STRADELLA, ALESSANDRO  BIOGRAPHY

Alessandro Stradella lived most of his life in his native city of Rome. He may have been a nobleman. That he was forced to flee in 1677 because of a scandal is, unfortunately, typical for him. His reputation is tarnished by various love affairs with noble ladies, and, after at least one unsuccessful attempt at his life, he was finally murdered on the Piazza Bianchi in Genoa by a hired assassin because of another such dalliance. So colourful was his life that he was even the subject of a highly successful Romantic opera by Flotow, Alessandro Stradella (Hamburg 1844). Musically, his reputation is based chiefly on his pioneering rôle in the development of the concerto grosso. During his short life Stradella composed operas and other stage works, many oratorios and other compositions for the church, hundreds of cantatas, and 27 instrumental works. Il Barcheggio was a wedding serenata given in the open air; the present sinfonia serves as the introduction to Part II. As opposed to Stradella’s operas, which require only stringed instruments, Il Barcheggio features prominent parts throughout for wind instruments – cornetto, trumpet and "molti tromboni" – presumably because of their carrying power outdoors. The present sinfonia testifies to his dramatic sense and his considerable melodic gifts. He may have been the creator of the fugal theme mentioned above, ubiquitous in seventeenth-century trumpet works. It appears in the second movement of the present sinfonia.