Alessandro Scarlatti, born in 1659 in Trapani, Sicily, the greatest representative of the Neapolitan school, was, it is asserted, a pupil of Carissimi. He wrote operas, cantatas, vocal and instrumental pieces by the hundred, and his oratorios alone number fourteen. Their titles show that he departed from his master’s strict adherence to Biblical subjects for his textual material. We have a _Maddalena penitente_, a _Sacrificio d’Abramo_, _Agar et Ismaele esiliati_, it is true, but also a _San Casimiro, rè di Polonia_, and a _S. Filippo Neri_. Like Carissimi he subordinated strict thematic counterpoint to the exigencies of a free and unconstrained leading of the voices, and with an added richness and elaboration of effect. He gave the aria a more definite structure, and made large use of rhythmic melody, in the manner of Gluck, to bring out the dramatic value of highly impassioned scenes, which in spoken drama would have appeared as monologue. Where lesser depths of feeling were to be plumbed, he used accompanied recitative and the _recitativo secco_ mainly for the development of the narrative itself. This general scheme of arrangement has been followed by later composers down to our own day. Perhaps his oratorio _Il trionfo della grazia_, composed in 1685, which was a favorite as late as the early years of the eighteenth century, gives us as good a general idea of his sacred music as any other. It was also known under the title of _La Conversione di Maddalena_, as in it the Magdalen makes her appearance as a species of apple of discord between ‘Youth’ and ‘Penitence.’ In clever contrast such opposites as Gravity and Heedlessness, The World’s Curse and The Joy of Life, are used to enhance the moral and musical effect of the work. The second section of the oratorio takes up the conversion of the penitent sinner, and the music which the Magdalen now sings, full of pathos and gravity, offers a piquant contrast to the jolly melodies, embroidered with coloratura and shakes, which were her part before. Particularly beautiful is an instrumental symphony (in the older sense of the word) which, after the heroine has said the words, ‘A penitent and faithful heart shall see the heavens open,’ is wonderfully suggestive of the kneeling of the penitent woman. Schering calls it a musical pendant to Ribera’s celebrated picture of St. Agnes, in the Dresden galleries.