The concerto in the oeuvre of Nicola Fiorenza

It has often been postulated in the past that the works of Nicola Fiorenza should become the subject of detailed research. This article is the first to examine comprehensively the concertos of this outstanding Neapolitan violinist and cellist, and to present a thematic catalogue of his concertos. It also verifies the existing lists of Fiorenza’s works, and examines the issues of authorship and genre classification of his works. It confirms that he was the author of 20 concertos, eleven of which were composed during the years 1726-1728, while a few may be dated to a later period. His works are presented against the background of the concerto genre developed during the first half of the eighteenth-century. Fiorenza is the author of the oldest Neapolitan cello and violin concertos. He continues the tradition of his Neapolitan predecessors in using the four-movement form of the concerto with fugues, but is one of the first to introduce the dominance of homophonic texture and ritornello forms. The great majority of his concertos survive as single parts, but in a few of cases sources suggest the use of scoring for doubled parts. When compared to concertos by Northern Italian composers, Fiorenza’s works do not foreground the virtuoso element to the same extent. The composer places greater emphasis on the work’s expressive aspect, elegance of sound and harmony, original tonal plan and beauty of cantilena. In one case he even uses a paraphrase of the famous Farinelli’s aria Sposa, non mi conosci. The audiences for these concertos were Neapolitan aristocrats; some of the concertos may have formed part of the repertory of the Real Cappella, others may have been performed by pupils of the Conservatorio Santa Maria di Loreto during religious ceremonies.