
Figures 265
4. Pianta del piano nobile del Palazzo Reale, drawing, I-Nn, MS C. G. Ba

5A/2, by permission of Ministero Beni e Attività Culturali
5. Title page for La colomba ferita (Naples, 1670), copy in I-Mb, by

permission of Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense
Figures 267
6. Title page for Lo schiavo di sua moglie (Naples, 1672), copy in I-Moe, by
permission of Biblioteca Estense
7. Title page for Stellidaura vendicante (Naples, 1674), copy in I-Nn, by

permission of Ministero Beni e Attività Culturali
Figures 269
8. Title page for Mottetti (Naples, 1689), copy in I-Nc

9. Naples, Chiesa dell’Incoronatella (Turchini), Battesimi, II, 1624, f. 281v
10. Naples, Archivio Storico Diocesano, Sacra Patrimonia, 188 N.3167:

autograph signature by Francesco Provenzale dated 5 January 1660
Figures 271
11. Fragment of an autographed letter by Francesco Provenzale, I-Nc,

Lettere, 275 (1695?)
12. Francesco Provenzale, La colomba ferita, MS score in I-Nc, Sala Riviste

35, cor. 20, f. 1
Figures 273
13. Francesco Provenzale, Missa defunctorum, eighteenth-century score in I-

Nc, MR 1797 (seventeenth-century MS parts in I-Nc, MR 1797b)
14. (a) Francesco Provenzale, Dialogo per la Passione (I), copyist ‘Vitus’,
1686, MS in I-Nf AMCO S.M.432.2 (last page)
(b) Francesco Provenzale, Dialogo per la Passione (II), copyist ‘Vitus’,
1685, MS in I-Nf AMCO 698.10 (last page)
Figures 275
15. Francesco Provenzale, Sui palchi delle stelle, copyist not identified, MS in
I-Nc Cantate 39, f. 165
16. (a) Francesco Provenzale, Amarilli crudel, Cantata con violini, MS in I-

McNoseda P 1-20
(b) Francesco Provenzale, Care selve amati orrori, Cantata con violini, MS
in I-McNoseda P 1-21
Figures 277
17. Francesco Provenzale, Pange lingua a 9, eighteenth-century MS score in I-

Nc Rari 1.9.17
18. Anon. (attr. to Francesco Provenzale), Pange lingua a 2, eighteenth-

century MS score in I-Nc MR 1798
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http:/taylorandfrancis.com
Index
Acerbo, Nicola 82 Balestriera, Antonina 176

Aceti, Antonio 214, 223–4 Banchieri, Adriano 165
Acquaviva d’Aragona, Duke 91 Barbella, Francesco 206
Airoldi, Giacinto 159 Barigiani, Prospero Duke of Regina 185
Alba, Duke of, viceroy of Naples 6–7, Bartolini, Orindio 153
18, 39 Basile, Chiara 67–69, 77–78, 84, 92,
Alborea, Francesco 205, 209 245
Aldovrandini 150 Basile, Domenico 68, 77
Alexander VII, Pope 46 Basile, Felice 68
Alfiero, Giuseppe 158 Basile, Giovanni Andrea 68, 77, 92
Alosio, Conte 244 Basile, Giovanni Battista 68, 77, 174
Amato, Mauro 200, 208 Basso, Francesco 83, 211
Amodei, Cataldo 65, 201 Battaglino, Pompeo 4
Ancina, Giovenale 20, 102 Bellini, Renato 248
Andreini, Isabella 11 Beltrano, Ottavio 29, 64
Andria, Duke of 80 Bencini, Pietro Paolo 150
Andrisani, Pietro 151 Benestante Sifolo, Carlo Maria 172, 185,
Anerio, Felice 122, 149 223
Angelotti, Angela 159, 182 Bevilacqua, Francesco 182
Ansalone (Anzaloni), family 24, 46 Bianconi, Lorenzo 138, 179
Ansalone, Bartolomeo 46 Biffi, Giuseppe 7–8
Ansalone, Francesco 55 Boccaccio, Giovanni 7
Ansalone, Giacinto 54, 64, 102, 106 Boerio, Francesco Antonio 33, 144, 173,
Ansalone, Giovanni 46 201–2, 208
Ansalone, Tarquinio 46 Bonelli, Bartolomeo 153
Antoniello da Montesarchio 177 Bonino, Scipione 29
Antonio 83, 92 Bononcini 88
Arcucci, Domenico 84 Borrelli, Mario 3
Arianiello, Giuseppe 125, 150 Bouchard, Jean-Jacques 1–6, 8–11, 18,
Ariosto, Ludovico 11 25, 51, 54, 108
Aristotle 75 Bourbons, family 81
Astorga, Marquis, viceroy of Naples, 60, Bracamonte y Gusman, Pedro, 160
74, 162, 164–65, 168–71, 186 Bragaglia, Anton Giulio 185
Astorga, Emanuele Rincon d’ 243 Brancarelli, Matteo 211
Attanasio da Pisticci 22, 25, 46 Branchino, Francesco 223
Aureli, Aurelio 222 Brandeburg, Daniel 208
Avitrano, Giovanni Antonio 206, 209 Brandone, Annibale 182
Brossard, Sebastien de 209
Bach, Johann Sebastian 215 Bryant, David 44
Balbi, Giovan Battista 23, 155–56, 182 Bucella, Antonia 182
Baldassarro 83, 92 Bulifon, Antonio 32
Buoncompagni, archbishop of Naples 32
Buonomo, Cinzia 159 Cesti, Antonio 138, 143, 167

