Francesco Durante (31 March 1684 – 30 September 1755) 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 def ...

of the Neapolitan School. Best known for his church music, he was also an important teacher, instructing

Niccolò Jommelli Niccolò Jommelli (; 10 September 1714 – 25 August 1774) was an Italian composer of the Neapolitan School. Along with other composers mainly in the Holy Roman Empire and France, he was responsible for certain operatic reforms including redu ...

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 i ...

Giovanni Battista Pergolesi Giovanni Battista Draghi (; 4 January 1710 – 16 or 17 March 1736), usually referred to as Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (), was an Italian Baroque composer, violinist, and organist, leading exponent of the Baroque; he is considered one of the g ...

Niccolò Piccinni Niccolò Piccinni (; 16 January 1728 – 7 May 1800) was an Italian composer of symphonies, sacred music, chamber music, and opera. Although he is somewhat obscure today, Piccinni was one of the most popular composers of opera—particularly the ...

and

Leonardo Vinci Leonardo Vinci (1690 – 27 May 1730) was an Italian Baroque composer known chiefly for his 40 or so operas; comparatively little of his work in other genres survives. A central proponent of the Neapolitan School of opera, his influence on ...

, among others.

Life and work

He was born at

Frattamaggiore Frattamaggiore (locally also known as Fratta) is a ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Naples, Campania, Italy. It is located north of Naples and southwest of Caserta. It was awarded the title of "City of art" in 2008 and named Benedictine ci ...

, in the

Kingdom of Naples The Kingdom of Naples (; ; ), officially the Kingdom of Sicily, was a state that ruled the part of the Italian Peninsula south of the Papal States between 1282 and 1816. It was established by the War of the Sicilian Vespers (1282–1302). Until ...

, and at an early age he entered the '' Conservatorio dei poveri di Gesù Cristo'', in

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

, where he received lessons from

Gaetano Greco Gaetano Greco (c. 1657c. 1728) was an Italian Baroque composer. He was the younger brother of Rocco Greco ( c.1650 - before 1718). Both brothers were trained at, and later taught at the Poveri di Gesu` Cristo conservatory in Naples. Gaetano Greco' ...

. Later he became a pupil of

Alessandro Scarlatti Pietro Alessandro Gaspare Scarlatti (2 May 1660 – 22 October 1725) was an Italian Baroque music, Baroque composer, known especially for his operas and chamber cantatas. He is considered the most important representative of the Neapolitan sch ...

at the Conservatorio di Sant'Onofrio. He is also supposed to have studied under

Bernardo Pasquini Bernardo Pasquini (7 December 1637 – 21 November 1710) was an Italian composer of operas, oratorios, cantatas and keyboard music. A renowned virtuoso keyboard player, he was one of the most important Italian composers for harpsichord between Gir ...

and

Giuseppe Ottavio Pitoni Giuseppe Ottavio Pitoni (Rieti, 18 March 1657 – Rome, 1 February 1743) was an Italian organist and composer. He became one of the leading musicians in Rome during the late Baroque era, the first half of the 18th century. Life Taken to Rome as ...

in Rome, but there is no documentary evidence. He is said to have succeeded Scarlatti in 1725 at '' Sant' Onofrio'', and to have remained there until 1742, when he succeeded Porpora as head of the Conservatorio di Santa Maria di Loreto, also in Naples. This post he held for thirteen years, till his death in Naples. He was married three times. His fame as a teacher was considerable, and

and

were amongst his pupils. As a teacher, he insisted on the unreasoning observance of rules, differing thus from Scarlatti, who treated all his pupils as individuals. A complete collection of Durante's works, consisting almost exclusively of sacred music, was presented by Gaspare Selvaggi, a Neapolitan art collector and music theorist,Selvaggi, ''Trattato di armonia'', 1823. to the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. A catalogue may be found in Fétis's ''Biographie universelle''. The imperial library of

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

also preserves a valuable collection of Durante's manuscripts. Two requiems, several masses (one of which, a most original work, is the Pastoral Mass for four voices) and the ''Lamentations of the prophet Jeremiah'' are amongst his most important settings. His

Magnificat The Magnificat (Latin for "y soulmagnifies he Lord) is a canticle, also known as the Song of Mary or Canticle of Mary, and in the Byzantine Rite as the Ode of the Theotokos (). Its Western name derives from the incipit of its Latin text. This ...

setting achieved popularity partly because of its misattribution to Pergolesi. The fact that Durante never composed for the stage brought him an exaggerated reputation as a composer of sacred music. Considered one of the best church composers of his style and period, he seems to have founded the sentimental school of Italian church music. Nevertheless, Hasse protested against Durante's being described as the greatest harmonist of Italy, a title which he ascribed to Alessandro Scarlatti.

Discography

* ''Solfèges d'Italie'', No. 137: "Danza, danza, fanciulla gentile", with Frederica von Stade (mezzo-soprano) and Martin Katz (piano), CBS, 1982

Media

References

Sources

*Sadie, S. (ed.) (1980) ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians'', ol #5 *Peter van Tour: Counterpoint and Partimento: Methods of Teaching Composition in Late Eighteenth-Century Naples. 2015. 318p. (Studia musicologica Upsaliensia, 0081-6744 ; 25)

. *

External links

* * *
Istituto Internazionale per lo studio del '700 musicale napoletano
{{DEFAULTSORT:Durante, Francesco 1684 births 1755 deaths 18th-century Italian male musicians 18th-century Italian composers Italian Baroque composers Italian male classical composers Neapolitan school composers People from the Metropolitan City of Naples Pupils of Bernardo Pasquini Pupils of Alessandro Scarlatti 17th-century Italian male musicians