Music In Seventeenth-century Naples: Francesco Provenzale 1624-1704

Author	Dinko Fabris
Format	Hardcover
ISBN	9780754637219
Publisher	Ashgate Publishing
Manufacturer	Ashgate Publishing

This excerpt from a book about seventeenth-century Neapolitan music discusses the life and works of Francesco Provenzale. Provenzale was a successful musician who spent his life in the service of a number of Neapolitan conservatories and churches. He was particularly successful in generating profit from a range of musical activities promoted by him with the participation of his pupils and trusted collaborators. Dinko Fabris uses newly discovered archival documents to reconstruct the career of Provenzale, who became the leader of his musical world despite his relatively small musical output. The book examines Provenzale's surviving works alongside those of his most important Neapolitan contemporaries and pupils, revealing both stylistic similarities and differences.

The most important figure of seventeenth-century Neapolitan music, Francesco Provenzale (1624 - 1704) spent his long life in the service of a number of Neapolitan conservatories and churches, culminating in his appointment as maestro of the Tesoro di S. Gennaro and the Real Cappella. Provenzale was successful in generating significant profit from a range of musical activities promoted by him with the participation of his pupils and trusted collaborators. Dinko Fabris draws on newly discovered archival documents to reconstruct the career of a musician who became the leader of his musical world, despite his relatively small musical output. The book examines Provenzale's surviving works alongside those of his most important Neapolitan contemporaries (Raimo Di Bartolo, Sabino, Salvatore and Caresana) and pupils (Fago, Greco, Veneziano and many others), revealing both stylistic similarities and differences, particularly in terms of new harmonic practices and the use of Neapolitan language in opera. Fabris provides both a life and works study of Provenzale and a conspectus of Neapolitan musical life of the seventeenth century which so clearly laid the groundwork for Naples' later status as one of the great musical capitals of Europe.