Francesco Provenzale

Who was Francesco Provenzale?

Francesco Provenzale was an Italian Baroque composer and teacher. Notably Provenzale was the teacher of famed castrato 'il cavaliere Nicolo Grimaldi'.

Before the year 1658, there is virtually no record of Provenzale's existence, although it is thought that he studied at the Conservatorio della Pietà dei Turchini in Naples.

The year of his entry into history is 1654, the year his opera Teseo was performed in Naples. In his life, he mainly focused his energies on teaching, but he has a place in history as the first Neapolitan composer to embrace opera. Before Teseo, he seems to have composed at least two other operas. That same year, an opera called Il Ciro, no doubt by Provenzale, was performed in Venice at the Teatro Santi Giovanni e Paolo. What was remarkable about the opera was that part of the music was by Francesco Cavalli; no other collaborative opera is known of in Venice before this date and Provenzale's Xerse and Artemisia may both have been arrangements of original works by Cavalli.

Between composing opera and teaching, Provenzale managed to live a comfortable life. In 1660, he was married to Chiara Basile and by spring 1663, he became maestro of the Conservatorio di S Maria di Loreto, where he had been working for at least two years. In 1665 his son Giuseppe was born; he and his wife also had two daughters.