Carlo Cecere (7 November 170615 February 1761) was an Italian

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

operas Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libretti ...

concertos A concerto (; plural ''concertos'', or ''concerti'' from the Italian plural) is, from the late Baroque era, mostly understood as an instrumental composition, written for one or more soloists accompanied by an orchestra or other ensemble. The typi ...

and

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instru ...

duets A duet is a musical composition or piece for two performers. Duets or The Duets may also refer to: Films and television * ''Duets'' (film), a 2000 film, starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Paul Giamatti and Huey Lewis * "Duets" (''Glee''), a 2010 episod ...

including, for example, some

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

duets and a concerto for mandolin. Cecere worked in the transitional period between the

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

and

Classical era Classical antiquity (also the classical era, classical period or classical age) is the period of cultural history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD centred on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ...

Life

Surprisingly little is known about his life, given that he lived in the 18th century. It is known that Cecere was born in

Grottole Grottole ( Lucano: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Matera, in the region of Basilicata in southern Italy. Geography The village of Grottole extends along a crest in a territory rich in waters: the Basento and Bradano rivers, the B ...

(

Basilicata it, Lucano (man) it, Lucana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = ...

) and died in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

; he is buried in the chapel of the Congregazione dei Musici di S. Maria la Nuova. But it is not even known which instrument(s) he played by preference. According to some sources, he was mainly a

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

ist—he was certainly a violinist in the monastery of the Carmine in Naples—whereas other sources believe he was primarily a

flautist The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

Music

Cecere set to music at least two

librettos A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major litu ...

by Pietro Trinchera, including ''La tavernola abentorosa.'' Trinchera, not Cecere, was punished because ''La tavernola abentorosa'''s

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or e ...

portrayal of

monastic Monasticism (from Ancient Greek , , from , , 'alone'), also referred to as monachism, or monkhood, is a religion, religious way of life in which one renounces world (theology), worldly pursuits to devote oneself fully to spiritual work. Monastic ...

life was considered a buffoonish mockery. It was the first

comic opera Comic opera, sometimes known as light opera, is a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending and often including spoken dialogue. Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a ne ...

written specifically for a monastic audience.

Selected discography

*''Italian Flute Concertos'', performed by

Jean-Pierre Rampal Jean-Pierre Louis Rampal (7 January 1922 – 20 May 2000) was a French flautist. He has been personally "credited with returning to the flute the popularity as a solo classical instrument it had not held since the 18th century." Biography Ea ...

(flute) with I Solisti Veneti conducted by Claudio Scimone: Carlo Cecere's Concerto for Flute in A major together with Eustachio Romano's Concerto for Flute in G major, Giuseppe Matteo Alberti's Concerto for Flute in F major "con sordini" and

Giovanni Battista Sammartini Giovanni Battista Sammartini (c. 1700 – 15 January 1775) was an Italian composer, violinist, organist, choirmaster and teacher. He counted Gluck among his students, and was highly regarded by younger composers including Johann Christian ...

's Concerto for Flute in G major. (Sony Classical SNYC 47228SK), a 1991 recording, available as of 2007. *''Concerti Napoletani per Mandolino'' performed by Dorina Frati (mandolin) with the Symphonia Perusina: Carlo Cecere's Concerto for Mandolin together with Giuseppe Giuliano's Sinfonia for Mandolin, Strings and Basso Continuo in B flat major and his Concerto for Mandolin in G major, Domenico Gaudioso's Concerto for Mandolin in G major, and

Giovanni Paisiello Giovanni Paisiello (or Paesiello; 9 May 1740 – 5 June 1816) was an Italian composer of the Classical era, and was the most popular opera composer of the late 1700s. His operatic style influenced Mozart and Rossini. Life Paisiello was born in T ...

's Concerto for Mandolin in E flat major. (Dynamic DYN 193), a 1999 recording, available as of 2009

External links

Biographical sketch of Carlo Cecere
by Pasquale Totaro *
Free scores
at the

Mutopia Project The Mutopia Project is a volunteer-run effort to create a library of free content sheet music, in a way similar to Project Gutenberg's library of public domain books. It started in 2000.Portal page at thInternet ArchiveRetrieved January 24, 20 ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cecere, Carlo 1706 births 1761 deaths People from the Province of Matera Italian male classical composers Italian Baroque composers Italian Classical-period composers Italian opera composers Male opera composers Italian violinists Male violinists Italian flautists 18th-century Italian composers 18th-century Italian male musicians