Burney, Charles 27, 81, 209 Charles II, king of Spain 14, 37, 132,
Bustamante, Manuel García 37, 183 160, 162
Charles V, emperor 15
Caccianemici, Maria 191 Charpentier, Marc Antoine 108
Caetano, Gioseppe 78 Christina, queen of Sweden 197
Cafaro, Pasquale 246 Cicinelli, Andrea, Prince of Cursi 168–
Cailò, Giovan Carlo 90, 205 70, 184–85
Caldara, Antonio 150 Cicinelli, Giovanni, Duke of Grottaglie
Calderón de la Barca, Pedro 161, 184 169–70, 185
Caluori, Eleanor 201 Cimmino, Donato 63, 85
Camposano, Laura 68, 92 Cimmino, Felice 230
Candia, Marzia 77 Ciquito, Antonio 224
Cantelmo, Giacomo archbishop 154 Cirillo, Francesco 158, 161, 164, 169,
Cantore, Tomaso 69, 77 182
Capaccio, Giulio Cesare 32, 65, 75 Cirino, Andrea 127
Cappella, Prospero S.J. 154 Clemente VIII, pope 75
Cappello, Bartolomeo 61, 64, 102 Colamazzo, Giulia 71
Caprioli, Giovan Paolo 153 Colicchia, Andrea 159
Caproli, Carlo 193 Colista, Lelio 193
Caproli, Giacomo 21 Colle d’Anchise, princess 59, 73
Caracciolo, archbishop of Naples 77, 152 Colli, Lorenzo 70, 160–61
Caracciolo, Isabella abbess 133, 143 Colonna, Contestabile 225
Caresana, Andrea 150 Columbro, Marta 228–29
Caresana, Cristofaro 26, 63–64, 97, 102– Confuorto, Domenico 66, 76
103, 105, 110, 113, 125–30, 150, Coniglio, Giuseppe 49
191, 218–20, 223, 227, 229, 233, Coppola, Filippo 18–20, 37, 58, 64, 72,
234, 238, 239, 242, 247 102, 159, 183, 211–13, 221–22,
Carissimi, Giacomo 167, 182, 193, 201 227, 231, 238
Carlino, Giovan Giacomo 29 Coppola, Nicola 211
Carpentiero, Carlo 223 Coppola, Pietro 81
Carrano, Antonio 214, 223–24 Corelli, Arcangelo 109, 205, 240
Castaldi, Bellerofonte 51–52 Corona di Baranello, Vito 149
Castaldo, Giuseppe 43, 131–35, 138–39, Corrado, Francesco Antonio 223
Cortese, Giulio Cesare 174
143–44, 146–47, 151, 153, 160, Costantini, Fabio 149
170, 172, 174, 183 Costantino, Pietro 159
Castaldo, Vincenzo 77 Costo, Tommaso 7–8
Castrillo conde de, viceroy of Naples 34, Coya, Donatello 41, 55
157, 159 Coya, Simone 12, 41, 129, 200, 207
Cavalli, Francesco 127, 143, 148, 150, Crispini, abbot 154
155–58, 167, 180–82, 184 Cristolla, Teresa 208
Cavallo, Giuseppe 82–84 Croce, Benedetto 131, 147, 153
Cecchini, Pier Maria 22, 46 Cuozzo, Domenico 211
Cecire, Caterina 71
Celiano, Livio (Angelo Grillo) 191 D’Alessandro, Domenico Antonio 151,
Cenatiempo, Domenico 21 180
Cennamo, Fabrizio 35, 48 D’Amato, Stefano 81
Cerreto, Scipione 22, 51 D’Ambrosio, Carlo 211
Cerronio, Bonaventura 56, 111 D’Amico, Gaspare 161
Cervantes, Miguel de 1 D’Andrea, Francesco 76–77
Cesarini 150 D’Angelo, Alessio 71
Index 305
Danio, Amato 248 De Sartis, Antonio 223

