Nicola Sala (7 April 1713 – 31 August 1801) was an Italian composer and

music theorist Music theory is the study of the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory". The first is the " rudiments", that are needed to understand music notation (k ...

. He was born in

Tocco Caudio Tocco Caudio is a village and ''comune'' in the province of Benevento, in the Campania region of southern Italy. The old town was abandoned after Italy Earthquake of 1980, a series of earthquakes in 1980 and 1981. Geography As with many ancien ...

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 was chapel-master and professor at Naples, having devoted himself to the collection of the finest models of printed music.

Biography

Sala studied music in Naples at Conservatorio della Pietà dei Turchini from 1732 to 1740 under Nicola Fago and

Leonardo Leo Leonardo Leo (5 August 1694 – 31 October 1744), more correctly Leonardo Ortensio Salvatore de Leo, was a Baroque composer. Biography Leo was born in San Vito degli Schiavoni (currently known as San Vito dei Normanni, province of Brindisi) in ...

. Some of his pupils were Carlo Lenzi, Giuseppe Gherardeschi, Benedetto Neri, Étienne-Joseph Floquet, Adalbert Gyrowetz, Louis Julien Casels de Labarre, Ercole Paganini, Gaspare Spontini, and many others. He probably wrote his first composition, the opera ''Vologeso'', staged first in Rome, in 1737. In 1745 he was accepted as successor to Leo in the position of master of the royal chapel. In the sixties represented some of his works at the

Teatro di San Carlo The Real Teatro di San Carlo ("Royal Theatre of Saint Charles"), as originally named by the Bourbon monarchy but today known simply as the Teatro (di) San Carlo, is an opera house in Naples, Italy, connected to the Royal Palace and adjacent ...

, including the drama ''Zenobia,'' composed by his pupil

Ambrogio Minoja Ambrogio Minoja (22 October 1752 – 3 August 1825) was a classical composer from Italy, born in Ospedaletto Lodigiano, in the territory of Lodi, in the region of Lombardy. He was professor of composition and writer on vocal music, having w ...

, was well received. In 1787 he became second master of the Pieta Turchini, where he stayed for 47 years as teacher and director of the conservatory. He was one of the most important Neapolitan teachers, having taught many musical composers. He wrote several pedagogical treatises, including ''Regole del contrappunto pratico,'' published in

in 1794. He also wrote several

opera 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 libr ...

oratorio An oratorio () is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is ...

mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different eleme ...

es and cantatas. His music was recently rediscovered by the Conservatory of Benevento, which has headed the institution and the local association ''Eufoniarché'', producing his operas and oratorios each year with the help of

palaeographer Palaeography ( UK) or paleography ( US; ultimately from grc-gre, , ''palaiós'', "old", and , ''gráphein'', "to write") is the study of historic writing systems and the deciphering and dating of historical manuscripts, including the analysi ...

s and Latin scholars of the

University of Naples The University of Naples Federico II ( it, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II) is a public university in Naples, Italy. Founded in 1224, it is the oldest public non-sectarian university in the world, and is now organized into 26 depar ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

and

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. The well-regarded state-funded music conservatory ''Conservatorio Statale di Musica Nicola Sala'' in Benevento near Naples is named for him.

Selected works

Operas

*''Vologeso'' ( opera seria, libretto by Apostolo Zeno, 1737,

) *''La Zenobia'' ( opera seria, libretto by

Pietro Metastasio Pietro Antonio Domenico Trapassi (3 January 1698 – 12 April 1782), better known by his pseudonym of Pietro Metastasio (), was an Italian poet and librettist, considered the most important writer of ''opera seria'' libretti. Early life Met ...

, 1761,

) *''Demetrio'' ( opera seria, libretto by

, 1762,

) *''Merope'' ( opera seria, libretto by Apostolo Zeno, 1769,

)

Other musical works

*''Giove, Pallade, Apollo ( cantata, 1763,

) *''Il giudizio d'Apollo'' ( serenade, libretto by Giovanni Fenizia, 1768,

) *''Erto, Ebone, Arminio'' ( cantata, 1769,

) *''La bella eroina'' (

prologue A prologue or prolog (from Greek πρόλογος ''prólogos'', from πρό ''pró'', "before" and λόγος ''lógos'', "word") is an opening to a story that establishes the context and gives background details, often some earlier story that ...

, 1769,

) *Varie

aria In music, an aria ( Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompa ...

*''Judith seu Bethuliae liberatio''-''Giuditta ossia La Betulia liberata'' (

, libretto by anonymous author, 2007, Benevento)

Theoretical works

*''Regole del contrappunto pratico'' (1794,

) *''Principi di contrappunto'' *''Elementi per ben suonare il cembalo'' *''Disposizione a tre per introduzione alle fughe di tre parti'' *''Il modo di disporre a tre sopra la scala diatonica'' *''Disposizioni imitate a soggetto e contrasoggetto'' *''Fughe con soggetto e contrasoggetto a suono plagale''

References

* Peter van Tour: Counterpoint and Partimento: Methods of Teaching Composition in Late Eighteenth-Century Naples. 2015. 318p. (Studia musicologica Upsaliensia, 0081-6744 ; 25) , chapter 6.2: "The Teaching of Nicola Sala

* Peter van Tour (ed.), The 189 Partimenti of Nicola Sala: Complete Edition with Critical Commentary (Three volumes, 415 pp. Two printed volumes 52 pp. the third volume is the Critical Commentary 3 pp.. Edited by Peter van Tour. (Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. Studia Musicologica Upsaliensia. Nova Series 27a–c, 2017)

;Attribution *''This article is based on the translation of the corresponding article of the Italian Wikipedia. A list of contributors can be found there at the'
History
''section.'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Sala, Nicola 1713 births 1801 deaths 18th-century Italian musicians 18th-century Italian male musicians Italian classical composers Italian male classical composers Italian opera composers Male opera composers People from the Province of Benevento