Il cardinale Troiano Acquaviva d’Aragona e la tradizione delle cantate romane per i reali di Napoli (1738-1746)

Abstract

Cardinal Troiano Acquaviva d’Aragona (1694-1747) was a leading figure on the Roman cultural scene in the first half of the eighteenth-century. A member of one of the most prestigious aristocratic families in Southern Italy, he served as diplomatic representative of the kingdoms of Spain and Naples to the Holy See. After illustrating his interests and patronage activity in the musical field, the essay focuses on the series of cantatas he commissioned to celebrate the birthdays of Charles of Bourbon and Maria Amalia of Saxony, the Neapolitan royal couple, from 1738 to 1746. These works, which were composed by renamed ‘maestri di cappella’ (Gaetano Latilla, Giuseppe Scarlatti, Domingo Terradellas, Giovanni Battista Costanzi) and performed by first rank singers for a selected audience in the Palazzo di Spagna, were not only refined artistic objects but also powerful and effective instruments of political propaganda.