Davide Perez - Maturity

Maturity

In the early 1740s Perez firmly established himself as a mature master. The opera he composed for the Roman Teatro d’Alibert, in the Carnival of 1740, was not presented due to the sudden the death of Pope Clement XII, but on Perez's return to Naples he staged an opera buffa, I travestimenti amorosi and a serenata L’amor pittore for the court, and an opera seria, Il Siroe, for the Teatro San Carlo. Caffarelli and Manzuoli sang in the later.

Opera was not an easy enterprise in Palermo and, until 1745, most of Perez’s compositions as chapel master there were cantatas or serenatas and church music - including in 1742 a setting of Metastasio's oratorio La Passione di Gesù Cristo. In addition he composed church music for Naples, and two operas for the Genovese Carnival season of 1744. After March 1748 Perez was granted a leave of absence and never returned to Palermo, though he continued to receive half of his Palermo salary until his death. In rapid succession, he then staged his operas in Naples, Rome, Florence, Venice, Milan, Turin, and Vienna. In February 1749 Perez competed with Niccolò Jommelli in a public examination for the position as chapel master in the Vatican. The influence of Cardinal Albani and Cardinal Passionei granted Jommelli the appointment, even though Perez was the musicians’ favourite (Girolamo Chiti, the chapel master of another Papal chapel, St. John in Lateran, commented that Perez ‘composes, sings and plays as an angel’ and ‘is very much superior to Jommelli in groundwork, singing and playing. He is, however, an imaginary hypochondriac’).