contains music far in advance of anything that Scarlatti had written for Naples, both in technique and in intellectual power. The later Neapolitan operas (L’Amor volubile e tiranno (1709); La Principessa fedele (1712); Tigrane, 1715, &c.) 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. 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 (Olimpia vendicata) 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 (Agar et Ismaele esiliati, 1684; Christmas Oratorio, c. 1705; S. Filippo Neri, 1714; and others) and screnatas, which all exhibit a similar style, Scarlatti composed upwards of five hundred chamber-cantatas for a 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 MS., since a careful study of them is indispensable to any one 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 Bach and Beethoven. His instrumental music, though not without interest, is curiously antiquated as compared with his vocal works.
Scarlatti’s greatest claim to remembrance lies in the fact that he practically created the language of classical music. He extended the old forms, and filled them with melody unrivalled for purity and serenity, based on a far-reaching foundation of modern harmony and tonality, combined with a remarkable power of thematic development. That his great qualities have been little recognized is due partly to the wonderful mastery with which he avoided all appearance of difficulty, and partly to the fact that he carried out in his operas and cantatas the structural methods which the present age considers to be suitable to instruments alone, but which were indeed admirably suited to vocal music in an age when the singer was technically and intellectually far in advance of all other musicians.
His eldest son, Domenico Scarlatti (1685–1757), also a composer, was born at Naples on the 26th of October 1685. Presumably he studied first under his father, but he was in all probability also a pupil of Gaetano Greco. In 1704 he remodelled Pol1aroli's Irene for performance at Naples. Soon after this his father sent him to Venice, where he studied under Gasparini, and became intimate with Thomas Roseingrave. Domenico was already a harpsichord-player of eminence, and at a trial of skill with Handel at the palace of Cardinal Ottoboni in Rome he was adjudged his equal on that instrument, although inferior on the organ. In 1709 Domenico entered the service of Marie Casimire, queen of Poland, then living in Rome, and composed several operas for her private theatre. He was Maestro di Cappella. at St Peter's from 1715 to 1719, and in the latter year came to London to direct his opera Narciso at the King's Theatre. In 1720 or 1721 he went to Lisbon, where he taught music to the princess Magdalena Theresia. He was at Naples again in 1725, but in 1729 went to Madrid as music master to the princess, who had married into the Spanish royal house. He remained in Spain for some twenty-five years, holding various honourable appointments, and devoting himself entirely to the harpsichord, for which he composed over four hundred pieces. He is supposed to have 'died in 1757, either at Naples or in Spain.
Like his father, Domenico Scarlatti was a composer of great fertility, intellectual rather than emotional, presenting us with an example of steady development of style up to the end of a long life. His operas and cantatas are of no importance, but his harpsichord pieces are the most original productions of their time. Little known until the beginning of the 19th century, their technical difficulties have caused them to be regarded as mere studies in virtuosity, and modern pianoforte technique owes much to their influence; but considered from a purely musical point of view they display an audacity of harmony and modulation, a freshness and variety of invention, a perfection of workmanship anda vigorous intellectuality in thematic development that places them almost on a level with the Sonatas of Beethoven.
Modern Printed Editions.—Clementi’s Practical Harmony; Czerny’s edition; Farrenc, Le Trésor des pianistes. Of recent editions the most accurate and complete is by Alessandro Longo (Ricordi, Milan; 6 vols., published 1906). (E. J. D.)
SCARLET, a vivid, bright red colour, somewhat, inclined to
orange. The word appears in most European languages; cf.
Ger. Scharlach, Swed. skarlakan, Ital. scarlatto, &c.; the English
form is an adaptation of the O. Fr. escarlate, mod. écarlate. The
origin of these is to be found in the Persian raglan, meaning
“ broad-cloth.” There are various forms, sagalāt, sigalāt, suglāt;
this cloth was chiefly used for dresses, flags, large tents and
trappings, and was frequently scarlet in colour, and hence its
name became applied to the colour.
SCARLET FEVER, or Scarlatina, names applied indifferently
to an acute infectious disease, characterized by high fever,
accompanied with sore throat and a diffuse red rash upon the
skin (see Parasitic Diseases). This fever appears to have
been first accurately described by Sydenham in 1676, before
which period it had evidently been confounded with smallpox
and measles. Klein in 1885 isolated a streptococcus which he
termed the streptococcus scarlatinae. The scarlatinal throat
is the chief habitat of the organism, though it has been found
both by Klein and other observers in the discharges from the
ears of scarlet fever patients. Mervyn Gordon also isolated
from cases the Streptococcus conglomerulatus. It is possible that
septic cases of scarlet fever are the result of a mixed infection.
The serum of patients has been found to contain agglutins to
streptococci from cases of erysipelas, septicaemia and puerperal
fever, as well as to the streptococci scarlatina. F. B. Mallory
in 1904 published his discovery of “ protozoonlike ” bodies in
the cells of the epidermis. Other observers have found them in
the skin of fatal cases, but failed to find them in the living. The
contagion of scarlet fever takes place from a previous case either
by the skin during the early stages of the disease or by the nasal
or aural discharges of a patient. It may be conveyed by any
article of clothing or furniture or by any person that has been in
contact with a scarlet fever patient. Infectivity may also take
place through a contaminated milk supply, as in the Marylebone
epidemic, 1885. Klein here found disorder in cows which he
considers analogous to scarlatina and communicable to man.
The period of incubation in scarlet fever may be as short as one or two days, but in most instances it is probably less than a week. The invasion of this fever is generally sudden and sharp, consisting in rigors, vomiting and sore throat, together with a rapid rise of temperature and increase in the pulse. Occasionally, especially in young children, the attack is ushered in by convulsions. These premonitory symptoms usually continue for about twenty-four hours, when the characteristic eruption makes its appearance. It is first seen on the neck, chest, arms and hands, but quickly spreads all over the body, although it is not distinctly marked on the face. This rash consists of minute thickly-set red spots, which coalesce to form a general diffuse redness, in appearance not unlike that produced by the application of mustard to the skin. In some instances the redness is accompanied with small vesicles containing fluid. In ordinary cases the rash comes out completely in about two days, when it begins to fade, and by the end of a week from its first appearance it is usually gone. The severity of a case is in some degree measured by the copiousness and brilliancy of the rash, except in the malignant varieties, where there may be little or no eruption. The tongue, which at first was furred, becomes about the fourth or fifth day denuded of its epithelium and acquires the peculiar “ strawberry " appearance characteristic of this fever. The interior of the throat is red and somewhat swollen, especially the uvula, soft palate and tonsils, and a considerable amount of secretion exudes from the inflamed surface. There is also tenderness and slight swelling of the glands under the jaw. In favourable cases the fever departs with the disappearance of the eruption and convalescence sets in with the commencement of the process of “ desquamation " or peeling of the cuticle, which first shows itself about the neck, and proceeds slowly over the whole surface of the body. Where the skin is thin the desquamation is in the form of fine branny scales; but where it is thicker, as about the hands and feet, it comes off in large pieces, which sometimes assume the form of casts of the fingers or toes. The duration of this process is variable, but it is rarely complete before the end of six or eight weeks, and not infrequently goes on for several weeks beyond that period. It is during this stage that complications are apt to appear.
Scarlet fever shows itself in certain well-marked varieties, of which the following are the chief:—
1. Scarlatina Simplex is the most common form; in this the symptoms, both local and general, are moderate, and the case usually runs a favourable course. In some rare instances it would seem that the evidences of the disease are so slight, as regards both fever and rash, that they escape observation and only become known by the
