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During his lifetime, Domenico Cimarosa was one of the most famous composers in Europe. He was highly sought after as an opera composer by monarchs from Naples to Austria and even to Russia, but in the centuries that have followed his death, Cimarosa’s Operas have been largely overshadowed by those of Mozart. And Cimarosa’s 62 charming keyboard Sonatas are viewed as being largely in Baroque style, highly influenced by the works of Antonio Sacchini and by the works of Saccini’s teacher, Francesco Durante. It is true that these Sonatas are mostly written in Baroque Bar Form: (AA:BB), and that they were conceived for the harpsichord. Nevertheless, some among them contain melodic elements typical of later Classical Sonatas and are composed in a definite A-B-A Form. However, Cimarosa did not use “thematic development” in the sense of Classical Sonata Allegro Form of the Viennese School. Instead, he employed the older art of presenting two sectional themes in contrasting styles.
Cimarosa’s instrumental works include concertos, similar in general style to Mozart’s. The middle movement of the Harpsichord Concerto in B-Flat, comprising a ‘recitative’ and ‘aria’, attempts to present in purely instrumental terms a dramatic situation involving the concept of a solo voice. There is strong evidence for believing that Cimarosa’s many keyboard Sonatas may have been originally intended as two-movement or three-movement pieces. One manuscript (GB-Lcm 142) contains a three-movement ‘Sonata per il fortepiano,’ and features of another (I-Fc) reveal that certain movements were intended to follow others without a break. These include movements ending in the dominant key with such indications as ‘segue Andante’, and a series of key relationships that suggest multi-movement structures. The movements display a variety of forms, including binary, and several contain passages not unlike those found in Domenico Scarlatti’s music; the keyboard range is contained within five octaves, the texture is usually two-part, and melodic interest is generally reserved for the upper line.
Therefore, it is fair to say that Cimarosa’s style in his keyboard works was more conservative (and much more Baroque in conception) than the true Classical style of his Operas. Even so, Cimarosa created keyboard Sonatas that possess considerable inventiveness, but undeniably these belong to the Baroque repertoire; whereas his Operas belong to the Classical Era. Cimarosa was a rather unlikely person to become a prominent European composer since there were no other musicians in his family and since he was born into poor circumstances in which musical culture was not nurtured within the home.
Domenico Cimarosa was the son of a stone mason and was born on December 17, 1749 in the small town of Aversa, a village near Naples, Italy. His father, Gennaro Cimarosa, moved the family to Naples a few days after Domenico’s birth, having obtained a position as a stone mason employed in the construction of the Palazzo Reale di Capodimonte. Unfortunately, the father fell to his death while working on the palace, leaving his widow, Anna de Francesca, both to rear and financially support young Domenico. Living near the Church of San Severo, Anna arranged to serve the monastery as laundress while Domenico was taken into their school. A precociously intelligent boy, he soon attracted the attention of the monastery organist, Father Polcano, who gave him music lessons. At age 11, on the recommendation of Father Polcano, Cimarosa was admitted to the Conservatorio di Santa Maria di Loreto, one of five such schools established by the church for orphans and abandoned children. Although not a ‘conservatory’ in today’s sense of the word, music was an important component of daily curriculum since the figlioli (as the boys were called) provided music not only for the Church of San Loreto, but also for private chapels and public occasions.
During his eleven years at the Loreto Conservatory, Cimarosa studied counterpoint, harmony, and composition in addition to becoming a skilled violinist, a gifted singer, and an expert keyboard player. After he left the conservatory he had singing lessons from the castrato Giuseppe Aprile. It was, however, mainly as a composer that he established himself while still a student, and by 1770 he, Zingarelli, and Giuseppe Giordani were the senior students in the maestro di cappella class, the class for composers. He may have had further lessons in composition from Piccinni in 1771. Previously, during his years at the conservatory, he composed a number of sacred works, and Cimarosa completed his first opera, an opera buffa in two-acts, Le stravaganze del conte (The Eccentricities of the Count) which was given its first performance at the Teatro dei Fiorentini in Naples during the Carnival season of 1771-72 when the composer was 22. Because it was the custom to offer 3 acts of musico-dramatic entertainment for an evening ‘at the opera’, Cimarosa filled out the program with a one-act farsetta per musica, Le magie di Merlina e Zoroastro (The Magic of Merlina and Zoroastro) which served, as the libretto-program stated, for the “3rd act.”
