Alessandro Scarlattis geistliche Musik

In Alessandro Scarlatti’s endless catalogue, including operas, oratorios, cantatas and instrumental music, sacred music seems to be quantitatively inferior compared to the secular repertoire. However, Scarlatti wrote church compositions throughout his life. This essay is divided into five parts. The first concerns the relationship between the composer and the musical institutions in which he worked, between Rome and Naples, and the different contexts and relationships in which Scarlatti worked in both cities, both as a chapel master and as the author of music commissioned by individual patrons. The second part investigates the situation regarding musical sources, their typology and above all their diffusion from both a chronological and geographical point of view. For example, Germany is the country in which the greatest number of sources of Masses and Psalms are preserved. A thorough investigation into the edition of the Mottetti Sacri, printed first in Naples and then in Amsterdam under the title Concerti Sacri, is conducted, as it is the only case of printed editions in all of Scarlatti’s production. This is followed by a paragraph on the composer’s reception, starting with the very emblematic case of the Miserere, commissioned by the Pontifical Chapel. This score, far removed from the model of Allegri’s Miserere, testifies to Scarlatti’s outlook and attitude, being little given to compromise. The final part focuses on a comparison between Scarlatti’s Stabat Mater and that of Giovanni Battista Pergolesi. Even though the two scores were composed in the same context, they reveal profound stylistic and expressive differences.