Domènec Terradellas
[a] Carreras i Bulbena did extensive research in contemporary documents, such as baptismal records, and found that the correct date was 1713.
The reason for this is that Italian opera was by far the dominant genre of opera at this time, attracting composers from all across Europe: George Frideric Handel, Johann Adolph Hasse, Johann Christian Bach (all Germans), Thomas Arne (an Englishman), Josef Mysliveček (a Czech), and Vicente Martín y Soler (a Spaniard).
The musicologist Felipe Pedrell reported seeing the manuscript in the library of San Giacomo degli Spagnuoli in Rome in 1898.
Carreras does not mention Cerere, but the libretto in the Library of Congress, Washington D.C., attests to Terradellas's authorship and the date of performance.
Terradellas was approved as maestro di cappella by the congregation of that church on 1 May 1743 with a salary of 10 scudi per month.
A libretto in the library of Santa Cecilia names Terradellas as the composer of a Merope, performed in Florence in 1750, but the attribution is only written in pencil on the flyleaf facing the title page.
Terradellas's most productive years were during his tenure at San Giacomo, as evidenced by the two operas and the impressive list of religious works.
The other two were the arias from Mitridate and Bellerofonte, also published by John Walsh in London in his "Favorite Songs" series.
Italy was the hub of operatic activity with its most important theaters in Rome, Naples, Venice and Florence, although every town of any size had an opera theatre.
Charles Burney notes the indifference of the public toward opera in London during these years, when their interests were being absorbed by native playwrights such as Colley Cibber.
[11]Letters and other literature of the period attest to the vast financial losses suffered by producers of opera.
This opera was the first of four subscriptions planned by Lord Middlesex and his partners, six nights in November, ten in December, seventeen in January (not involving Terradellas), and fourteen in March.
The subscribers to the second subscription for operas, are desired to take notice, that on Thursday Morning next will be a General Rehearsal of the new Opera called Mitridate upon the stage, agreeable to the printed Proposals, and doors will be open'd at Ten, and the Rehearsal will begin at Eleven of the Clock.
The several liturgical works in the church of St. Gudule in Brussels may offer a hint as to what Terradellas might have been doing during this period.
Operas (in chronological order) Works for religious services (Rome, Iglesia National de España) Notes Citations Sources