D’Aquino, Luigi monsignore 47 De Simone, Roberto 149
D’Aragona Pasquale, cardinal viceroy of De Toledo, don Pedro, viceroy of Naples
Naples 132 1, 19, 24, 45, 50
D’Aula, Giuseppe 85 De Vidania, Diego Vincenzo 233
Daun, Wirich Philipp Lorenz, Count of De Vincentiis, Carlo called ‘Acquaviva’
viceroy of Naples 244 83, 85, 93, 211
D’Avalos, family 80 Di Angelo, Antonio 35, 48
De Angelis, Vincenzo 223 Di Bartolo (De Bartoli), Erasmo (Father
De Antiquis, Giovanni 27 Raimo) 3, 21, 39, 55, 59–60, 63,
De Benedictis, Puccio 211 72–73, 102, 239
De Biase, Francesco 211 Di Bernardo, Bernardo 77
De Bonis, Giuseppe 29, 214, 229 Dietz, Hanns-Berthold 95, 108, 148
De Bonis, Novello 29 Di Franco, Martino 19
De Bottis, Giuseppe 244 Di Franco, Pompeo 19, 228
De Caro, Giulia 164–65, 168–70, 176, Di Giacomo, Salvatore 18, 84, 91, 93,
184–85, 187, 220 103, 105, 108, 123, 148, 210–11
De Donato, Giuseppe 213 Di Lorenzo, Giuseppe 159
D’Elena, Giuseppe 223 Di Mercurio, Rocco 159
De Federico, Ruggiero 223 Di Palma, Giuseppe 155
De Filippo, Geronimo 66, 76 Di Troia, Giuseppe 211
De Fons, Carlo 223, 232 Draghi, Antonio 161
De Haro Gaspar, Marquis Del Carpio Durante, Angelo 20
viceroy of Naples 8, 10, 14–15, 19, D’Urso, Vito 122
40, 50, 100, 134, 154, 171, 224–25
De Jaymis, Pablo 223 Fabris, Dinko 71, 182
Del Colle, Carlo, Prince of Somma 227 Faggioli, Michelangelo 208
Del Giovane, Giandomenico da Nola 20 Fagilla, Orazio 150, 202
De Lise, Francesco 211, 223 Fago, Nicola 9, 26, 27, 97, 103, 147,
Della Marra, Ferrante 51 177, 201, 205, 242, 244
Della Marra, don Geronimo 224, 233 Falconieri, Andrea 18, 36, 55, 57–58, 71,
Della Rosa, Gregorio 134 158, 205, 221
Della Torre, Francesco 179 Falconio, Francesco 35, 48, 211
Delle Chiavi, family 23 Fanzago, Cosimo 9, 31, 48
Delle Chiavi, Gennaro 89, 182, 184 Fardella 172, 185
Delle Chiavi, Gregorio, 100, 159–60, Farina, Antonio 150, 194, 201
182, 184 Faustini, Giovanni 180
Dello Schiavo, Matteo 28 Felis, Stefano 19
Del Pozo, Antonia 152 Fernando, ‘Infante’ of Spain, 40
De Luca, Anna 66, 76–77 Ferrara, Giovanni 148
De Luca, Orazio, Baron of Pescopagano Ferraro, Giovanni 55
66, 76 Ferraro, Giuseppe 82
Del Vaglio, marquis 243 Ferro, Domenico 176
Del Vecchio, Domenico 223 Fétis, François-Joseph 151, 162
De Massis, Felix Benedictus, 149, 246 Fiamma, Carlo 191
De Mauro, Carlo 223 Fiano, Duke of 153
De Miro, Vincenzo 66, 76 Fiata, Leonardo 81, 91
Dentice, Scipione 52, 58, 72, 102 Filiberto, Pablo 223
De Palma, Giovan Francesco 19 Filippo Neri, S. 20, 102
De Riso, Antonia 91 Filomarino, cardinal of Naples 45, 47, 74
De Riva, Francesco 211 Filomena, Nicola 87, 89
De Salazar y Torres, Agustín 134 Filomone, Nicola 87
Finelli, Luca 78 Grillo, family 246

