Download Terradellas, Domingo Miguel Bernabe [Terradeglias, Domenico]

Terradellas, Domingo Miguel Bernabe [Terradeglias, Domenico]
(b Barcelona, 1711; d Rome, 20 May 1751). Spanish composer. He probably received part of
his musical instruction from Francese Valls, choirmaster of Barcelona Cathedral. In 1732 he
moved to Italy. Sponsored by the Prince of Belmonte, he registered as a student at the music
conservatory Poveri di Gesù Cristo in Naples on 23 May, at the same time committing
himself to stay in the conservatory, where he studied with Francesco Durante, and to
contribute to its music for a period of six years. His first important work, the oratorio
Giuseppe riconosciuto, was written in 1736 while he was still a student. His professional
career as a dramatic composer began in Carnival 1739 with the production in Rome of his
heroic opera Astarto. He then returned to Naples where he wrote his second oratorio,
Ermenegildo martire (performed 1739), and his single comic opera, Gl’intrichi delle cantarine
(performed 1740).
In 1743 he achieved his first outstanding success with the presentation in Rome of his
opera Merope. The Neapolitan envoy at the papal court, Cardinal Acquaviva, was so
impressed that he wrote a strong recommendation for the composer to the court authorities in
Naples, claiming that Merope had obtained a success in Rome ‘the like of which no one can
remember for many years’. Terradellas stayed in Rome where he secured an appointment at
the church of S Giacomo degli Spagnoli. During his years in this post (1743–5) he wrote
many church compositions. According to Carreras, he left S Giacomo in 1745 because of
differences with his colleagues. In 1746 he went to London where, in the course of a winter
season, he composed two operas and arranged a pasticcio, all for the King’s Theatre. In spring
or early summer 1747 he returned to the Continent by way of Paris. By 1750 he was back in
Italy. During carnival that year he was at Turin for the production of his new opera Didone,
and in May he was at Venice for the production of another new opera, Imeneo in Atene.
Sesostri re d’Egitto, his last opera, was performed with great success in Rome in Carnival
1751. The following May he died; how he died is still a mystery. The lurid report in the
Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung of 12 March 1800 that, after a period of intense rivalry
between him and another composer, Nicolò Jommelli, he was murdered and his body thrown
into the Tiber, is nowadays discounted.
Though Terradellas was Spanish by birth, his taste and musical style were thoroughly
italianate. His reputation rests primarily on his Italian opere serie. The structure of these
operas was the usual one of the period: recitatives alternate with lyrical items, most of which
are da capo arias. Terradellas used accompanied recitative sparingly but always to good
advantage in moments of heightened dramatic intensity, and often increased its effectiveness
by introducing wind instruments; Terradellas was one of the first to popularize the use of
wind instruments in this context. Ferocity of expression, caused primarily by the vigorous
orchestral accompaniment, marks many of his arias in fast time. His arias are generally
distinguished by their strong contrasts, created by such means as changes of colour and
texture, of key (from major to minor and back again), of time signature and of speed. Such
features are among the advanced elements of Terradellas’s music.
His church music contains the same degree of vigour and the same elements of
contrast. Here he demonstrated his skill in composing for large choir, often divided into two
or four groups which might themselves be doubled in loud passages. Well-developed choral
fugues occur in some of his masses. At the end of his career he is said to have reacted against
these types of technique. Following a meeting with Terradellas, which presumably occurred
in Paris in about 1747, Rousseau reported in his Lettre sur la musique française (Paris, 1753)
that the composer expressed himself ashamed of his earlier motets with their ‘laboured’
choruses. ‘Once upon a time’, Rousseau quotes him as saying, ‘I loved to create noise; now I
try to make music’.
WORKS
stage
dm
dramma per musica
Astarto (dm, 3, A. Zeno and P. Pariati), Rome, Dame, carn. 1739, arias I-Mc and Rc, excerpts
S-Uu
Cerere (componimento per musica, 2), Rome, 20 Jan 1740
Gl’intrichi delle cantarine (commedia per musica, 3, A. Palomba), Naples, Fiorentini, carn.
