ABSTRACT
The climate of moralizing bigotry became more oppressive after the death of viceroy Del Carpio, who had favoured festivals and popular entertainments to an unprecedented extent. In 1685 the humanist and future bishop Pompeo Sarnelli wrote a letter to Abbot Crispini on the subject of 'what music should be performed in churches'. In this letter he made comments on a previously published text by Cardinal Orsini who, basing his arguments on the decrees of the Council of Trent, condemned with severity the 'musica teatrale irreligiosamente introdotta nelle chiese'. In autumn 1657, Naples saw the staging of Provenzale's version of Xerse, to a text by Nicola Minato, already set to music by Cavalli in the Venetian Teatro SS. Giovanni e Paolo in January 1654. Of the half dozen melodrammi known to have been composed by Provenzale between 1653 and 1678, scores survive of just two operas, copied by assistant Gaetano Veneziano, entitled Lo schiavo di sua moglie and Stellidaura vendicante.
