ney[1] states he was a Neapolitan, apparently for no other reason than that he sends Stradella and Ortensia, en route for Rome, to Naples, which, he adds, was 'the place of Stradella's nativity.' Fétis,[2] evidently on Burney's statement, but without quoting his authority, describes him as born at Naples about 1645, and the assertion is now an accepted statement.[3] The dates both of his birth and death are in fact unknown. But though we reject the story of his murder at Genoa, it is not impossible that he ended his life there, since the composition, which we may presume to have been his last, is dated from thence.
The date of his death was probably about 1681, since there exists in the Biblioteca Palatina of Modena, a cantata, 'Il Barcheggio,'[4] written for the wedding of Carlo Spinola and Paola Brignole, at Genoa, July 6, 1681. The poem contains numerous allusions to it, and the names of both bride and bridegroom; no mistake is possible as to the real date of the composition, and thus the dates 1670 and 1678, given by Bourdelot and Burney for his death, are evidently wrong.[5]
The statements that besides being a composer Stradella was a singer,[6] 'an exquisite performer on the harp,'[7] 'a great performer on the violin,'[8] 'excelled in an extraordinary hand, so as to have been accounted the best organist in Italy,'[9] 'was a Latin and perhaps also an Italian poet,'[10] are all more or less gratuitous, and except composing, it cannot be proved that he possessed any of these qualifications. His name is never met with in any of the best treatises of Italian literature, either as a Latin or an Italian poet,[11] and with respect to his skill on the organ, we have been unable to find anything to justify Wanley's assertion, beyond a short Sonata in D for two violins and basso continuo per l'Organo.[12] As to the statements in the 'Penny Cyclopaedia,' that 'Stradella was not handsome, but remarkable for the symmetry of his form, his wit and polished manners,' and in Wanley's catalogue, that 'he was a comely person and of an amorous nature,' I can do no more than submit them to the reader, as striking instances of the way in which mythical statements gather round a central figure.
Nothing can be positively asserted as to his having been married to Ortensia by the Royal Madame after the occurrence in Turin, because the archives of S. Giovanni di Torino, the parish of the Court, have been destroyed by fire. The Madame Royale alluded to by Bourdelot must be Jeanne Marie de Nemours (who became Regent at the death of her husband, Charles Emanuel II., June 12, 1675), and not Christine de France (who died Dec, 27, 1663), as M. Filibert[13] and other writers have stated.
Where or with whom Stradella studied is entirely unknown. In the archives of the Royal Conservatorio di Musica in Naples, where all the documents formerly belonging to the superseded Conservator! are most carefully kept, his name does not occur: nor is it mentioned in Lichtenthal's catalogue.[14] None of his numerous operas are known to have been performed in his life-time,[15] with the possible exception of 'Il Trespolo.'[16]
Stradella as a composer is known to modern audiences by the Aria di Chiesa, 'Pietà! Signor!' attributed to him. Space will not allow us to enumerate the few pros and many cons respecting its authenticity. It is enough to say that no musician, even though but slightly acquainted with the works that are indisputably by Stradella, will attribute it to him. The composer of that beautiful composition is generally believed to be Fétis, Niedermeyer, or Rossini. The words are taken from the second stanza of Arsenic's aria in Alessandro Scarlatti's oratorio 'Santa Teodosia,' two copies of which are in the Biblioteca Palatina of Modena, and bear the signature 'A. S.' [App. p.797 "add that internal evidence makes it very probable that Francesco Rossi was the composer of 'Pieta, Signore!' although the authorship is still doubtful."]
Stradella's name has lately been invested with fresh interest on account of a Serenata attributed to him, in which the subjects of many of the pieces in 'Israel in Egypt' exist in a more or less crude form. [See vol. i. p. 94; ii. 25. [App. p.797 "add [[Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 3.djvu/Handel, George#654|vol. i. p.654b"].] A copy of this, formerly belonging to Dr. Gauntlett, is in the Library of the Royal College of Music, London, and another (older) in that of the Conservatoire, Paris: the original is not known. For
- ↑ A General History of Music, iv. 100, 101.
