Leo Leonardo Leo

Leonardo Leo (5 August 1694 – 31 October 1744), more correctly Lionardo Oronzo Salvatore de Leo, was a Neapolitan Baroque composer.

Biography

Leo was born in San Vito degli Schiavoni (current San Vito dei Normanni, province of Brindisi) in the Apulia region, then part of the Kingdom of Naples.

He became a student at the Conservatorio della Pietà dei Turchini at Naples in 1703, and was a pupil first of Francesco Provenzale and later of Nicola Fago. It has been supposed that he was a pupil of Pitoni and Alessandro Scarlatti, but he could not possibly have studied with either of these composers, although he was undoubtedly influenced by their compositions. His earliest known work was a sacred drama, L'infedelta abbattuta, performed by his fellow-students in 1712.

In 1714 he produced, at the court theatre, an opera, Pisistrato, which was much admired. He held various posts at the royal chapel, and continued to write for the stage, besides teaching at the conservatory. After adding comic scenes to Francesco Gasparini's Bajazette in 1722 for performance at Naples, he composed comic operas in Neapolitan such as La'mpeca scoperta in 1723, and L'Alidoro in 1740.

His most famous comic opera was Amor vuol sofferenze (1739), better known as La Finta Frascatana, highly praised by De Brosses. He was equally distinguished as a composer of serious opera, Demofoonte (1735), Farnace (1737) and L'Olimpiade (1737) being his most famous works in this branch, and is still better known as a composer of sacred music. He died of a stroke while engaged in the composition of new arias for a revival of La Finta Frascatana.

Leo was the first of the Neapolitan school to obtain a complete mastery over modern harmonic counterpoint. His sacred music is masterly and dignified, logical rather than passionate, and free from the sentimentality which is present in the work of Francesco Durante and Giovanni Battista Pergolesi. His serious operas suffer from a coldness and severity of style, but in his comic operas he shows a keen sense of humour. His ensemble movements are spirited, but never worked up to a strong climax.

A fine and characteristic example of his sacred music is the Dixit Dominus in C, edited by CV Stanford and published by Novello. A number of songs from operas are accessible in modern editions.

Operas

Drammi per musica

1. Sofonisba (Naples, Teatro San Bartolomeo, 1719)
2. Cajo Gracco (Teatro San Bartolomeo, 1720)
3. Bajazette (1722)
4. Tamerlano (Rome, 1722)
5. Timocrate (Venice, 1723)
6. Zenobia in Palmira (Naples, Teatro San Bartolomeo, 1725)
7. Astianatte (1725)
8. La somiglianza (Naples, Teatro dei Fiorentini, 1726)
9. L'Orismene, overo dagli sdegni gli amori (Naples, Teatro Nuovo, 1726)
10. Ciro riconosciuto (1727)
11. Argene (1728)
12. La zingara (intermezzo, 1731)
13. Intermezzi per l'Argene (1731)
14. Catone (Venice, 1732)
15. Amore dà senno (Naples, Teatro Nuovo, 1733)
16. Emira (with intermezzi by Ignazio Prota, 1735)
17. La clemenza di Tito (1735)
18. Onore vince amore (Naples, Teatro dei Fiorentini, 1736)
19. La simpatia del sangue (1737)
20. Siface (1737)
21. Festa teatrale (1739)
22. La contesa dell'Amore e della virtù (1740)
23. Scipione nelle Spagne (1740)
24. Alessandro (1741)
25. Demoofonte (1741)
26. L'impresario delle Isole Canarie (1741)
27. Andromaca (1742)
28. Vologeso (1744)
29. La finta Frascatana (1744)

Undated operas:

1. Amor vuol sofferenza (opera seria)
2. Artaserse
3. Lucio Papirio
4. Arianna e Teseo (cantata teatrale)
5. L'Olimpiade
6. Evergete
7. Il matrimonio anascoso
8. Alidoro
9. Alessandro nell'Indie
10. Il Medo
11. Nitocri, regina di egitto
12. Il Pisistrate
13. Il trionfo di Camillo
14. Le nozze di Psiche
15. Achille in Sciro