Although these two operas: Le stravaganze del conte (in 2 acts) and Le magie di Merlina e Zoroastro (in 1 act) shared the same composer (Cimarosa), the same librettist (Pasquale Mililotti), and many of the same singers, the two works are entirely independent of each other both in reference to story and melodic development. What must be noted is the fact that at this time no instrumental prelude, interlude, or sinfonia preceded the third act of a typical three-act work; therefore, there is no overture or sinfonia to Le magie di Merlina e Zoroastro.
Although challenged by the popularity of Piccinni and Paisiello who were already well-established composers, Cimarosa received commissions from the Teatro Nuovo in Naples for both the seasons of 1773 (La finta parigina – The Fake Parisian Girl) and 1776 (I sdegni per amore – Dreams of Love, and I matrimonio in ballo – The Wedding in Dance). It may be more than coincidental that it was in 1776 – the year Piccinni left for Paris and Paisiello for St. Petersburg – that Cimarosa and his operas became increasingly popular in Naples. He composed some 24 operas on commission during the next decade for Neapolitan theaters.
In 1778 at the age of 29, Cimarosa received his first commission from the Teatro Valle in Rome (another seven commissions from that theater arrived in the next two decades in addition to two commissions from the Roman theaters Teatro Argentina and Teatro delle Dame). According to papal edict, only men could perform on stage in Rome; Cimarosa’s female roles were all sung by castrati. The casts for each of these 8 operas for the Teatro Valle were made up, as required by the theater, of five characters, and each opera was styled ‘intermezzo’ although they are in no way related to the comic interludes called intermezzi which were sung between the acts or scenes of an opera seria during the earlier 18th Century.
L’italiana in Londra (The Italian Girl in London), Cimarosa’s first big hit, was premiered in Rome at Teatro Valle during the Carnival season of 1778-79. Its great success led, in turn, to commissions from most of the important theaters of Italy and other nations in the next few years: La Scala of Milan, Eretenio of Verona, Pergola of Florence, Regio of Turin, Hermitage of St. Petersburg, Burgtheater of Vienna, Monizione of Messina, San Carlo of Lisbon, La Fenice of Venice, and Carignano of Turin.
Cimarosa was appointed supernumerary organist (without pay) of the Royal Chapel in Naples in November of 1779 at age of 30. He was promoted in March 1785 to the position of second organist with a monthly salary of eight ducats (about U.S. $300 in today’s currency), a sum paid regularly even when Cimarosa was absent from Naples. In the early 1780s (the exact date is unknown), Cimarosa was appointed a maestro at a Venetian conservatory for girls, the Ospedaletto. He composed one of his finest oratorios, Absalom (Absalon) for the Ospedaletto in 1782. Again, it seems Cimarosa received his salary regularly even when he was absent from Venice.
Catherine the Great of Russia invited Cimarosa to replace Giuseppe Sarti as her maestro di cappella in 1787. He left Naples by ship, stopping at the Tuscan port of Livorno and visiting Grand Duke Leopold of Tuscany in Florence, possibly being invited at the time to play on the new fortepiano that Cristofori had invented and presented to Duke Leopold. It is almost certain that it was during this visit to the Medici court in Florence that Cimarosa composed the bulk of his keyboard Sonatas.
