Neapolitan School

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In music history, the Neapolitan School is a group, associated with opera, of 17th and 18th-century composers who studied or worked in Naples, Italy,^[1] the best known of whom is Alessandro Scarlatti, with whom "modern opera begins".^[2] Francesco Provenzale is generally considered the school's founder.^[3] Others significant composers of this school are Giambattista Pergolesi, Domenico Cimarosa and Giovanni Paisiello.

It is with the Neapolitan school...that the History of Modern Music commences—insofar as that music speaks the language of the feelings, emotions, and passions.

— Schluter^[4]

The Neapolitan School has been considered in between the Roman School and the Venetian School in importance.^[4]

However, "The concept of Neapolitan school, or more particularly Neapolitan opera, has been questioned by a number of scholars. That Naples was a significant musical center in the 18th century is beyond doubt. Whether the composers working in Naples at that time developed or partook of a distinct and characteristic musical style is less clear" since so little is known about the repertory.^[1]