1740
Merope (dm, 3, Zeno), Rome, Dame, 3 Jan 1743; A-Wn, D-MÜs, GB-Cfm (17 items), I-Bc,
IBborromeo (arias), Mc (arias); ed. in PBC, xiv (1951)
Artaserse (dm, 3, Metastasio), Venice, S Giovanni Grisostomo, carn. 1744; I-Mc, Vnm, 7
arias in Vqs; 5 arias and duet in Dudici arie e due duetti (London, c1747)
Semiramide riconosciuta (dm, 3, Metastasio), Florence, Pergola, carn. 1746, arias in Fc and
Mc, excerpts in S-Skma
Mitridate (dramma, 3, F. Vanneschi), London, King’s, 6 Dec 1746; 12 arias in The Favourite
Songs in the Opera call’d Mitridate (London, 1746–7)
Bellerofonte (dramma, 3, Vanneschi), London, King’s, 24 March 1747; 6 arias in The
Favourite Songs in the Opera call’d Bellerofonte (London, 1747)
Didone abbandonata (dm, 3, Metastasio), Turin, Regio, carn. 1750; 10 arias in I-Rsc
Imeneo in Atene (componimento drammatico, 3, S. Stampiglia), Venice, S Samuele, 6 May
1750
Sesostri re d’Egitto (dm, 3, Pariati), Rome, Dame, carn. 1751, D-MÜs (facs. in IOB, xliii,
1978), I-Gl, Nc, Rsc, excerpts in US-BEm and SFsc
sacred vocal
Giuseppe riconosciuto (orat, Metastasio), Naples, Oratorio di S Filippo, 1736, D-MÜs
Ermenegildo martire (orat), Naples, Oratorio di S Chiara, 1739, music lost
Missa solemnis, B-Bc; Missa di gloria, 4vv, insts, CH-A; Mass, SATB, insts, D-MÜs; Mass,
5vv, insts, E-V; Ky, Gl, 8vv, insts, I-Rsmm; Messa Lucina [Ky, Gl], SSATB, insts, Rsmm;
Credo, SATB, insts, Rsmm
Confitebor di Napoli, B-Bc; Dixit Dominus, SATB, insts, D-MÜs; Dixit Dominus, S, A, T, B,
chorus, orch, org, E-SCc; Lit, S, S, A, T, B, orch, org, D-WEY; TeD, SATB, insts, I-MOe
Laudate, S, SATB, insts; Confitebor, SSATB, insts, 1743; Credidi, S, A, SATB, insts, 1744;
Dixit Dominus, S, A, SATB, insts; Laetatus sum, S, A, SATB, insts, 1743; Debellato duce
ingrato, SATB, insts, 1743; Domine me festina, SATB, insts, 1743; O diem fortunatum,
SATB, insts, 1743; Praestantissime stellae, SSATB, insts, 1744: all in Rsmm
Gloria patri, SATB, insts, E-Mn; Laetentur omnes, motet, 3vv, str, org, CH-A; Luminosa
consurgit, SATB, insts, GB-Lcm, I-Rsmm; Miserere, SATB, insts, org, D-BAR; Nocturna
procella, B-Bc; Plaudite populi, cant., S, insts, bc, Bc; Regina coeli, S, insts, org, D-KZa;
Salve regine, S, ints, CH-E
other works
Cara, non tanto sdegno, duet, I-Fc; Dal oriente non nasce il solo, cant., Rsc; Duetto, S, S, str,
D-RH; Tradita sprezzata, cant., Bsb
Arias and other pieces in 18th-century anthologies
Numerous arias, some from operas, in A-Wn; B-Bc; CH-EN; D-Bsb, Dlb, F, RH, SWl, W;
DK-Kk, GB-Cfm, En, Lbl, LVp, Oc; F-Pc; I-Gl, Mc, MAav, Nc, Vc, Vqs; P-Ln; S-SK; USBp, Wc
Marciata, vn, BEm; Ov., D, B-Bc; Sinfonia, ob, str, I-Gl