Alessandro Scarlatti 
Three chamber cantatas on the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice
edited by Giacomo Sciommeri

Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725) was a most popular and influential late-Baroque Italian composer. His large body of works encompasses all genres, from opera to instrumental music, from liturgical music to oratorios, to chamber cantatas, the field he was most prolific in. Hundreds of manuscript sources bearing his name have come to us, mostly commissioned by such noble Roman patrons as Christina, Queen of Sweden, and Cardinals Pietro Ottoboni, Francesco Maria Ruspoli, and Benedetto Pamphilj, or traceable to Scarlatti’s work for the Naples royal court. This scholarly edition has three cantatas with lyrics on Orpheus and Eurydice, namely, Poiché riseppe Orfeo, Dall’oscura magion dell’arsa Dite (“L’Orfeo”), and Del lagrimoso lido (“Euridice dall’inferno”), all of them typical examples of Scarlatti’s cantatas and, more generally, of the way the Orpheus myth entered this genre in Italy.

- Poiché riseppe Orfeo, soprano and basso continuo
- Dall’oscura magion dell’arsa Dite («L’Orfeo»), soprano, two violins, and basso continuo
- Del lagrimoso lido («Euridice dall’inferno»), soprano and basso continuo

Giacomo Sciommeri got his master's degree in "Musicology and Musical Heritage", and his PhD in "Cultural Heritage and Territory" at the Tor Vergata University, Rome. He received his 2nd level diploma in “Historical, Critical and Analytical Musicology” from the S. Cecilia Conservatory of Rome. His main research focus is on Italian chamber cantata. He is a scientific committee member of the Istituto Italiano per la Storia della Musica, the secretary of the Centro Studi sulla Cantata Italiana, and a coordinator of the "Clori. Archivio della cantata italiana" international project. He is Teaching Assistant of "Music History" and Adjunct Professor of Master MIDA at the Tor Vergata University, Rome.