FULL LA COLOMBA FERITA (Provenzale) Naples 1999 Daniela Del Monaco, Emanuela Galli, Roberta Andalo, Marialuce Menichetti
Information on the Performance
- Work Title: LA COLOMBA FERITA
- Composer: Provenzale Francesco
- Libretto: Giuseppe Castaldo Libretto Text, Libretto Index
- Venue & Opera Company: Teatro Mercadante, Napoli, Italy
- Recorded: October 11, 1999
- Type: Staged Opera Live
- Singers: Daniela Del Monaco, Emanuela Galli, Roberta Andalo, Marialuce Menichetti, Roberta Invernizzi, Francesco Toma, Stefano Di Fraia, Pino Di Vittorio, Giuseppe Naviglio, Francesca Russo Ermolli
- Conductor: Antonio Florio
- Orchestra: Cappella della Pietà de’ Turchini
- Stage Director: Davide Livermore
- Stage Designer: Nicola Ruberetelli
- Costume Designer: Giusi Giustino
Information about the Recording
- Published by: Real Teatro Napoli
- Date Published: 2025
- Format: Unknown
- Quality Video: 2 Audio:2
- Subtitles: nosubs
- Video Recording from: YouTube FULL VIDEO
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE
Francesco Provenzale (Naples, September 25, 1632 – Naples, September 6, 1704) was an Italian composer. He was the first great opera composer of the Neapolitan musical school, but his prestige lies mainly in his teaching activity, which trained the most important Neapolitan composers active at the beginning of the 18th century.
In 1658 he staged his first lyric opera, Theseo at the Teatro San Bartolomeo in Naples; However, in the libretto of this drama it is reported that he was the author of other works before this one: Il Ciro, Xerse with the libretto by Nicolò Minato and Artemisia with the libretto by Minato, which were probably performed for the first time at the Teatro San Bartolomeo in Naples in 1653, 1655 and 1657 respectively. Provenzale may also have composed other music for the Fabiarmonici, a musical group active in Naples since 1650.
In 1663 he was appointed first master of the Conservatory of Santa Maria di Loreto, where he had already been working since 1661, a position in which he was replaced by his vice-master, Giuseppe Cavallo, in 1675. At this date he had already been first master of the Pietà dei Turchini for two years, the most prestigious conservatory and which had trained him musically in the past. However, he continued his teaching activity at Santa Maria di Loreto, for which institute he wrote several sacred melodramas, among which we remember Il martirio di San Gennaro (1663), La colomba ferita (1672) and La fenice d’Avila (1672) at the Conservatory of Santa Maria di Loreto in Naples and perhaps also La Vittoria fuggitiva. These works had considerable success not only among the students of the school, but also throughout the city of Naples. Again in 1672 the opera Il schiavo di suo moglie had its world premiere at the Teatro San Bartolomeo and in 1674 La Stellidaura vendicante at Mergellina.
In the meantime Provenzale acquired considerable importance also in the ecclesiastical sphere: he took the position of choirmaster in various Neapolitan churches and congregations, among which we remember San Domenico Maggiore (1667), Sant’Angelo a Nilo (1669), Monte degli Agonizzanti in Santa Maria Ancillarum (1679) and the Monastery of Santa Chiara (1679). He also became in 1665 the master of the Fidelissima Città di Napoli at the Treasury of San Gennaro in the Cathedral of Naples, and in 1680 honorary master of the royal chapel, a position that he however held until 1684, since he was replaced by another famous composer much younger than him, Alessandro Scarlatti.
In 1699 he was removed from his position at the Chapel of the Treasure of San Gennaro, as he was incompetent and old, and was replaced by one of his students, Gaetano Greco, and a few years later, in 1702, the same fate followed at the Pietà dei Turchini. However, he continued to work for the royal chapel, no longer as a titular maestro, but as an assistant to the new maestro Alessandro Scarlatti. In this chapel he also became maestro di camera from 1691, a position he held almost until a few days before his death; he was then replaced by another of his students, Gaetano Veneziano.