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Composer: Domènec Terradellas (1713-1751)
Work: Sinfonia (Obertura) 'Sesostri, re d'Egitto' (1751)
Performers: Concerto Brandenburg
Painting: Florentine School (18th Century) - The Bridge of Life
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Domènec (Domingo, Domenico) Miquel (Miguel) Bernabé Terradellas [Terradeglias]
(Barcelona, bap. 13 February 1711 - 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’. But the Neapolitan court took no interest, and 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.
