Francesco Durante

Durante studied under Greco in his youth, then as a conservatory student under Scarlatti. As a young man he met Metastasio, later setting one of his plays to music. As a renowned teacher (he inherited Greco’s position on the latter’s retirement), his own students included Pergolesi, Vinci, Paisiello, Jommelli and Piccini, looking on Piccini more as a son than a pupil. While a rivalry has often been proposed between Durante and another significant composer of the day, Leonardo Leo, this may reflect more the rivalry that certainly existed between their opposing sets of fans, a feature of the city at the time.