Composer. Apart from a brief period in Rome, he lived his whole life in Naples. As director of several conservatories there, he taught Giovanni Pergolesi, Giovanni Paisiello, and Niccolo Piccini. Durante wrote primarily for the church; his catalog includes 24 Masses, five Requiems, 33 Psalm settings and scores of other vocal pieces. Although he expressed considerable dramatic flair in his music, religious inhibitions prevented him from tackling an opera, the only path to musical fame and fortune in 18th Century Italy. He attempted to compromise with a genre he created: the "sacred drama", an operatic treatment of a religious subject. This found little favor among Durante's contemporaries and only one of his sacred dramas survives, "San Antonio di Padona" (1753). But his concept inspired later composers, among them Richard Wagner ("Parsifal"), Arthur Honegger, and Olivier Messiaen.
Composer. Apart from a brief period in Rome, he lived his whole life in Naples. As director of several conservatories there, he taught Giovanni Pergolesi, Giovanni Paisiello, and Niccolo Piccini. Durante wrote primarily for the church; his catalog includes 24 Masses, five Requiems, 33 Psalm settings and scores of other vocal pieces. Although he expressed considerable dramatic flair in his music, religious inhibitions prevented him from tackling an opera, the only path to musical fame and fortune in 18th Century Italy. He attempted to compromise with a genre he created: the "sacred drama", an operatic treatment of a religious subject. This found little favor among Durante's contemporaries and only one of his sacred dramas survives, "San Antonio di Padona" (1753). But his concept inspired later composers, among them Richard Wagner ("Parsifal"), Arthur Honegger, and Olivier Messiaen.
Bio by: Bobb Edwards
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