Fiorillo, Silvio 22, 33, 46 Grillo, Angelo 191
Flamengo, Pietro 11 Grimaldi, Antonio 177
Florimo, Francesco 162 Grimaldi, cavalier Nicolino 9, 176–77
Florio, Antonio 149, 151 Guarini, Battista 51, 129, 191, 207
Floro, Domenico 244 Guarino, Pietr’Aniello 84, 88, 93
Fossato, Nicola 89 Guarino, Pietro 85
Francesco, Saverio, S. 34 Guaschi, Pietro Emilio 169
Franco, Camillo 58, 73, 239 Guasco, Benedetto 158
Frescobaldi, Girolamo 55–56, 61, 70 Guastoni, Giacomo 19
Fuidoro, Ignazio (D’Onofrio Vincenzo) Guerra, Scipione 32
9, 31, 60, 147, 169–70 Guida, Antonio 214, 223–24
Guido, Giovanni Antonio 205, 209
Gabrieli, Catharina 182 Gustavus Adolphus, king of Sweden 197
Galli, Alessandro 213, 229
Galli-Bibiena, Ferdinando 23 Handel, Georg Friedrick 63
Garcés, Marcos 134
Gargano, Giovanni Battista 29 Innocenzo X, pope 47
Garofano, Giacomo 77
Garofano, Santella 67, 77 Jacobelli, Vincenzo 223–24
Generoli, Angelica 182 Juan de Austria, don 36
Generoli, Antonio 158, 182
Gennaro, S. 5, 9, 35, 133 Larson, Keith A. 24, 27, 50
Genoino, Giulio 35, 48 Lambardi, family 67–68
Gerace 191 Lambardi, Camillo 20
Gesualdo, Carlo prince of Venosa 51–52, Lambardi, Francesco 7, 26, 55
61, 70–72, 165, 167 Lambardo, Donato 67–68
Ghezzi, Tommaso 214, 223–24 Lanzino Ulloa, Felice 134, 151
Giaccio, Orazio 7 Lassus, Roland de (Orlando di Lasso) 37
Gialdroni, Teresa 187, 192, 196–97, 206 Lavagna, Nicola 83, 223
Giamberti, Giuseppe 105 Legrenzi, Giovanni 143, 221
Giani, Ugo 235 Lemos, count of viceroy of Naples 50
Gioioso, Onofrio 11, 41, 55 Leo, Leonardo 151, 201
Giordano, Luca 19 Leoni, Giovan Battista 191
Giorgio (‘Mastro Giorgio’) 11, 41 Leopold, emperor 161
Giovan Francesco del Gesù, detto Apa Leopoldo Giuseppe, principe 243
151 Liberati, Antimo 61, 70, 193
Giovanni della Carriola 174 Ligoro, family 65
Giramo, Pietro Antonio 11–12, 42 Lionnet, Jean 247
Giuno, Giovan Battista 84 Lipparini, Guglielmo 153
Giuseppe, ‘confessore’ 77 Longo, Egidio 29, 163
Giustiniani, Vincenzo, 52 Longo, Tarquinio 29
Gizzio (Domenico Gizzi) 244 Loscos, Francisco Martinez de 18
Goldschmidt, Hugo 162 Los Velez, viceroy of Naples 37
González, Stefanello, 1 Lubrano, Giacomo 197
Goudar, Sara 41 Lucarelli, Orazio 82
Grandi, Alessandro 55 Luciolo, Cesare 29
Greco, Francesco 85, 93, 231
Greco, Gaetano 19, 85, 93, 205, 219–20, Macedonia, Violanta 78
245, 248–49 MacGreen, Douglas 202
Greco, Rocco 93, 205, 209, 212, 230–31 Macque, Jean de 18, 20, 56, 58, 61
Griffin, Thomas 219
Index 307
Maddaloni, Duke of 35, 168 Muscettola, Antonio Duke of Spezzano

