Nicola Antonio Porpora (1686-1768)
- Messa (in Re maggiore) à 4 voci
Performers: Annа Lаura Lοngo (soprano); Giаnluca Belfiοri Doro
(contralto); Leonаrdo de Lisi (tenor); Frаncesco Fаcini (bass); Cаpella
S.Cecilia della Cattedrale di Luccа; Giаnfrаnco Cοsmi
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Italian composer. Son of a bookseller, Carlo Porpora, and his wife
Caterina, he attended the Conservatorio dei Poveri di Gesù Cristo from
29 September 1696. At age 22, he composed his first opera, L’Agrippina
(1708), but after that, the presence in Naples of the great Alessandro
Scarlatti prevented advancement in the theater. But in 1711, he was
employed as maestro di cappella for Prince Philipp Hesse-Darmstadt, then
residing as military commander in Naples, and then for the Portuguese
ambassador in Rome from June 1713. From 1715 to 1722, he was a teacher
at the Conservatorio di San Onofrio. Then Scarlatti left Naples for Rome
in 1719, and Porpora responded with a new opera, Faramondo. For the
birthdays of Empress Elizabeth in 1720 and 1721, he composed two
serenatas, collaborating with the brilliant young librettist Pietro
Metastasio for the first time and introducing his brilliant vocal
student, Carlo Broschi 'Farinelli' (1705-1782), auspicious occasions for
Baroque opera. Porpora and Farinelli then scored two successes with
operas in Rome in 1721 and 1722. Porpora tried to expand his reach,
producing operas in Munich (1724) and visiting Vienna before settling in
Venice, where his operas were featured at the famous Teatro San
Giovanni Grisostomo. By this point, Porpora was engaged in competition
with the leading opera composers of the continent, first Leonardo Vinci
in Venice through 1730 and, thereafter, with Johann Adolf Hasse. In
1733, Porpora received an invitation to compose for the Opera of the
Nobility, a company set up in London to rival George Frideric Handel’s
Royal Academy. He began with the successful Arianna in Naxo in December
1733 and followed up with three more opere serie and one oratorio, but
despite having the finest singers at its disposal, including Farinelli
for a time, the new company could not defeat Handel.
Porpora returned to Venice in summer 1736. He then received a commission
from the new theater in Naples, Teatro San Carlo, so he returned to his
home city, and by the summer of January 1739, he was maestro di
cappella at the Conservatorio di Santa Maria di Loreto. For a while, the
commissions continued to arrive, and Porpora continued to tour: to
Venice in October 1741 to produce Statira, to London in 1742 for
Temistocle. In 1747, he was brought to Dresden to be the singing teacher
to the electoral princess of Saxony, who then managed to have him
appointed Kapellmeister in 1748, despite the presence of Hasse. But
Hasse won in the end; he was promoted to Oberkapellmeister. After
receiving a pension, Porpora left for Vienna in 1752. There, he gave
singing lessons but became ill. He returned to Naples and to his old job
at the Conservatorio di Santa Maria but had to resign in September
1761. His retirement was spent in considerable poverty. Internationally
famous as an opera composer and singing teacher, Porpora’s career
touched many of the most important opera cities of Europe and crossed
the paths of numerous luminaries of the opera world. His oeuvre of
instrumental music, 12 sonatas for solo violin, 6 sinfonie, 6 sonatas
for two violins and two cellos with continuo, another solo sonata for
cello, 2 concertos, 2 harpsichord fugues, and an overture for orchestra
is not trivial, but Porpora’s strength and interest was in vocal music:
43 operas, 4 pasticcios, 12 serenatas, 132 secular cantatas, 5 masses,
10 oratorios, 35 psalm settings, 3 Magnificats, 2 Te Deums, 9 solo
motets, and 13 Marian antiphons. His influence persisted after his death
not so much through his compositions as through his methods of teaching
voice. He taught two famous castrati, Farinelli and Caffarelli
(1710-1783), and the vocal exercises published by Porpora continued to
be used through the 19th century.
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