Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757) must have seemed destined for the musical theater. He was the musically gifted son of Alessandro Scarlatti, the leading composer of Neapolitan opera of the day. He had two operas produced in Naples before he was twenty and within a few years was enjoying success in Rome, first in the service of the exiled Queen Maria Casmira of Poland and later as maestro of the Cappella Giulia in the Vatican. In 1719, at the age of 34, he suddenly abandoned his promising Roman career for a position as mestre de capela at the Portuguese court in distant Lisbon. Here, his duties included both the composition of sacred music and the musical instruction of the King's brother, Don Antonio, and daughter, the infanta Maria Barbara. When Maria Barbara was married to the Spanish infante in 1729, Scarlatti accompanied her to Spain where he remained as her music master (and spy for her father?) for the rest of his life. ?? John Phillips, 2002