Biblioteca del Conservatorio di Musica di Vicenza “Arrigo Pedrollo”

Abstract: With his Latin St. John Passion, written around 1770, Scarlatti strictly follows the contemporary conventions advanced for the Catholic liturgy: the continuo-supported evangelist’s report is presented throughout as a monolodic recitation that is reminiscent of Carissimi and Monteverdi. Only for the words of Christ and the few four-voice choruses, as well as for some significant moments like the Judas scene or the death of Jesus, is a subtle string accompaniment added. An alternate German text is printed below the original Latin.

Abstract: The importance of the Concerti sacri – printed by Estienne Roger in Amsterdam, 1707-8 – is due among other things to the fact that it is one of the few editions of Scarlatti’s music that appeared during his lifetime. This splendid collection contains nine mottetti, written for from one to four voices, two violins, and basso continuo, with most of the arias following the da capo model; in addition there is a Salve Regina for four voices, two violins, and basso continuo. For this edition the Roger print has been supplemented by a source hitherto considered lost: the tenor and bass parts of Mottetti sacri by Scarlatti, printed in Naples in 1702 and preserved in the Archivio Capitolare della Cattedrale di Aosta, Italy. For the Salve Regina, a manuscript preserved in Brussels has been consulted. The author has also found archival documents in Naples, dated 1697 and 1702, regarding the Mottetti sacri These new findings make it possible to establish that Scarlatti composed this music during the period in which he was director of the Real Cappella in Naples.

Abstract: Various library catalogues list at least one hundred Passions by Italian composers of the baroque era, some of high rank—Scarlatti, Perti, Feo, and Jommelli—but these works have remained almost unconsidered. The present work (which uses, in addition to the vocal performers and the basso continuo, a four-part string orchestra) dates from early in Scarlatti’s career, perhaps 1680. It is apparently unique among its contemporaries in the severity of its observance of liturgical function and in the economy with which it represents the scriptural text. Except for fourteen extremely short turbe, the entire work is in stile recitativo, with no arias or formally organized choral movements. It is possible that Scarlatti sought to capture an archaic flavor in the Passion recitative, perhaps in an effort to distinguish it from current secular forms. There is considerable historical significance in Scarlatti’s almost exclusive reliance upon stile recitativo throughout an entire work, testimony to his continued belief in its power as a vehicle of dramatic expressiveness.