This study day, ‘Alessandro Scarlatti and His Time’, offered a broad and innovative look at current research on the composer and his musical environment on the tercentenary of his death. Over the course of two sessions, scholars and practitioners presented work that revealed the diversity of approaches being applied to the study of Scarlatti, from archival discoveries and biographical investigations to issues of performance practice, transmission and reception both within and beyond Italy. In what follows I highlight the main topics, fresh perspectives and distinctive features addressed by each speaker.

The day opened with institutional greetings from Aurelio Zarrelli, Director of the Conservatorio Giovan Battista Martini in Bologna. He reminded attendees that events like this foster essential dialogue amongst scholars and performers and invigorate the field through interdisciplinary collaboration. The study day was part of an Erasmus+ Intensive Blended Programme, a rather new way of integrating student and staff mobility on specific topics that deal with European institutions. Masterclasses, museum visits, workshops and performances by students and staff of the Conservatorio constituted the ecosystem in which the talks of the day flourished. The partners were the Conservatorio G. B. Martini, the Instituto Politécnico de Castelo Branco, the Akademia Muzyczna im. Krzysztofa Pendereckiego in Krakow, the Akademia Muzyczna im. Grażyny i Kiejstuta Bacewiczów in Łódź, the Jāzepa Vītola Latvijas Mūzikas akadēmija in Riga and the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Vigo, in collaboration with the San Colombano Museum–Tagliavini Collection and the International Museum and Library of Music.

The first paper, by Luca Della Libera (Conservatorio di Frosinone), focused on an extraordinary corpus of one hundred previously unpublished letters sent between 1704 and 1729 by the Scarlatti family to Annibale Albani, nephew of Pope Clement XI and a highly influential figure. Della Libera demonstrated how this exceptional documentary treasure trove sheds valuable light on the mechanisms of musical patronage at the start of the eighteenth century and on the daily lives and social strategies of one of Italy’s greatest musical families. Particularly noteworthy are the thirty-one letters sent by Alessandro Scarlatti himself, which unveil biographical details, new aspects of his professional life and personal aesthetics, and previously unknown commissions received from Albani. The study also brings to light letters by Domenico Scarlatti – precious given that only one letter attributed to him had previously been known – alongside correspondence from other family members, such as his brother Pietro, his sisters Cristina and Flaminia, and Alessandro’s wife. The discussions within these family letters reflect a complex interplay among kinship bonds, career moves and the negotiating of advantageous positions for women within religious institutions. This research not only expands the boundaries of Scarlatti biography, but also clarifies the interplay of family networks and musical life in baroque Italy.

Nicola Badolato (Università di Bologna) examined the relationship between Scarlatti and his librettists through a comprehensive overview of his operatic career, which spanned from 1677 to 1721. Badolato noted how the composer set a heterogeneous selection of dramatic texts – some especially commissioned for original stagings, others adapted from previously performed works. By cross-referencing the titles of Scarlatti’s operas, the names of his collaborators and the venues where his works were staged, Badolato was able to reconstruct the intricate literary and social networks within which the composer operated. His research revealed the composer’s careful management of both artistic and personal relationships and a deliberate strategy in selecting texts and partners that could satisfy the expectations of patrons, audiences and institutions alike. This approach helped clarify not only Scarlatti’s individual practices but also broader trends in the Italian operatic world at the turn of the eighteenth century, and thus contributed to a more dynamic understanding of his position as a leading opera composer.

The question of Scarlatti’s Sicilian origins – whether Messina, Trapani or Palermo – formed the basis for a discussion by Luciano Scarpaci (Conservatorio di Bologna) of the performance history of Scarlatti’s works in Sicily. Scarpaci addressed how regional pride and the ongoing debate over Scarlatti’s birthplace have inspired a rich tradition of performances and tributes on the island, from his own era through to the major centenary commemorations. He mapped both historical and modern performances in cities such as Caltanissetta, Messina and Palermo, examining the respective cultural and institutional contexts as well as the performers and companies involved. Scarpaci’s research draws on both contemporaneous sources and so-called grey literature (such as concert programmes and commemorative pamphlets), providing insight into the roles of local associations and institutions in sustaining the Scarlatti legacy. His work demonstrates how historical reception is shaped as much by regional identity and long-term memory as by artistic achievement.

Giulia Giovani (Università di Siena) shifted attention to the transmission and collecting of Scarlatti’s music, focusing especially on his large body of chamber cantatas. Rather than delving into specific musical works, Giovani explored the phenomenon of collecting Scarlatti manuscripts, a trend that began in the 1720s and evolved markedly during the nineteenth century. By analysing auction catalogues from Berlin, Florence, Leipzig, London and Paris, she traced the fate and dispersal of various cantata manuscripts, highlighting the existence of important private collections and the resulting partial coverage provided by materials now housed in public libraries. Giovani’s insights remind us that the current state of scholarship on Scarlatti’s music is inevitably influenced by centuries of collecting practices – and that much remains to be understood about the full extent of his surviving oeuvre.

