Life
His training took place at a fertile intersection of styles, where Arcadia, Rococo, and the Enlightenment coexisted, while his long career led him to reach full maturity in an era where these styles were joined by the new taste of Neoclassicism.
Born in Naples in 1718, he studied at the Conservatory of Santa Maria di Loreto with Giovanni Fischietti and Francesco Mancini. He debuted in 1746 with La finta vedova. In 1749 he married the singer Zefferina Anselmi, with whom he had two children. Thanks to the success achieved with Antigono (1750) and with Le cinesi, he was called to Madrid, where he became court opera composer and later chapel master.
He composed for the major occasions of the Bourbon courts, celebrating Charles III of Spain and Ferdinand VI. His production was articulated between Metastasian dramas, comic operas, cantatas, and sacred music. In his final years, he dedicated himself less to the theater, writing sporadically for festivities. He died in Madrid in 1793.
Aneddoto
A Madrid success
The drama Siroe, performed in 1752 for the name day of Ferdinand VI, earned him the title of court composer in Madrid.Works
Theatrical works: La finta vedova (1746, Naples), Antigono (1750, Naples), Le cinesi (1750, Milan/Madrid), Siroe (1752, Madrid), L’eroe cinese (1754, Madrid), Adriano in Siria (1754, Naples), Livia Claudia vestale (1755, Rome), Nitteti (1756, Madrid), Alcide al bivio (1765, Madrid), and many other comedies and intermezzos.
Sacred music: Lamentations (1766), Miserere for three choirs (1768), motets. Other vocal music: cantatas and duets on texts by Metastasio and Bonecchi. Instrumental music: symphonies and a harpsichord toccata.
Briciole di storia
The masterpiece hunter
Francesco Algarotti was not just a theorist, but also a man of action in the art world. Thanks to his reputation as a connoisseur with infallible taste, in 1743 he had been commissioned by the Elector of Saxony, Augustus III, to travel through Italy in search of masterpieces to enrich his gallery in Dresden. Acting as a true art agent, Algarotti purchased works by great masters, helping to form the core of one of the most important art collections in Europe. His activity demonstrates how, in the Enlightenment, the figure of the art critic was no longer merely that of a scholar.
Pubblico dominio (Commons)