Passing on his way to Russia through Parma, Vienna, Krakow, and Warsaw – and being lavishly honored at each stop – Cimarosa arrived at the court in St. Petersburg at the beginning of December. Unfortunately his years in Russia (1787-91) coincided with a period of gradual decline in the court music ensemble in which the Italian opera company dwindled to such a degree that by 1790 only three singers were left. Since no date nor location for the first performance of Cimarosa’s marvelous one-act, one-man comedy in music, Il maestro di cappella, is known, it is likely that it was written during this period since there were not enough singers left to perform almost any other opera. Empress Catherine herself demonstrated little admiration for Cimarosa’s music; so it is not surprising that the composer left Russia when his contract expired in 1791.
At the court of Catherine II, Cimarosa succeeded a line of Italian composers that included Manfredini, Galuppi, Traetta, and Sarti. His operas were presented at the Hermitage and the theatre at Gatchina, the sumptuous palaces of the empress. His serious opera Cleopatra and two previously written comic operas, Le donne rivali and I due baroni di Rocca Azzurra, were “adjusted” for the available singers in Russia. Shortly after Cimarosa’s arrival, however, Empress Catherine engaged Martín y Soler as her second maestro di cappella. Soler’s operas seemed to have met with greater success at the Russian court than those of Cimarosa. The magnificence and splendor of Catherine’s court began to fade by 1791 when economic crises forced the empress to release most of the Italian singers. Cimarosa, who could not bear the harshness of the Russian winters, left the court in June 1791. After spending three months in Warsaw, he arrived in Vienna shortly after the death of Emperor Joseph II.
On his intended journey home to Naples, Cimarosa passed through Vienna where he learned that his friend and patron Leopold, the former Grand Duke of Tuscany, was now Emperor Leopold II of Austria. Cimarosa, whom Joseph Weigl described as having a jovial and friendly personality, enjoyed great popularity among Viennese society and often entertained his hosts by performing at the keyboard. As Emperor, Leopold appointed Cimarosa Kapellmeister to the Austrian court, replacing Antonio Salieri upon his retirement. The composer’s commission from Leopold for a comic opera resulted in Il matrimonio segreto (The Secret Marriage) in 1792, one of the most famous comic operas. Unfortunately Leopold II died less than a month after he had commanded Cimarosa to repeat the entire opera as an encore following its second performance. Although Cimarosa stayed on in Vienna to see his Amor rende sagace (Love Makes One Shrewd) produced at the Burgtheater on April 1, 1792 and I traci amanti (The Thracian Lovers) at the same theater on June 19, 1792, he returned to Naples in the spring of 1793.
In addition to commissions that arrived regularly after his return to Naples, Cimarosa was appointed first organist of the royal chapel with a monthly salary of 10 ducats (approximately $375 U.S. today). However, the Kingdom of Naples was occupied by Napoleon’s republican forces and the ‘Parthenopean Republic’ established in January of 1799. Cimarosa, in sympathy with their cause, composed a patriotic hymn to a text by Luigi Rossi which was sung on 19 May at the ceremonial burning of the royal flag. At the end of June, however, King Ferdinand’s troops re-entered the city, which left the composer in a strange political position. He tried to make amends by composing – at the suggestion of Father Tanfano, a local priest – a cantata in praise of Ferdinand which was performed on 23 September. Although Cimarosa composed a few other works to appease the king, they merely angered Ferdinand more. The king then had Cimarosa arrested and incarcerated. Undoubtedly Cimarosa would have been beheaded (as was Rossi, the author of the text for the patriotic hymn) were it not for the intervention of his friends and supporters: Cardinal Consalvi, Secretary of State to the papal court in Rome; Cardinal Ruffo, lieutenant and captain of the Kingdom of Naples; and Lady Hamilton.
After being required to leave Naples ‘forever,’ the composer returned to Venice in December 1800. There the 51-year old composer, already ill from over-work and the entire prison incident, received a commission from Teatro La Fenice for a new opera seria. He did not live to complete Artemisia, a tragico per musica in 3 acts. Cimarosa died on January 11, 1801. Because of his international fame and the popularity of his music, rumors circulated widely that Queen Marie Caroline (the true ruler of the Kingdom of Naples) had Cimarosa poisoned. Public opinion forced the government to publish a report on April 5, 1801, certifying that Cimarosa had died from natural causes: an internal ailment (a cancerous growth of the lower stomach). The funeral service was held in the Chiesa di Sant’Angelo. A magnificent and resplendent catafalque was erected and covered with a mantle of gold-embroidered velvet, surrounded by other decorations on the high altar. All the eminent citizens of Venice attended, and music was performed free of charge by many notable Venetian musicians. A vast chorus of three sections encompassed the width of the church to perform music specially composed for the service by Ferdinando Bertoni, maestro della Basilica di San Marco.