An extra-Italian dimension was introduced by João Janeiro (Escola Superior de Artes Aplicadas, Instituto Politécnico de Castelo Branco; Centro de Estudos em Música, Universidade Nova de Lisboa), who explored the influence of Scarlatti on the music of Portuguese composer Francisco António de Almeida (c1702–c1755). Janeiro drew attention to Almeida’s celebrated oratorio La Giuditta, a work often compared to Handel’s oratorios for its stylistic ambition, but which he suggested should also be seen in light of the prevailing Roman context. While direct lines of influence are, as Janeiro pointed out, often impossible to prove in an age of shared musical language, he convincingly argued that the Scarlattian compositional model was a crucial point of reference for Portuguese musicians working in early eighteenth-century Rome. Janeiro’s historical contextualization reframed Almeida’s music not so much as derivative of the Roman style at large, but rather as specifically animated by the innovations and reputation of Scarlatti – a perspective that emphasizes the permeability of cultural exchange between Italy and other parts of Europe in this period.

The afternoon brought a pronounced focus on performance practice and the practicalities of interpretation. Bettina Hoffmann and Maria Luisa Baldassari (both Conservatorio di Bologna) highlighted the issue of instrumentation, particularly with regard to the basso continuo. Distinguishing himself from the mainstream baroque tendency to leave the choice of continuo instruments largely to the discretion of the performers, Scarlatti specified in exceptional detail, especially in his theatrical works, which instruments – violoncellos, lutes, contrabasses and harpsichords – should be used. The presenters emphasized that attention to Scarlatti’s precise instructions enables performers today to make historically grounded yet flexible decisions about instrumentation. Their research thus provides both a deeper understanding for musicologists and valuable guidance for historically informed performers.

Continuing in this vein, I (Massimiliano Guido, Università di Pavia) discussed the significance of performing Scarlatti’s music on historical instruments. For me, the practice of playing period instruments serves as a form of dialogue between the modern performer and the composer, revealing subtleties about style, technique and even compositional intent that are often lost through modern adaptations. I advocated a multidisciplinary approach involving hands-on practical knowledge, organology and historical study, all directed toward reviving ‘lost sounds’ and imagining performances that more accurately reflect Scarlatti’s historical world. Such an approach encourages musicians to move beyond the conventions cemented during the twentieth century, in favour of a more critical, yet imaginative engagement with the past.

Giorgio Sanguinetti (Università di Roma Tor Vergata) turned to pedagogy, focusing on Scarlatti’s partimenti – didactic bass lines and exercises that have survived in key manuscript sources, notably those found in the British Library and in the Campori collection in Modena. Sanguinetti explored how these manuscripts, complete with rules and practical advice, transmit both the technical and the stylistic expectations of early eighteenth-century keyboard improvisation and accompaniment. He highlighted the persistence of hexachordal solmization in these sources, linking Scarlatti’s teaching to broader trends in late baroque music theory. The paper revealed the continuing relevance of this pedagogical tradition for performers interested in historically informed approaches to improvisation.

Lastly, Elia Pivetta (Università di Pavia) tackled the subject of basso-continuo realization in early eighteenth-century Italian cantatas, including those by Scarlatti, Gasparini and Marcello. He examined rare examples of written-out realizations, which offer a direct window onto the improvisational conventions and stylistic expectations of the time. These documents provide models that balance fidelity to the historical context with the performer’s imagination, affording today’s musicians valuable resources for creative engagement with the tradition. Pivetta’s research thus bridges rigorous source study with the practical needs of contemporary interpreters.

Throughout the day, the conference benefited from the collaboration of the Conservatorio Giovan Battista Martini in Bologna and a network of European institutions and scholarly committees, emphasizing the international nature of the research presented. The contributions made clear that Alessandro Scarlatti’s legacy is not a static monument, but a living and dynamic field – continually revised and expanded by new discoveries, methodologies and artistic experiments. Recent archival finds, approaches to performance that blend fidelity and inventiveness, new understandings of transmission and reception, and renewed attention to the contexts in which Scarlatti lived and worked – all serve to illuminate not only the composer himself, but the rich and changing world of baroque music to which he belonged. This event demonstrated that Scarlatti studies are marked by vigorous scholarly activity and a strong connection between historical research and performance, opening up promising new perspectives for exploration in the coming years.