Early Years
Perez was born in Naples, the son of Giovanni Perez and Rosalina Serrari, both Neapolitans. At the age of 11 he became a student at the Conservatorio di S Maria di Loreto in Naples, where he remained until 1733, studying counterpoint with Francesco Mancini, singing and keyboard playing with Giovanni Veneziano, and violin with Francesco Barbella.
On completion of his studies, Perez immediately entered the service of the Sicilian Prince d’Aragona, Naselli. From 1734 date his first known pieces, the Latin cantatas Ilium Palladio astu Subducto Expugnatum and Palladium performed in Palermo’s Collegio della Società di Gesù, for the laurelling festivities. In the following years, he was active both in Palermo and Naples, as his patron became Chamberlain of the newly crowned king, Carlo I. His first opera, La nemica amante, was composed for the king’s birthday on 4 November 1735 and presented in the gardens of the Neapolitan royal palace and later in the Teatro S Bartolomeo. In the libretto’s dedication the impresario of the theatre, Angelo Carasale, referred to Perez and Pergolesi as ‘dei buoni virtuosi di questa città’. Unlike Pergolesi's opera, which was then considered a failure, Perez's was a great success, and his early career granted him, in 1738, an appointment as vicemaestro di cappella at Palermo’s Cappella Palatina, the Church of St. Peter in the royal palace, to become maestro the next year upon the death of its former titular, Pietro Puzzuolo.
Read more about this topic: Davide Perez
Famous quotes containing the words early and/or years:
“All of Western tradition, from the late bloom of the British Empire right through the early doom of Vietnam, dictates that you do something spectacular and irreversible whenever you find yourself in or whenever you impose yourself upon a wholly unfamiliar situation belonging to somebody else. Frequently it’s your soul or your honor or your manhood, or democracy itself, at stake.”
—June Jordan (b. 1939)
“One of the most difficult aspects of being a parent during the middle years is feeling powerless to protect our children from hurt. However “growthful” it may be for them to experience failure, disappointment and rejection, it is nearly impossible to maintain an intellectual perspective when our sobbing child or rageful child comes in to us for help. . . . We can’t turn the hurt around by kissing the sore spot to make it better. We are no longer the all-powerful parent.”
—Ruth Davidson Bell (20th century)