Maggio, Carlo 83, 92 167
Maggio, Gaetano 151 Muzio, Michele Luigi 30, 145
Magnetta, Marcello 71
Magno, Giambattista called ‘il Nardolino, Francesco Antonio 223
Modanino’ 133, 151 Nattone (Nardone?), Natale 93
Maiello, Giovan Vittorio 31, 56 Nenci, Vincenzo 159
Maione, Ascanio 20 Neriti, Vincenzo 153
Maione, Paologiovanni 225, 228–29, Netti, Francesco Antonio 209
231–33 Netti, Giovan Cesare 64, 85, 91, 150,
Mancini, Francesco 227 201–202, 212, 223
Mancini, Franco 2 Nocerino, Francesco 24
Manto, Pietro 85, 89–90, 93, 205, 211 Nola, Antonio 71, 102, 108, 148
Maranzini 55 Nola, Tomaso 148
Marazzoli, Marco 194, 198, 202 Noseda, Gustavo Adolfo 187, 236
Marchitelli, Pietro 86, 89, 191, 205, 207, Noske, Frits 122
209, 223, 247 Nucci, Lucretio 29
Margaret, princess of Spain 4
Marguerite, queen of Austria 100 Olifante, Giovanni Battista 64
Maria Luisa, queen of Bourbon 100 Oliva, Gian Domenico 64
Marinelli, Francesco, 131–32, 146, 228 Olivares, viceroy of Naples 38
Marinetta (Bernardina Pisa), wife of Oñate, count of viceroy of Naples 23, 36,
Masaniello 36, 49, 200 39, 58, 154, 157, 159, 182
Marino, Andrea 151 Onofrio 211
Mario, family 65 Oratio da Fermo (Orazio Fagilla?) 144,
Martini, Giovanni Battista 236 152, 171–72, 185, 203, 222
Marzano, Agostino 211, 223 Origlia, Giangiuseppe 65
Masaniello (Tomaso Aniello) 13–14, 23, Orsini, cardinal 154
33–36, 49, 57–58, 155, 182, 200 Ortiz, Diego 18, 44
Mascitti, Michele 205 Ottoboni, Pietro cardinale 145, 153
Massa, Agostiniano Scalzo 237
Massari, Francesco 176, 184 Pace, Antonio 29
Mastrangelo, Felice, 176–77 Paci, Giovanni Francesco 29
Melosio, Francesco 35, 49, 200 Pagano, Roberto 183
Minato, Nicolò 158 Pagano, Tommaso 122, 144, 224–25,
Minei, Lorenzo 126, 150, 201–08 234
Minieri Riccio, Camillo 65 Palestrina (Giovanni Pierluigi) 39
Mirabello, Francesco 223 Pallavicino, Marquis 159
Mirabile, Luca 211 Palumbo, Antonio 68, 212, 223
Modena, Duke of 10 Palumbo, Giuseppe 69
Mondella, Francesco 211 Palumbo, Ignazio 68–69, 77–78
Mondolfi Anna 179, 192–93, 206 Palumbo, Ignazio from Trani 69
Montalto, Alessandro Peretti cardinal 72 Palumbo, Nicola 69
Montesardo (Girolamo Melcarne called Palumbo, Orazio 69
the) 7 Palumbo, Pietro 69, 224
Monterey, count of viceroy of Naples 10 Pandolfi, Giuseppe 162, 168–69
Monteverdi, Claudio 51–52, 54, 71, 102, Pannain, Guido 188, 197–98
140, 155, 165, 167, 193, 207 Paolella, Francesco Antonio 163–65
Mormita (Marmitta), Domenico 223 Paolella, Gennaro 132, 164
Muccio, Onofrio 68, 84, 92 Paolini, Pietro 29
Murino, Andrea 81 Parabosco, Girolamo 191
Parisi, Gaetano 246 Provenzale, Angelo 77

