Neapel, Metropole der Erinnerung

Salburger Pfingstfestspiele director Maestro Riccardo Muti

This Music Festival in Salzburg recalls the days when Austria ruled Naples and Southern Italy. After 200 years of Spanish rule by the Royal Spanish Hapsburg in Naples the War of Succession for the Spanish Throne led the Austrian Hapsburg to take over through political intrigue and manipulations. From 1707 they ruled the Kingdom of Naples and the two Sicilies. At the same time music style and musical schools from Naples started to dominate in Europe and of course Austria. The original music schools were created as part of the city’s orphanages and called Conservatory, i.e. to conserve, look after the orphans. The orphans were thought music and would learn to play musical instruments and play in orchestras at Court or in theaters or as part of Church Choirs.
The boys with the best voices would be castrated so to keep those delicate pre-pubescent voices. In time the Cultural life of Naples attracted great musicians and composers. Rich commissions were to be had for those who had talent. People like Alessandro Scarlatti or Francesco Nicola Fago did well in Naples. Italian musical style and singing in Italian was the in thing. Mozart later on would travel to Italy with his father Leopold and he was required to write in Italian and compose in the popular style of Naples, though like other musicians his patrons were German Princes and Cardinals. The School of Naples had an influence on his work.

This morning we heard at the Mozarteum a work from 1709 by Francesco Nicola Fago and another work by A. Scarlatti. The drowning Pharaoh, written as an Oratorio for chamber orchestra, the singers where James Gilchrist, Marianna Beate Kielland, Havard Stensvold and Lucia Cirillo. The orchestra Europa Galante was directed by Fabio Biondi. Beautiful work centered around the story of Moises and Pharaoh. The voices were clear and you could hear every word in Italian perfectly pronounced. The Mozarteum is a concert hall built around 1841 at the urging of Mozart’s widow Constanze Weber Mozart. It was recently refurbished and it is a beautiful white and gold concert hall. The Mozarteum has its own orchestra and a separate University dedicated to music and teaching.