Composers

Nicola Porpora

Voice
Soprano
Alto
Violin
String ensemble
Orchestra
Bass
Mixed chorus
Tenor
Cello
Cantatas
Secular cantatas
Operas
Opera seria
Sonata
Religious music
Concerto
Libretto
Writings
Sinfonia
by popularity

#

12 Cantate da camera12 Violin Sonatas, Op.126 duetti latini6 Fugues6 Sinfonie da camera, Op.26 Sonatas

A

Abbandonata e sola, S.1Ad onta del timore, S.2AdelaideAh nò che non si può, S.3Alla caccia dell'alme, S.4Amanti voi scherzate, S.6Amor crudele Amore, S.7Arianna in NassoArtaserseAvis canora in fronde

B

Beatus vir in C major, INP 13Beatus vir in C major, INP 14Beatus vir in C major, INP 15

C

Calcante ed AchilleCarlo il CalvoCello Concerto in G majorCello Sonata in F majorChi nel Signor confidaCieco dio foss'io quel fiore, S.12Col tuo dolce mormorio, S.15Core amante di perchè, S.16

D

Da tue veloci candide colombeDal povero mio cor, S.21Dalla regia di Flora, S.20D'amore il primo dardo, S.23Datti pace se puoi, S.25Deianira, Iole, ErcoleDeos qui salvastiDestatevi, o pastori, S.31Dixit Dominus in B-flat majorDixit Dominus in G majorDunque crudel tu scherzi

E

E puoi crudel lasciarmiEcco l'infausto lido, S.40Era il tempo, S.41

F

FilandroFille se fiera sorte, S.43Flute Concerto in D majorFugue in E-flat major

G

Germanico in GermaniaGià la notte s'avvicina, S.45Gli orti esperidi

I

Il GedeoneIl martirio di S. Giovanni NepomucenoIl trionfo di CamillaImeneo in AteneIn amor sarò costante, S.49

K

Kyrie in F major

L

La verità nell'ingannoL'AgrippinaL'AngelicaLasciovi alfin grandezze, S.54Laudate pueri in G majorLontananza non risana le ferite, S.57

M

Meride e SelinunteMitridateMovo il piè lo sguardo giro

N

Nel mio sonno almen talora, S.63Niegami pur confortoNinfe e pastoriNon so come resisto, S.69

O

Oh Dio che non è vero, S.73Oh se fosse il mio core in libertà, S.74Or che d'orrido verno, S.79Or che una nube ingrata, S.81Ouverture Royale in D major

P

Passaggier che dell'onde paventaPerdono, amata Nice, S.88bPolifemoPoro

Q

Quando penso esser disciolto, S.94Quanto s'inganna, S.95Queste che miri o Nice, S.97Questo è il platano frondoso, S.98

S

Salve regina in F majorScrivo in te l'amato nome, S.100Se la rosa fresca e bella, S.101Se vuoi saper perché, S.107Semiramide riconosciutaSiedi Amarilli, S.108SifaceSinfonia da camera in B-flat major, Op.2 No.6Sinfonia da camera in C major, Op.2 No.2Sinfonia da camera in D major, Op.2 No.4Sinfonia da camera in G major, Op.2 No.1Sinfonia da camera in G minor, Op.2 No.3Siroe, re di PersiaSorge la bella Aurora, S.112Statira

T

TemistocleT'intendo sì mio cor, S.119Tirsi chiamare a nome, S.121Tu ten vai così fastoso, S.127

V

Veggo la selva e il monte, S.129Vidi la navicella, S.131Violin Sonata in A major, Op.12 No.1Violin Sonata in C major, Op.12 No.8Violin Sonata in D major, Op.12 No.11Violin Sonata in D major, Op.12 No.3Violin Sonata in D minor, Op.12 No.12Violin Sonata in E major, Op.12 No.9Violin Sonata in G major, Op.12 No.2Violin Sonata in G minor, Op.12 No.5
Wikipedia
Nicola (or Niccolò) Antonio Porpora (17 August 1686 – 3 March 1768) was an Italian composer and teacher of singing of the Baroque era, whose most famous singing students were the castrati Farinelli and Caffarelli. Other students included composers Matteo Capranica and Joseph Haydn.
Porpora was born in Naples. He graduated from the music conservatory Poveri di Gesù Cristo of his native city, where the civic opera scene was dominated by Alessandro Scarlatti. Porpora's first opera, Agrippina, was successfully performed at the Neapolitan court in 1708. His second, Berenice, was performed at Rome. In a long career, he followed these up by many further operas, supported as maestro di cappella in the households of aristocratic patrons, such as the commander of military forces at Naples, prince Philip of Hesse-Darmstadt, or of the Portuguese ambassador at Rome, for composing operas alone did not yet make a viable career. However, his enduring fame rests chiefly upon his unequalled power of teaching singing. At the Neapolitan Conservatorio di Sant'Onofrio and with the Poveri di Gesù Cristo he trained Farinelli, Caffarelli, Salimbeni, and other celebrated vocalists, during the period 1715 to 1721. In 1720 and 1721 he wrote two serenades to libretti by a gifted young poet, Metastasio, the beginning of a long, though interrupted, collaboration. In 1722 his operatic successes encouraged him to lay down his conservatory commitments.
After a rebuff from the court of Charles VI at Vienna in 1725, Porpora settled mostly in Venice, composing and teaching regularly in the schools of La Pietà and the Incurabili. In 1729 the anti-Handel clique invited him to London to set up an opera company as a rival to Handel's, without success, and in the 1733–1734 season, even the presence of his pupil, the great Farinelli, failed to save the dramatic company in Lincoln's Inn Fields (the "Opera of the Nobility") from bankruptcy.
An interval as Kapellmeister at the Dresden court of the Elector of Saxony and Polish King Augustus from 1748 ended in strained relations with his rival in Venice and Rome, the hugely successful opera composer Johann Adolph Hasse and his wife, the prima donna Faustina, and resulted in Porpora's departure in 1752.
From Dresden he went to Vienna, where among other pupils he trained the young Marianne von Martinez, a future composer. As his accompanist and valet he hired the youthful Joseph Haydn, who was making his way in Vienna as a struggling freelancer. Haydn later remembered Porpora thus: "There was no lack of Asino, Coglione, Birbante [ass, cullion, rascal], and pokes in the ribs, but I put up with it all, for I profited greatly from Porpora in singing, in composition, and in the Italian language." He also said that he had learned from the maestro "the true fundamentals of composition".
In 1753 Porpora spent three summer months, with Haydn in tow, at the spa town Mannersdorf am Leithagebirge. His function there was to continue the singing lessons of the mistress of the ambassador of Venice to the Austrian Empire, Pietro Correr.
Porpora returned in 1759 to Naples.
From this time Porpora's career was a series of misfortunes: his florid style was becoming old-fashioned, his last opera, Camilla, failed, his pension from Dresden stopped, and he became so poor that the expenses of his funeral were paid by a subscription concert. Yet at the moment of his death, Farinelli and Caffarelli were living in splendid retirement on fortunes largely based on the excellence of the old maestro's teaching.
A good linguist, who was admired for the idiomatic fluency of his recitatives, and a man of considerable literary culture, Porpora was also celebrated for his conversational wit. He was well-read in Latin and Italian literature, wrote poetry and spoke French, German and English.
Besides some four dozen operas, there are oratorios, solo cantatas with keyboard accompaniment, motets and vocal serenades. Among his larger works, his 1720 opera Orlando, oratorio Gedeone (1737), one mass, his Venetian Vespers, and the operas Germanico in Germania (1732) and Arianna in Nasso (1733 according to HOASM) have been recorded.