Parisi, Gennaro 237, 246 Provenzale, Anna Maria (suor Eletta
Parrino, Domenico Antonio 30, 145 dello Spirito Santo) 69, 78, 145, 245
Parthenope 1, 34, 196 Provenzale, Anna Maria Teresa (Bosnian
Pascale, Tommaso 247 enslaved) 69
Pascual, Félix 134 Provenzale, Bartolomeo 177
Pasqualini, Marc’Antonio 193 Provenzale, Benedetto 65, 75
Patrizia, S. 34 Provenzale, Ferrante 67, 77
Pavan, Franco 70 Provenzale, Francesco, reggente 65, 75
Pecorone (Petrone), Bonifacio 30, 243– Provenzale, Francesco 1, 8–9, 15, 19, 21,
44 24, 26–29, 31–37, 43, 50–54, 58,
Pellegrino, Giovan Francesco 93–94 60–63, 65, 67–69, 77–78, 89–95,
Peñaranda D. Gaspar de Bracamonte 97–106, 116, 118–19, 121–26, 130–
y Gusman count of viceroy of Naples 33, 135, 138–40, 143–49, 152, 156–
14, 43, 160–61, 183 80, 182–83, 185, 187–89, 191–97,
Pergolesi, Giovan Battista 22, 201, 240, 200–203, 205–10, 212–15, 217–21,
242, 247 227–32, 235–40, 242, 244–49
Perrucci, Andrea 161, 170, 172–74, 176, Provenzale, Francesco from Carpi 75
179, 185, 200 Provenzale Francesco priest 177
Peter van Harleem (‘Pietro Flamengo’) Provenzale, Gaspare 75
11, 41 Provenzale, Giacomo 75
Petrucci, Giuseppe 182 Provenzale, Giovan Andrea 65, 76
Philip II, king of Spain 51 Provenzale, Giovanna 66
Philip IV, king of Spain 4, 36, 100, 159 Provenzale, Giovanni Battista 65, 75
Philip V, king of Spain 15 Provenzale, Girolamo archbishop 65–68,
Piccinni, Niccolò 27, 249 75
Piccinno, Onofrio 248 Provenzale, Giulia 70, 78, 245
Piccioli, Francesco Maria 159 Provenzale, Giuseppe 67–69, 77–78, 248
Pico, Foriano 7, 47, 129 Provenzale, Giuseppe, Duke of S.
Pietro, Tedesco 93 Agapito 66–67, 76
Pignatelli, Francesco Duke 245 Provenzale, Ignazio, Duke of
Pimentel, Anna Maria 165 Collecorvino 66–67, 75–76, 246
Piani, Giovanni Antonio 205 Provenzale, Marcello 75
Pisa, Vincenzo 158 Provenzale, Marcello ‘barone della
Pisani, Baldassarre 186, 192 Cudia’ 65, 75
Piscione, Giovanni de Avellis 22, 25, 46 Provenzale, Ottavio captain 65, 75
Polito, Domenico 211 Provenzale, Preianni 65, 75
Pompilio, Angelo 28 Provenzale, Proficato 75
Porpora, Nicola Antonio 201 Provenzale, Stefano 75
Porri, Caterina 169 Provenzali, family Barons of Nicosia 65,
Preti, Giuseppe 223 75, 77
Preti, Mattia 34 Provintz, Franz, 124, 206, 209
Prospero Felice, ‘Infante’ of Spain 159
Prota-Giurleo, Ulisse 60, 68, 84, 100, Radesca, Enrico 153
160, 183, 225–26 Ragazzi, Angelo 191, 207
Provenzale, family 65–67, 75 Raneo, José 10, 14, 18
Provenzale, Dukes 66, 75 Rafone, Luca 102
Provenzale, Andrea 65, 74–76 Ricchezza, Donato 102–03, 130
Provenzale, Andrea, Duke of S. Agapito Ricci, Giuseppe 29
66, 77 Riccio, Giulio 223
Index 309
Riccio, Giuseppe Antonio 69 Sarnelli, Pompeo 8, 14, 155

