Domènec Terradellas

Domènec Terradellas (baptized 13 February 1713, Barcelona – 20 May 1751, Rome) was a Spanish opera composer. The birthdate is sometimes incorrectly given as 1711. Carreras i Bulbena did extensive research in contemporary documents, such as baptismal records, and found that the correct date was 1713. All his works are thoroughly Italian in style.

Born in Barcelona, the son of a day laborer, his early musical training is unknown. It has been said that Terradellas studied with the composer Francisco Valls in Barcelona, but Carreras i Bulbena's research in Barcelona uncovered no evidence of this. On 23 May 1732, he entered in Naples as a student in the Conservatorio dei Poveri di Gesù Cristo. He studied composition with the famous Neapolitan composer, Francesco Durante.

Terradellas was one of a group of foreign-born composers who studied in Italy and adopted the Italian style. 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).

His first work, an oratorio, Giuseppe Riconosciuto , with text by Metastasio was first performed in Naples in 1736. The musicologist Felipe Pedrell reported seeing the manuscript in the library of San Giacomo in Rome in 1898. The library was catalogued shortly after his visit, but when he returned in 1902, the score was missing and was not listed in the catalogue. This was probably a student work, because a note in the archives, dated May 1736, states that "Il figliolo Terradellas è sempre in conservatorio" (Terradellas is still (a student) at the conservatory.) Terradellas's first opera was Astarto was performed at Rome in 1739 during the Carnival season. He may have collaborated with Gaetano Latilla on an opera Romolo, performed in Naples during the same year, but the libretto names only Latilla as the composer.

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