Esther Labourdette
cantus
Lucien Kandel
altus
Xavier Olagne
tenor
Marc Busnel
bassus
Joseph Rassam
organ
Alessandro & Domenico Scarlatti,
Francesco Durante,
Giovanni Battista Pergolesi,
Alessandro Melani,
Bernardo Pasquini,
Luigi Rossi,
Antonio Nola
The music in Naples occupies a place in the foreground of the development of the baroque opera in sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Alessandro Scarlatti was one of the major players in Neapolitan musical life, although his works haven’t always been liked by Neapolitans themselves. His career regularly took him to Rome where he occupied some important posts; that of the Master of the Chapel of Santa Maria Maggiore amongst others.
Celestial Naples invites us to listen to Scarlatti’s lesser-known repertoire, his spiritual motets. Principally set to music with four acapella voices, or with a continuo accompaniment, these pieces make us discover a more intimate composer, impelled by a great spiritual force. This programme works side by side with the motets of Alessandro Scarlatti, the works of his son Domenico, some sacred pieces by Neopolitan composers Pergolesi and Durante, as well as some pages by Roman composers such as Melani, who collaborated with him on his operas.