Riccio, Scipione 29 Sarro, Domenico 201, 227
Riemann, Hugo 188 Sartori, Claudio 208
Rinaldi, Cesare 191 Sassano, Matteo (Matteuccio) 186, 223,
Robinson, Michael F. 81 244
Rolland, Romain 162 Savioni, Mario 193, 197
Romano, Stefano 23 Scaglia, Francesco 191
Roncagliolo, Giovanni Domenico 29–30 Scaletta, Orazio 153
Rondinella, Francesco 192, 236, 247 Scamacca, Matteo, Baron of Murgo 159
Roomer, Gaspar 80 Scaramuzzi, Giuseppe 85
Rosa, Salvatore 35 Scarlatti, Alessandro 6, 15, 18–19, 39–
Rosa from Lima, S. 147 40, 44, 63, 90, 92, 131, 176, 192,
Rosalia, S. 34–35, 134 201, 202, 205, 207–209, 214, 219,
Rosand, Ellen 180 221–22, 224–27, 232–33, 240, 242,
Rossa, Laura 148 244, 247–48
Rossi, Giovan Battista 148 Scarlatti, Domenico 233
Rossi, Luigi 116, 140, 165, 167, 193, Schulze, Hendrik 182
197, 201 Scoriggio, Lazzaro 29
Rossini, Gioacchino 166 Serafina di Dio, mother (Prudenza Pisa)
Roy, Bartolomeo 18 78, 145
Rubino, Bonaventura 102, 106, 148 Servillo, Gaetano 214, 223–24
Ruggiero, Mastro 174 Sgruttiendo, Filippo 173
Russo, Paolo 182 Shakespeare, William 164
Rutini, Marianna 159 Sifola, Marc’Antonio 223
Sigismondo, Giuseppe 95, 97, 105, 151,
Sabatino, Nicola 247 237, 240, 246
Sabino, Anna Rosa 71 Simonetti, Leonardo 54
Sabino Antonino (Donato Antonio) 54– Siri Chigi, Cecilia 169
55, 71–72 Smither, Howard 122
Sabino, Francesco 54–55, 71 Solfrizzi, Gabriele 85
Sabino, Franciscus de Vito 71 Sopriano (Scipriani), Francesco 205, 209
Sabino, Giovan Maria 26, 52–55, 58, 60, Sorrentino, Giulio Cesare 155–56
64, 70–72, 102, 106, 114, 140, 150, Sottile, Giovanni Battista 29
167, 183, 205, 221 Spada, Tommaso Maria 134
Sabino, Giovan Pietro 54, 71 Sperandeo, Onofrio 78
Sabino, Ippolito 71 Stefonio, Bernardino S.J. 45
Sabino, Nicola 22 Stella, Scipione (father Pietro Paolo) 20,
Sairubbo, Antonio 151 58, 71–72
Salinas, Francisco 18, 44 Stigliola, Giacomo 29
Salvadori, Giuseppe Gaetano 173 Stinca, Maria 66, 76
Salvatore, Giovanni 21, 26, 52, 58, 60– Stinca, Marino 66, 76
61, 63–64, 70–74, 84, 89, 92–93, Stradella, Alessandro 201
97, 102, 108, 165, 167–68, 205, Strozzi, Gregorio 52, 70, 205
212, 230, 238–40
Sammarco, Carl’Antonio 13 Tasso, Torquato 191
Sanseverino di Bisignano, Prince 243 Teresa of Avila, S. 145
Sansone, Anselmo 151 Tommaso da Celano 235
Santo, Domenico 55 Toro, Felice 211
Sanz Palomera y Velasco, don Pedro 68, Trabaci, Giovan Maria 7, 18, 20, 36, 52,
160–61, 183 55–57, 61, 72, 102, 155
Sarleti, Francesco 182 Tretta, Filippo 85
Turino (Francesco Turini) 70
Ugolini, Nicola 93 Vespolo, Giovan Tomaso 65

Ursino, Gennaro 63–64, 85, 90, 93–94, Viadano, Marco 81
103, 230 Vignola, Giuseppe 149
Vignola, Pietro 89
Valentini, Giovanni 70 Villarosa, Carlo Rosa marchese of 151,
Valle, count 209 162, 235–36, 246
Valuta, Tommaso 132 Villino, Donato 223
Vandaynden, Giuseppe 80 Vinci, Leonardo 36, 166, 201
Vannarelli, Francesco 64, 102 Vinciprova, Nicola 89, 205, 209, 223
Vasari, Giorgio 20 Visconti, Angela 182
Veglini (Vignola, Pietro?) 87, 89 Vitale, Costantino 29
Velardiniello 2 Vittori, Loreto 23
Velasco, Pedro, Marquis of Fresno 160– Vitus 113, 118, 122
61, 183
Vendramin, Paolo 180 Zacconi, Francesco 147, 153
Veneziano, Gaetano 63, 74, 82–83, 91– Zapata, cardinal 18
92, 95–97, 102–03, 108, 149, 162, Zarrelli 55
168, 205, 208–209, 218, 227, 230, Ziani, Pietro Andrea 18, 26, 159,
233–34 161, 169, 179, 185, 203, 209,
Verde, Alfonso 55 221–22, 224–26, 232, 239
Vergali, Giovan Tomaso 148 Zito, Michelangelo 158