- ↑ Biographie universelle des musiciens.
- ↑ See 'Dictionnaire général de Biographie et d'Histoire' (Paris 1857); 'Dictionnaire de la Conversation et de la lecture' (Paris 1858); Mendel, 'Mus. Conversations-Lexikon' (1877); Riemann, Musik-Lexikon (1882).
- ↑ On the first page of the score la written: 'Il Barchegglo. del Sig. Alessandro Stradella 1681. L'ultima delle sue sinfonie.' After the overture, and before the duet with which the scene opens, at the top of the page is written 'Inuentione per un Barchegio 1681. 16 Giugno. L'ultima composizione del Sig. Alessandro Stradella' This is a cantata for soprano, tenor and bass, in two parts. Each part is preceded by an overture. The score is for two violins, cornet or trumpet, and bass: a trombone di rinforzo at times with the bass.
- ↑ Burney's mistake is easily explainable, because, when he wrote, 'Il Barcheggio' had not yet been discovered, and he was in possession of a libretto 'La forza dell' amor patenio,' Genoa 1678, dedicated to Signora Teresa Raggi Saoli, by Alessandro Stradella, the dedication apparently written by Stradella himself. The facts that the oratorio 'S. Giovanni Battista'—supposed to be that which saved its author's life in Rome—bears the date 'Rome 1676.' and the fact that Bourdelot's account implies a period of two years between Stradella's singing in Rome and his murder in Genoa, induced Burney to believe that Stradella might have met his death in Genoa while attending the rehearsals of his new opera. However, that libretto was seen by Burney only, and has since disappeared.
- ↑ Bourdelot and all biographers.
- ↑ Hawkins's History, vol. iv. bk. 2. chap. 10.
- ↑ Burney, 'A General History of Music,' iv. 100.
- ↑ A Catalogue of the Harlelan MSS.
- ↑ Catelani. 'Delle opere di A. Stradella esistent, etc.'
- ↑ 'Della Storia e della Ragione di ogni Poesia,' di F. S. Quadrio. Bologna-Milano, 1739–1742. Tiraboschi, 'Storia della letteratura italianas.' Ginguene, 'Histoire littéraire d'Italie.' Giovan Mario Crescimbeni, 'Dall' Istoria della volgar Poesia.' In this last work, Stradella is spoken of only where the author, dealing with the Cantatas, thus expresses himself: 'they are pretty things and the best and most pleasant diversion that one can enjoy in any honourable and noble conversation; especially when set to music by eminent maestri, as amongst the old ones, are those by the famous Alessandro Stradella. one of which was sung not long since in the Academy of the Cardinal Ottoboni by Andrea Adami detto il Bolsena.' Vol. 1. lib. iv. chap. xii. p. 330. This passage is quoted from Edn. 3, 1731.
- ↑ 'Scielta delle suonate a due violini con il Basso continuo per l'Organo, raccolte da diversi eccellenti autori.' In Bologna per Giacomo Monti 1680. With the exception of this Sonata, no other of Stradella's compositions was printed In the 17th century.
- ↑ Supplement à la Biographie universelle,' Paris 1853.
- ↑ Dizionario e Bibliografia della Musica del D. Pietro Lichtenthal, Milano, 1826.
- ↑ The following is the list of books in which the names of Stradella's operas should have been mentioned, if any of them had been performed. Leone Allacci, 'Drammaturgia.' Groppo, 'Catalogo di tutti i drammi per musica.' Bonlini, 'Le glorie della Poesia e della Musica.' C. F. Menestrier, 'Des représentations en musique ancienne et moderne'; Paris, 1681. Pietro Napoli Slgnorelli, 'Storia critica de teatri antichi e moderni.' Ditto, 'Discorso storico critico da servire di lume alla storia dei teatri.'
- ↑ Performed at Modena 1686, and possibly at Bologna 1682.
