FIORENZA, Nicola (c.1700-1764) - Sinfonia a Flauto solo

Nicola Fiorenza (c.1700-1764) - Sinfonia (Sol minore) a Flauto solo | Con VV. e Basso

Performers: Redherring Baroque ensemble; Patrick Deneker (flute & conductor)

Painting: Gaspar Van Wittel (1653-1736) - Naples, a view of the Riviera di Chiaia

Further info: Nicola Fiorenza (c.1700-1764) - Concerto per il flauto obligato (c.1730)

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Nicola Fiorenza

(c.1700 - Naples, 13 April 1764)

Italian violinist and composer. While specific details about his early life are scarce, his musical career began to take shape in the mid-18th century. In 1726, his Sinfonia in A minor for flute, two violins, and basso continuo was published, marking the earliest verifiable date in his professional life. From 1734 to 1740, he was involved with the prestigious Cappella Reale and the orchestra of the Teatro San Bartolomeo, two of the most important musical institutions in Naples at the time. As a composer, his surviving output remain in manuscript at the Naples Conservatory San Pietro a Majella. The bulk of it consists of 15 concertos for various combinations of instruments and nine symphonies (many of them containing important solos for string or wind instruments and coming close to belonging to the concerto category). His compositions are characterized by a unique blend of lyricism and rhythmic inventiveness and despite his role as a minor figure in the history of instrumental music, he deserves be part in the development of the concerto and the symphony in southern Italy during the first half of the 18th century. 

FIORENZA, Nicola (c.1700-1764) - Concerto per il flauto obligato (c.1730)

Nicola Fiorenza (c.1700-1764) - Concerto (en re maggiore) per il flauto obligato (c.1730)

Performers: Bettina Benziger (flute); Orchestre De Chambre De La Sarre;

Karl Ristenpart (1900-1967, conductor)

Painting: Jean-Baptiste Pater (1695-1736) - On the Terrace (c.1733)

Further info: Musique A Naples

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Nicola Fiorenza

(c.1700 - Naples, 13 April 1764)

Italian violinist and composer. His earliest dated composition is a concerto for flute, two violins and continuo of 1726. For some years this highly talented but rather tumultuous individual was teacher of string instruments at the Neapolitan music conservatory S Maria di Loreto. He was elected to this post by a curious procedure. Unable to decide between five candidates for the post, the Loreto governors at their meeting of 22 May 1743 finally put the five names in a box and selected one at random; Fiorenza's name was drawn. He was dismissed on the last day of 1762 after complaints extending over several years that he was maltreating his students. Fiorenza was also a violinist in the Neapolitan royal chapel, to which he was appointed some time before 1750. Records of salary payments to chapel members (I-Na) show that he received pay increases on 23 April 1750, 22 May 1756, 24 April 1758 (when he was appointed head violinist of the chapel in succession to Domenico de Matteis, who had just died), and 14 February 1761. His surviving music is in manuscript at the Naples Conservatory S Pietro a Majella. The bulk of it consists of 15 concertos for various combinations of instruments and nine symphonies (many of them containing important solos for string or wind instruments and coming close to belonging to the concerto category). Nine of the concertos are dated and were composed during 1726-28. Several other concertos and symphonies may be assigned to the same approximate period on the evidence of their style and structure. Though a minor figure in the history of instrumental music, Fiorenza deserves more credit than he receives for his part in the development of the concerto and the symphony in southern Italy during the first half of the 18th century.