In 1701, Domenico composed his first sacred work and a few months later he was appointed to the vice-regal chapel at Naples as organist and composer. His father Alessandro tried in vain to get him a more important job with Ferdinando de’ Medici, to whom he had introduced Domenico as “an eagle whose wings have grown”. The trip the two made to Florence only served to confirm a commission for two more operas and an oratorio for the senior of the Scarlattis, which were to be presented in Tuscany. Between 1702 and 1706 five works by Scarlatti were staged at the prince’s private theatre at nearby Pratolino, but the permanent position Alessandro desired for Domenico was not forthcoming.

Scarlatti’s numerous trips at the beginning of the eighteenth century, especially to Rome, where his genius was particularly appreciated, are documented in the disconsolate notes recorded in the registers of the royal court of Naples, but Alessandro was unable to find a better position. His son Domenico, however, was able to find his own space in the musical life of Rome. He became maestro to Queen Maria Casimira of Poland and later, of the prestigious Cappella Giulia at St. Peter’s, prior to commencing a lengthy and definitive career in the Iberian Peninsula, initially in Lisbon and later in Spain.

Meanwhile the political future of Naples was resolved: after various changes of ruler, from 1707 the city had a new stable government dependent on Austria, whose viceroys took the place of the Spaniards until the return of the Bourbon monarchy in 1734. Alessandro Scarlatti had returned to his post of maestro di cappella to the Naples court and from that point entirely devoted his best efforts to the city’s musical necessities. The incredible number of operas he composed demonstrates this. In 1705, the composer declared he had written 88 operas in 23 years. His last opera for Naples, Il Cambise, dating from 1722, takes the total figure to 114.