Domenico Sarro

Domenico Natale Sarro (also Sarri or Sarra , born December 24, 1679 in Trani , † April 26, 1744 in Naples ) was an Italian composer of the Neapolitan school .

Life

In his marriage contract of February 6, 1705 it is noted that he came to Naples as a six to seven year old and was admitted to the Conservatorio Sant'Onofrio and has not left the city since. His first known work is an oratorio or sacred drama L'Opera d'Amore , which was performed in 1702. In 1703 he took part in a public tender for the position of Maestro di cappella at court; his competitors were Gaetano Veneziano , Cristoforo Caresana and Francesco Mancini . Veneziano received the position, but in December 1704 Sarro was appointed vice conductor. After the Austrian conquest of Naples in the War of Spanish Succession in the summer of 1707, he and Veneziano lost their jobs.

Sarro composed numerous operas between 1718 and 1741. Didone abbandonata (1724) is particularly noteworthy as it is the first setting of Metastasio's first important libretto . In 1720 he was promised two important musical positions as soon as they became vacant. The first was that of the Kapellmeister of the City of Naples, which he received in 1728 after the death of the incumbent Gaetano Greco . The second was that of the Vice Kapellmeister at the court of Naples, which he received in October 1725. In 1737, after the death of his predecessor Mancini, he was appointed court conductor. One of his first tasks was the composition of the opera for the official opening of the Teatro San Carlo , Achille in Sciro . After his last opera, Ezio (1741), he wrote nothing of meaning.

The high point of Sarro's career lies in the years 1718–1725. At that time he dominated the Neapolitan opera stage like Alessandro Scarlatti before him . Charles de Brosses attended a revival of the opera Partenope , composed in 1722, in 1739 and reported on it (original French): “The King came; he talked during one half of the opera and slept during the other. This person is really not a music lover ... The composition by Sarri, a learned musician, but dry and sad, was not particularly good, but its execution was excellent. "

Domenico Sarro has written numerous Italian chamber cantatas ( Cantate a voce sola ) and intermezzi. His intermezzo Dorina e Nibbio was played in the Staatstheater Stuttgart, by the Bochum Symphony Orchestra and in the Semperoper Dresden.

literature

• Daniel Brandenburg:  Sarri, Domenico Natale. In: Ludwig Finscher (Hrsg.): The music in past and present . Second edition, personal section, volume 14 (Riccati - Schönstein). Bärenreiter / Metzler, Kassel et al. 2005, ISBN 3-7618-1134-9  ( online edition , subscription required for full access)

Web links

Commons : Domenico Natale Sarro  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Sheet music and audio files by Domenico Sarro in the International Music Score Library Project
• List of stage works by Domenico Sarro based on the MGG at Operone
• Michael F. Robinson, Dale E. Monson:  Sarro, Domenico Natale. In: Grove Music Online (English; subscription required).
• Search for operas by Domenico Sarro (search term in the Autore field : “Sarro Domenico Natale”) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna
• CV with incomplete list of works

Individual evidence

1. ^ Gottfried Daniel Brandenburg: On the history of the secular solo cantata in Naples in the early Settecento. The solo cantatas by Domenico Sarro (1679–1744) (= European university publications. Series 36: Musicology. 60). Lang, Frankfurt am Main et al. 1991, ISBN 3-631-43157-0 (At the same time: Bonn, University, dissertation, 1990).
2. ↑ http://www.semperoper.de/oper/premieren/detailansicht/details/57961/besetzung/8473.html  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )