“A basic characteristic of religious and church music of the Neapolitan School in the eighteenth century is the co-existence of stile antico and stile moderno, that is, of polyphony in the broadest sens, the preservation of a rigorous approach to a cappella counterpoint on one hand, and of new ideas of harmony and monody and the cantata style on the other.” (…)
Only the greatest composers can offer such a world of emotion, those whom Naples and history choose to remember with affection. Not surprisingly, Leonardo Leo was laid to rest in the Capella dei Filarmonici di Santa Cecilia, in the church of Santa Maria di Montesanto in Naples, beside Alessandro Scarlatti, father of the Neapolitan School which found a perfect heir in Leo.”
Giovanna Ferrara Lecturer in the History of Music at the Conservatorio di San Pietro a Majella Translation: Ken Chalmers
© 2002 Decca Music Group Limited
This recording has been made with the participation of the Abbaye Royale de Fontevraud, Centre Cultural de l’Ouest
1CD Decca / 460 020-2 Recorded and released in 2002
