Description
Provenance: Carlo Broschi alias Farinelli (1705-1782). A gift by Farinelli to an ‘Ab[a]te D[on] Peppe capecellatro’; possibly Giuseppe Capecelatro (1744-1836), who was Archbishop of Taranto from 1778 to 1816.
Description: A manuscript collection of seven pieces. Pieces 1-3 and 5-7 are sonatas by Scarlatti which are well-known from other sources. The fourth piece in this collection – titled ‘Ballet de M.r Cluck’ – consists of movements from Christoph Willibald Gluck’s Les amours d’Alexandre et de Roxane which was first performed in Vienna in 1764. These movements are keyboard arrangements of the Andantino (No. 2), the Allegretto (No. 3), the Menuet (No. 5), the Minore (No. 6), and the final Menuet (No. 8).
Titles: ‘Del Cavaliere D.n Domenico Scarlati’ for the first sonata (K159); ‘del medesimo Scarlati’ [by the same Scarlatti] for all other Scarlatti sonatas.
Copyist: A single professional Italian copyist – possibly even Farinelli himself (see below).
Comments: The front page features a number of annotations, among which is a dedication possibly written by Farinelli himself:
‘Il Caval.r Carlo Broschi Serv.re / ed Amico rimette Al Sig.r March.e / Ab.te D. Peppe capecellatro le / qui Annesse Sonate per Cembalo / di Composto Del Sig.r Cavalliere / D.n Domenico Scarlati’
(The Cavaliere Carlo Broschi, Servant and Friend, returns to Signor Marchese Abbate Don Peppe Capecelatro the herein enclosed Sonatas for Harpsichord, composed by the Cavaliere Don Domenico Scarlatti)
The word ‘rimette’ (returns) here is of particular interest. We take it to mean that Farinelli responded to a request by Giuseppe Capecelatro for Scarlatti sonatas rather than that Farinelli returned a manuscript of Scarlatti sonatas to its rightful owner.
Following this is another annotation in the same hand:
‘Quante note Vi sono, tante contantezze Vi desidera lo scrivente con perfetta / saluta per mari e Monti / Donate all’attenzione del Copista i Suoi / Errori di penna nel formar note. Ùf….. addio.’
(As many notes as there are within, so many joys does the writer wish you, with perfect health through seas and mountains [i.e. ‘come what may’]. Please draw to the copyist’s attention his errors of the pen in forming the notes. Ùf….. [expression of fatigue] farewell)
Further annotations on the front page – likely made by a librarian or collector – relate to the collection itself (‘Sonate N.o 7=’; ‘NB La prima di queste Sonate è la 32.a delle 60 [Breitkopf & Härtel 1866 edition] vedi Lib.o 4.o=’; ‘Non è autografo!’; ‘Sono pag. Quindici’).
The tempo marking ‘Andante Amoroso’ for K148 also appears in the Bologna manuscripts (both Bologna FF232 and Bologna KK96). A relationship between the Naples and Bologna collections has been suggested in the past, partly on this basis and partly on the fact that they share three sonatas (K148, K155, and K150). While there are shared variants between Naples and Bologna for these sonatas, it is unclear if these are substantial enough, and the presence of K166 in Naples – a sonata which has survived only in Spanish sources – suggests it may have been copied from Scarlatti manuscripts in Farinelli’s possession. The question is, of course, which manuscripts; neither Parma nor Venice seems to have been the exemplar for Naples.
Date: This manuscript was likely produced after 1766 based on the inclusion of the Gluck and biographical details about Capecelatro. From Capecelatro’s biography we learn that after he was ‘scarcely ordained a priest (19 December 1766), he was appointed canon of the cathedral; on 29 January 1770, following the example of many representatives of the Neapolitan clergy, he enrolled in the Congregation of Apostolic Missions’.
