Gaetano Latilla

Latilla composed comic operas, serious operas and some instrumental quartets while he was in London. The majority of his works are not in tact and it cn be presumed that since he was employed for the greater part of his life in the church or with charitable establishments that he composed numerous sacred pieces as well. Few of these works have survived. Latilla was a choir boy of Bari Cathedral when he moved to Naples to study at the Conservatory. Mancini and Veneziano were the masters at that time one of which probably directed Latilla. His own success began with the composition of ths opera "Li marite a forza" in 1732 and a number of other comic operas followed during the next five years. Outside of Naples his fame spread to Rome with the serious opera "Demofoonte" as well as with commissions for more comic operas from patrons within that city. The earliest surviving comic opera by Latilla is "Angelica ed Orlando" while the last was "Antigono." Characteristically Latilla's later music included longer melodic passages and thicker accompaniments. Earlier works tended to be more lyric and sweet when compared with his later works. Arguably this was because Latilla attempted to remain current with the new styles and manners of Piccini and Sacchini. ~ Keith Johnson, Rovi