Leonardo Vinci

Leonardo Vinci
Portrait of Vinci, perhaps a late 18th/early 19th-century copy[n 1]
Born	Leonardo Vinci 1690 Strongoli, Kingdom of Sicily
Died	27 May 1730 Naples
Occupation	Composer

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.^[1] A central proponent of the Neapolitan School of opera,^[2] his influence on subsequent opera composers such as Johann Adolph Hasse and Giovanni Battista Pergolesi was considerable.^[3]

He was born at Strongoli and educated at Naples under Gaetano Greco in the Conservatorio dei Poveri di Gesù Cristo.^[4] He first became known for his opere buffe (comic operas) in the Neapolitan language in 1719; he also composed many opere serie (dramatic operas). He was received into the Congregation of the Rosary, a lay religious and burial fraternity, at Formiello in 1728.^[5] He died in May 1730.^[6] Vinci is rumoured to have been poisoned by a jealous husband in the wake of an ill-advised affair, a story which is given by several reliable authorities without evident contradictions.^{[7][n 2]}

Vinci's opere buffe, of which Li zite 'ngalera (1722) is generally regarded as the best, are full of life and spirit; his opere serie, of which Didone Abbandonata (Rome, 1726) and Artaserse (Rome, 1730) are the most notable, have an incisive vigour and directness of dramatic expression praised by music historian Charles Burney. According to Burney,

"Vinci seems to have been the first opera composer who, without degrading his art, rendered it the friend, though not the slave to poetry, by simplifying and polishing melody and calling the audience's attention to the voice part by liberating it from fugue, complication, and labored contrivance. ".

— Charles Burney, A General History of Music (1789)^[8]

The well-known aria "Vo solcando," from Artaserse, is a good example of his style.^[1]

In addition to operas, Vinci wrote a few cantatas, sonatas, a serenata, and two oratorios (Oratorio di Maria dolorata ca. 1723 and Oratorio per la Santissima Vergine del Rosario ca. 1730). His sonata in D major for flute and basso continuo is still played today. He composed two sonatas for the recorder in addition to a recorder concerto in A minor.^{[citation needed]}

• Fileno – Soprano Cantatas Mesta Oh Dio, tra queste selve. Mi costa tante lacrime. Amor di Citerea. Parto, ma con qual core. Emanuela Galli & Francesca Cassinari, Stile Galante, Stefano Aresi. With work wrongly attributed to Vinci by Alessandro Scarlatti Fille, tu parti? Oh Dio! Pan Classics 2011.
• In 2015 Decca released a Parnassus Arts Productions recording of his 3-act opera seria, Catone in Utica (Rome, 1728).^[9]

• Markstrom, Kurt (2001). "Vinci, Leonardo". Grove Music Online. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.29423. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
• Markstrom, Kurt Sven (2007). The Operas of Leonardo Vinci, Napoletano. Hillsdale: Pendragon Press. ISBN 978-1-57647-094-7.
• "Leonardo Vinci | Italian composer". Encyclopædia Britannica. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. 1 January 2021.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Leonardo Vinci.

• Free scores by Leonardo Vinci at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)
• The Mutopia Project has compositions by Leonardo Vinci
• Arte TV broadcast of the 2022 Bayreuth production of Alessandro nel Indie