Nicola Porpora (1686-1768): Two fugues for harpsichord

1) Fugue 4 in B-flat Major: 00:00 2) Fugue 5 in g minor: 2:44 Born in Naples (Italy), Nicola Porpora began studying at the famous Conservatorio dei Poveri di Gesù Cristo under the tutelage of Gaetano Greco at age 10 (see this recording of mine for one of Greco’s works: ). He later became “Kapellmeister” for Prince Philipp of Hessen-Darmstadt, who was the commander of the Imperial troops which were stationed in Naples. His first opera, “Agrippina” debuted on November 4, 1708, when the composer was only 22. In 1715, he became voice teacher at another well-known conservatory, Sant’Onofrio, and was the teacher of the later wildly famous castrato “Farinelli”, who became a good friend of Domenico Scarlatti years later while living in Spain. Porpora later taught and composed in Venice. But in 1733, Porpora was invited by the Prince of Wales to move to London, in order to direct his “Opera of the Nobility”, which competed with another opera company supported by King George II, and which was run by the great Handel. (The Prince of Wales and his father the King were not on the best of terms.) The musical competition between Porpora and Handel bore rich fruit for the world of opera, for these two excellent composers, motivated by their desire to always “outdo” their rival, composed a series of operas that are of extraordinary quality. Despite the popular success of these works, however, the money needed to produce them soon drove both opera companies into ruin; Handel stopped writing operas, and turned to oratorios instead – fortunately so, because a few years later, he had produced his immortal “Messiah”, one of the greatest works in music history! And as for Porpora, he returned to Italy, then tried his luck in Dresden and Vienna, only to go back to Naples and take a position as Maestro di Cappella in another conservatory there. In 1761, at the age of 75, he retired for reasons unknown to us; his last years were spent in increasing poverty. Quite sad, considering the amazing talent he possessed, both as a composer, as well as being the greatest teacher of singing in Italy. The two fugues presented here are from a set of six that he composed for keyboard. A pity he didn’t write more of them, for they are fine works indeed! – David Bolton, “The Digital Harpsichordist” What? You still haven’t seen my books? Please do check them out at Amazon! 1) How to Memorize Music – A Practical Approach for Non-Geniuses 2) How to overcome Stage Fright − The ultimate Guide for performing Musicians 3) Play it with Feeling! - Expressing Emotion in Musical Performance All available at Please subscribe to my channel! P.S. You might want to join my Facebook Group: “The Digital Harpsichordist“: