Scarlatti was born in Sicily, either in Trapani or Palermo. He is generally said to have been a pupil of Giacomo Carissimi in Rome, and there is reason to suppose that he had some connection with northern Italy, since his early works show the influence of Alessandro Stradella and Giovanni Legrenzi.
The production at Rome of his opera Gli Equivoci nell’amore (1679) gained him the protection of Queen Christina of Sweden (who at the time was living in Rome), and he became her maestro di cappella. In February 1684 he became maestro di cappella to the viceroy of Naples, through the influence of his sister, an opera singer, who was the mistress of an influential Neapolitan noble. Here he produced a long series of operas, remarkable chiefly for their fluency and expressiveness, as well as other music for state occasions.
In 1702 Scarlatti left Naples and did not return until the Spanish domination had been superseded by that of the Austrians. In the interval he enjoyed the patronage of Ferdinand III of Tuscany, for whose private theatre near Florence he composed operas, and of Cardinal Ottoboni, who made him his maestro di cappella, and procured him a similar post at the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome in 1703.
After visiting Venice and Urbino in 1707, Scarlatti took up his duties at Naples again in 1708, and remained there until 1717. By this time Naples seems to have become tired of his music; the Romans, however, appreciated it better, and it was at the Teatro Capranica in Rome that he produced some of his finest operas (Telemaco, 1718; Marco Attilio Regolò, 1719; Griselda, 1721), as well as some noble specimens of church music, including a mass for chorus and orchestra, composed in honor of Saint Cecilia for Cardinal Acquaviva in 1721. His last work on a large scale appears to have been the unfinished serenata for the marriage of the prince of Stigliano in 1723. Scarlatti died in Naples.
Scarlatti's music forms an important link between the early Baroque Italian vocal styles of the 17th century, with their centers in Florence, Venice and Rome, and the classical school of the 18th century, which culminated in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. His early operas retain the older cadences in their recitatives, and a considerable variety of neatly constructed forms in their charming little arias, accompanied sometimes by the string quartet, treated with careful elaboration, sometimes by the harpsichord alone.
By 1686 he had definitely established the "Italian overture" form and had abandoned the ground bass and the binary form air in two stanzas in favour of the ternary form or da capo type of air.
From about 1697 onwards, lnfluenced partly perhaps by the style of Giovanni Bononcini and probably more by the taste of the viceregal court, his opera arias become more conventional and commonplace in rhythm, while his scoring is hasty and crude, yet not without brilliance, the oboes and trumpets being frequently used, and the violins often playing in unison. The operas composed for Ferdinand de' Medici are lost; they might have given a more favourable idea of his style as his correspondence with the prince shows that they were composed with a very sincere sense of inspiration.
Mitridate Eupatore, accounted his masterpiece, composed for Venice in 1707, contains music far in advance of anything that Scarlatti had written for Naples, both in technique and in intellectual power. The later Neapolitan operas are showy and effective rather than profoundly emotional; the instrumentation marks a great advance on previous work, since the main duty of accompanying the voice is thrown upon the string quartet, the harpsichord being reserved exclusively for the noisy instrumental ritornelli. In his opera Teodora (1697) he originated the use of the orchestral ritornello.
His last group of operas, composed for Rome, exhibit a deeper poetic feeling, a broad and dignified style of melody, a strong dramatic sense, especially in accompanied recitatives, a device which he himself had been the first to use as early as 1686 and a much more modern style of orchestration, the horns appearing for the first time, and being treated with striking effect.
Besides the operas, oratorios and serenatas, which all exhibit a similar style, Scarlatti composed upwards of five hundred chamber-cantatas for solo voice. These represent the most intellectual type of chamber-music of their period, and it is to be regretted that they have remained almost entirely in manuscript, since a careful study of them is indispensable to anyone who wishes to form an adequate idea of Scarlatti's development.
His few remaining masses (the story of his having composed two hundred is hardly credible) and church music in general are comparatively unimportant, except the great St Cecilia Mass (1721), which is one of the first attempts at the style which reached its height in the great masses of Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven. His instrumental music, though not without interest, is curiously antiquated as compared with his vocal works.
Gia il sole dal Gange
Alessandro Scarlatti Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
già il sole dal gange
più chiaro
più chiaro sfavila
più chiarro esfavila
più chiaro esfavila.
E tergogni stila dell' alba che piange
dell' alba che piange
dell' alba che piange.
gia il sole dal gange,
gia il sole dal gange,
più chiaro
più chiaro sfavila,
più chiaro sfavila
più chiaro sfavila
più chiaro sfavila.
col ragio dorato
col ragio dorato,
ingema ingema gnistelo,
ingema gnistelo,
ingema gnistelo.
e gliastri del cielo dipinge nel prato;
dipinge nel prato,
dipinge nel prato,
dipinge nel prato.
col ragio dorato,
col ragio dorato,
ingema ingemao gnistelo,
ingema gnistelo
ingema gnistelo.
The lyrics of Alessandro Scarlatti's song Gia il sole dal Gange describe the rising of the sun over a peaceful landscape. The first stanza repeats the phrases "already the sun from the Ganges," as if marveling at the arrival of the morning light. Then, the images become clearer and brighter, as if the sun is gaining strength after a long night. The next lines evoke the tears of the dawn, personifying the first light of day as a woman weeping. In the following stanzas, the song speaks of the golden rays of light that penetrate the earth and skies, painting the landscape with colors and light. The song ends by repeating the previous stanzas, as if inviting the listener to enjoy the beauty of the sunrise once again.
The lyrics of Gia il sole dal Gange capture the emotions of awe and wonder that the composer may have felt while witnessing a sunrise. By using poetic and vivid imagery, the song conveys the sense of renewal and hope that the sunrise brings. Alessandro Scarlatti was a renowned Italian composer of the Baroque period who wrote more than 115 operas, as well as numerous sacred works, chamber music, and keyboard pieces. Gia il sole dal Gange is one of his most famous arias and has been performed and recorded by many classical singers.
Line by Line Meaning
Già il sole dal gange,
The sun from the Ganges river is already rising,
più chiaro
even clearer
più chiaro sfavila
it sparkles brighter
più chiarro esfavila.
it sparkles brighter still.
E tergogni stila dell' alba che piange
And it wipes away the tears of the dawn who weeps
dell' alba che piange
the dawn who weeps
gia il sole dal gange,
already the sun from the Ganges river,
più chiaro sfavila,
sparkling even more brightly,
col ragio dorato,
with its golden rays
ingema ingema gnistelo,
it dazzles and shines
e gliastri del cielo dipinge nel prato;
and paints the meadow with the stars of the sky;
dipinge nel prato,
paints the meadow
col ragio dorato,
with its golden rays
ingema ingemao gnistelo,
it dazzles and shines
ingema gnistelo.
It dazzles and shines still.
Writer(s): Douglas Gamley, Domeni Scaralatti
Contributed by Riley R. Suggest a correction in the comments below.