Il trionfo dell'onore

La Fenice staging
on the 300th anniversary of Alessandro Scarlatti’s death

The Triumph of Honour, or the Dissolute Repentant – the only musical comedy among th thirty operas written by Alessandro Scarlatti – recalls in the character of the young dissolute Riccardo Albenori the myth of Don Giovanni: a dissolute man who, moreover, in the end repents. This opera – performed for the first time in Naples, at Teatro dei Fiorentini, on November 26, 1718, where it was met with great success by the Neapolitan public who were showing a growing interest in this repertoire – inaugurated a new model of opera buffa, with a coherent dramaturgic-musical structure and characters who express themselves in Tuscan dialect, rather than, according to tradition, in Neapolitan. The complicated interaction of no less than four couples also allows Scarlatti to juggle a series of ensemble pieces which culminate in the superb concertato at the end of the second act. With The Triumph of Honour Scarlatti therefore opens up paths, which will later be followed by Giovan Battista Pergolesi and other greats from the Neapolitan school.