Matteuccio

After an initial period of training, Matteo was able to take part in the Conservatorio's customary servizio di musica (music "service"): This meant that he was sent to sing in the surrounding churches on important feast days.

[5] In the meantime, his poor mother also lived with him in Naples; Matteo put his flat at her disposal, he himself lodged in the convent of S. Francesco de Paola near the royal palace.

Matteo found a solution by marrying her off in 1694 to his former mentor, the barber Alessandro de Liguoro, who was able to open a new and nicer shop directly opposite the nunciature from the rich dowry of 282 ducats.

The singer set off on his journey on 18 April 1695, but turned back halfway, officially for health reasons, in reality possibly because he was afraid of the cool climate on the other side of the Alps, and because he had no desire to leave his native Naples.

After his return from the imperial court, he began to change: He was now a divo, idolised by women and highly paid, behaving proudly and haughtily, and even refusing to obey the Viceroy of Naples on one occasion.

[14] In 1697 and 1698, Matteuccio also made several appearances in northern Italy, singing at the Teatro Ducale in Piacenza in Bernardo Sabadini's La virtù trionfante dell' inganno, and in Giovanni Bononcini's successful opera Il trionfo di Camilla[15] also in Reggio nell'Emilia in Carlo Francesco Pollarolo's L'Ulisse sconosciuto in Itaca.

Decades later, this positive experience was a model for the Spanish queen Isabella Farnese, when she invited the famous Farinelli to sing for her husband, the depressed Philip V of Spain.

From Vienna, he travelled to Venice at the end of 1705 to perform at the Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo in the premieres of Carlo Francesco Pollarolo's operas Flavio Bertarido, re de' Longobardi,[17] and Filippo, re della Grecia[18] (from January 1706).

There, on 28 August 1709, he performed at the celebrations of the birthday of Queen Elizabeth of Spain in A. Scarlatti's Trattenimento musicale in lode della maestà cattolica di Elisabetta Regina delle Spagne.

[25] The last highlights of his brilliant career were: At this time, Matteuccio sang mainly and frequently at religious ceremonies in honour of the Vergine Addolorata,[28] or when noble ladies entered a convent, or in his capacity as confrere of the Congregazione di S. Carlo.

He also became Matteuccio's official successor in the Royal Palace Chapel in 1732, but relinquished this post as early as 1735 in favour of the even younger and equally famous soprano Caffarelli.