Dinko Fabris - Music in Seventeenth-Century Naples - Francesco Provenzale (1624-1704) - Routledge (2007)

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Dinko Fabris - Music in Seventeenth-Century Naples - Francesco Provenzale (1624-1704) - Routledge (2007)

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MUSIC IN SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY NAPLES

Taylor & Francis

#OPYRIGHT© Dinko Fabris 2007

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

ISBN-13: 978-0-7546-3721-9 KEN

List of Music Examples vii

1 La città della festa 1

2 The Age of Provenzale 50

3 The Four Conservatoires 79

4 A Composer for the Church 95

5 Provenzale and Opera in Naples 154

6 Chamber and Instrumental Music 187

7 Hope and Disillusion 210

Catalogue of Provenzale’s Works 250

1.1 Pietro Antonio Giramo, Il pazzo (c.1630) 12

2.1 Giovan Maria Sabino, Repleatur os meum laude (Venice, 1625) 53

4.1 Francesco Provenzale, Missa defunctorum, ‘Dies irae’ (MS in I-Nc) 99

(b) Francesco Provenzale, La colomba ferita (MS in I-Nc),

5.1 Francesco Provenzale, Lo schiavo di sua moglie (MS in I-Rsc),

6.1 Francesco Provenzale, Amarilli crudel, fiero mio bene

7.1 Francesco Provenzale, O Jesu mea spes from Mottetti

8.1 Giovanni Salvatore, Stabat Mater ‘a 5’ (MS in I-Nc) 241

1.1 Structure of the several offices in the Government of Naples

3.1 Content of I-Nc 45-I-65 (MS c.1700) 86

4.1 Scoring of Provenzale’s Missa defunctorum 96

6.1 Scheme of the cantata Amarilli crudel (MS in I-Mc) 188

7.1 The rolls of the Tesoro di S. Gennaro, c.1660–80 211

8.1 General structure of Provenzale’s Pange lingua a 9 voci

1 Pierre Miotte, The city of Naples with patron-saints, copperplate

3 a) Simone Coya, L’amante impazzito (Milan, 1679), 18: ‘Canta la

4 Pianta del piano nobile del Palazzo Reale, drawing, I-Nn, MS C.

5 Title page for La colomba ferita (Naples, 1670), copy in I-Mb, by

6 Title page for Lo schiavo di sua moglie (Naples, 1672), copy in

7 Title page for Stellidaura vendicante (Naples, 1674), copy in

8 Title page for Mottetti (Naples, 1689), copy in I-Nc 269

9 Naples, Chiesa dell’Incoronatella (Turchini), Battesimi, II, 1624,

10 Naples, Archivio Storico Diocesano, Sacra Patrimonia, 188 N.3167:

11 Fragment of an autographed letter by Francesco Provenzale, I-Nc,

12 Francesco Provenzale, La colomba ferita, MS score in I-Nc

14 (a) Francesco Provenzale, Dialogo per la Passione (I), copyist ‘Vitus’,

15 Francesco Provenzale, Sui palchi delle stelle, copyist not

16 (a) Francesco Provenzale, Amarilli crudel, Cantata con violini,

17 Francesco Provenzale, Pange lingua a 9, eighteenth-century MS

18 Anon. (attr. to Francesco Provenzale), Pange lingua a 2,

AS = Naples, Archivio di Stato

ASBN = Naples, Archivio Storico del Banco di Napoli. Provenzale Francesco:

ASD = Naples, Archivio del Seminario Diocesano

Nc = Naples, Conservatorio di Musica S. Pietro a Majella

Nf = Naples, Congregazione Oratoriana dei Padri Filippini (Girolamini)

Nn = Naples, Biblioteca Nazionale

N7dolori = Naples, Chiesa di S. Luigi, Archivio della Confraternita dei Sette

Tesoro = Naples, Archivio del Tesoro di S. Gennaro

SSP = Naples, Biblioteca della Società Napoletana di Storia Patria

La città della festa

A Visitor’s Tour Through Seventeenth-Century Naples

From Lent to Holy Week

la magnificence estoit en la quantité de cierges et de musiciens et joueurs de toute sorte

May and June

The Spassi di Posillipo

September and October

Music and illuminations continued to have equal importance on the three

arquebuses, ‘et ce meslange de voix feminines et d’arquebuses, come aussi de filles

ISBN-13: 978-0-7546-3721-9KEN