Domenico Scarlatti

Domenico Scarlatti, born in the same year as Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel, was the son of the composer Alessandro Scarlatti, who was extremely well-known and prolific in his day. He was trained as a musician by his father and by B. Pasquini in Rome. In 1715 he received his appointment as Kapellmeister at St Peter's Church in Rome, where he conducted the famous Cappella Giulia. He later travelled throughout Europe as a highly sought-after harpsichordist and teacher. During his time at the Cappella Giulia and later, when he worked at the court of John V in Lisbon, church music was one of his main areas of activity. The works that have become known so far only reveal part of his valuable church music œuvre, which ranges from the simple Miserere Psalm to the ten-part Stabat Mater.