Le cantate del fondo Altieri presso la Biblioteca Comunale Principe di Villadorata di Noto

The Paolo Altieri music Archive, preserved at the Principe di Villadorata Municipal Library in Noto, is one of the most important musical assets in south-eastern Sicily. It currently consists of over a thousand manuscripts, gathered in 82 volumes (bound and numbered) and in about thirty «Buste» containing loose pieces which, altogether, represent just over half of the entire collection put together and left by Paolo Altieri at his death in 1820. Much appreciated by Altieri is the vocal chamber music genre both for two voices and for solo voice (with or without instruments). The first group includes the Duetti by Michele Barbici, preserved in a single copy, the Duetti per soprano e contralto by Francesco Durante and the Duetti da camera by Giancarlo Maria Clari. The second group includes some cantatas which, in addition to the continuo, include the accompaniment of string instruments; among these, also in a single copy, it is worth mentioning the cantata No, non turbarti o Nice, by the Neapolitan violinist Tommaso Prota and the Quattro cantate per Cembalo by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi. However, the most valuable part of the Altieri Archive is represented by vol. 36 which contains thirty-five vocal cantatas, five of which — by musicians of the importance of Alessandro Scarlatti, Georg Friedrich Händel and Domenico Sarro — preserved in a single copy.