Francesco Durante
Francesco Durante (born March 31, 1684 in Frattamaggiore , † September 30, 1755 in Naples ) was an Italian composer of the Neapolitan Baroque .
Life
Durante received his musical education in Naples at the Conservatorio dei Poveri di Gesù Cristo by Gaetano Greco and at the Conservatorio di Sant'Onofrio a Porta Capuana by Alessandro Scarlatti . Later, after some studies in Rome, he devoted himself to a thorough study of the masterpieces of the Roman School and was appointed director of the first-mentioned Conservatory around 1718, which position he gave up in 1739 for unknown reasons. In the following year he went into the service of the Archbishop and Prince-Primate of Hungary Imre Esterházy de Galántha in Bratislava , where he remained until 1742. On his return to Naples he was appointed director of the Conservatorio di Santa Maria di Loreto . He was regarded as a teacher, his students include Niccolò Jommelli , Giovanni Paisiello , Giovanni Battista Pergolesi , Niccolò Piccinni and Leonardo Vinci . As a teacher, he insisted on observing the rules of composition without discussion, and in this he differed from Alessandro Scarlatti.
It is known from his life story that his wife, who was passionate about gambling, had once sold all of his manuscripts. But Durante put all his compositions back on paper from memory. Today they are stored in 62 volumes in the Paris Conservatory .
plant
Durante's compositions belong mainly to church music and consist of numerous masses , hymns , motets , oratorios , antiphons and other works, most of which are written for four obbligato voices and in the then new concert style. In addition, he composed some secular cantatas, duets, arias and instrumental music. He didn't write anything for the theater.
His main merit is to have preserved the traditions of the Roman school of Palestrina for Italian church music, both as a teacher and as a creative artist , at a time when it was already in danger of being flooded by opera. His Magnificat gained popularity in part because it was mistakenly attributed to Pergolesi .
Media
literature
- Durante . In: Meyers Konversations-Lexikon . 4th edition. Volume 5, Verlag des Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig / Vienna 1885–1892, p. 237.
Web links
- Sheet music and audio files by Francesco Durante in the International Music Score Library Project
- D. Tortora: Durante, Francesco. In: Fiorella Bartoccini (ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 42: Dugoni – Enza. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 1993.
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Durante, Francesco |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Italian composer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 31, 1684 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Frattamaggiore near Naples |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 30, 1755 |
| Place of death | Naples |