Alessandro Scarlatti – »der fruchtbarste und originellste Komponist von Kammerkantaten«

The essay presents Alessandro Scarlatti’s chamber cantatas from different viewpoints, using both historical and analytical methodologies and looking at different sources. Focusing on collectors and historiographers active in Italy and elsewhere during the 18th and 19th centuries, the first part of the essay analyses the mutability of opinion on Alessandro Scarlatti’s cantatas. A reflection on the current dissemination of Scarlatti’s manuscripts in public libraries leads us to focus on unknown sources preserved in private collections, identifiable by looking at auction catalogues printed since 1740. We give an overview of printed sources, describing four cantatas attributed to Scarlatti (op. 1) and printed by Roger in 1701. The second part of the essay analyses the various types of aria present in this repertoire, which are much more varied than what one might expect. The recitatives of these cantatas are a sophisticated musical universe. Starting from the opinions of contemporaries and later scholars, and looking at manuscripts of music theory written by Scarlatti himself, the essay attempts to give coherence to the open form of Scarlatti’s recitatives. This style is based on the tensions of the text in accordance with harmonic solutions that work as topoi in relation to specific textual expressions, which are often also formulaic. Rhetoric, harmonic and textual formulas are combined in recitatives to recreate an ideal prose rich in ancient suggestions. In the final part, the musical features of the cantatas printed by Roger in 1701 and attributed to Scarlatti are discussed.