Italian composer. Pupil of
Fago
at the Conservatorio S. Maria della Pietà dei Turchini,
Naples, from 1709; became
maestro di cappella
to the Marchese Stella and an organist at the viceroyal chapel in
1713, succeeding
Alexander Scarlatti
as the viceroy's first organist in 1725. Active as an opera
composer from at least 1714, he wrote dramatic music for Naples,
Venice, Rome, and other cities, and from 1723 was also a major
figure in comic opera. Though temporarily eclipsed in the late
1720s by
Hasse
and
Vinci
, he soon regained his preeminent position, succeeding Vinci at
the royal chapel in 1730, becoming vice-maestro there in 1737 and
maestro di cappella
shortly before his death; important also as a teacher, he served
as
primo maestro
at both the Conservatorio S. Onofrio (succeeding Feo in 1739) and
the Conservatorio dei Turchini (replacing
Fago
in 1741), with Piccinni and
Jommelli
among his pupils. In addition to some thirty serious operas
(many later examples of which are set to Metastasian libretti)
and twenty comic operas, he produced serenatas and other shorter
dramatic works, secular vocal music, oratorios, church music, and
instrumental compositions, along with several didactic manuals.