In Rome, Cardinal Consalvi, the Secretary of State as well as Cimarosa’s friend and protector, arranged magnificent memorial rites at the Chiesa di San Carlo del Catinari, at which one of Cimarosa’s Requiem Masses was sung, all the leading artists of the city offering their talents for the occasion. Cardinal Consalvi also commissioned the distinguished sculptor Antonio Canova to create a bust of the composer, which when completed, was first placed in the Rotunda of the church and later moved to the Gallery of the Campidoglio.
Cimarosa’s incomplete opera, Artemisia, was given its first performance at Teatro La Fenice on January 17, 1801, only seven days after his passing. On the occasion, the late composer received a most flattering posthumous compliment when the audience requested that the curtain be lowered at the point at which he wrote his last note.
Cimarosa’s reputation in his last years was unparalleled in Italian opera until Rossini. His facility at writing music resulted in the creation of almost 60 stage works, mostly comic pieces. His operas were performed on all the major European stages, including Prague, Copenhagen, Stockholm, St Petersburg, Hamburg, London, and Berlin. His works were particularly popular in Vienna and at Eszterháza. Between 1783 and 1790, Haydn conducted performances of 13 operas by Cimarosa, and many of them were given several times. L’italiana in Londra was repeated at Eszterháza at least 14 times in five years. Although Cimarosa revised some of his earlier compositions to suit Neapolitan tastes, his music had a broad, international appeal. Some of his operas were still being played in Naples as late as 1811, and his Gli Orazi ed i Curiazi and Il matrimonio segreto were given in Venice throughout the early 19th Century.
Cimarosa was admired by a number of notable persons from the 19th Century who lived long after his death. Eugčne Delacroix preferred Cimarosa’s music to Mozart’s, and Stendhal wrote that he would rather be hanged than be forced to state which of the two he preferred. Hanslick praised Cimarosa’s wonderful facility, masterly compositional strokes and good taste. Goethe, who first heard Cimarosa’s music in Rome, wrote to Schiller in 1788 from Naples, praising one of Cimarosa’s operas. Upon his return to Weimar, Goethe directed performances of Le trame deluse and Il matrimonio segreto. He also created the pasticcio Die theatralischen Abenteuer in 1791 from Cimarosa’s L’impresario in angustie.
Cimarosa always composed music that was suffused with lightness, elegance and finesse. The orchestration of his earlier works consisted primarily of strings, oboes, horns and trumpets, and only occasionally bassoons and flutes. The orchestra functioned as a vehicle for vocal accompaniment, with the strings providing most of the activity. During his Russian sojourn, he began to use clarinets, and his orchestration generally acquired a fuller and richer sonority. This is evident in Il matrimonio segreto, where the large orchestra provides color and exhibits independent motivic and rhythmic material that serves as commentary on the action. Cimarosa seldom wrote stylized da capo arias. His arias are sectional, with contrasting tempos, meter, and keys to accommodate changes of mood and situation in the text. This freedom from a structural mould creates the effect of spontaneity and flexibility.
Although Cimarosa’s harmonic vocabulary remained diatonic and unadventurous, the strength of his music remains centered on the richness of his melodic invention, the brilliance and energy of his rhythmic and melodic motifs, and his constantly lively accompaniments. He expanded the parameters of opera buffa by creating a genre permeated with sentiment, simplicity, elegance, and delicacy. The freshness and vigor of his music was unmatched by his Italian contemporaries, and history may yet judge him as an equal to the composers of the Viennese School.