By then he had already composed at least one opera (the title is unknown and it was not performed) and a second, Gli equivoci nel sembiante, was a resounding success in 1679. It confirmed Scarlatti in his chosen career as an opera composer and attracted the attention of Queen Christina of Sweden, who made him her maestro di cappella.

In 1684 Scarlatti was appointed maestro di cappella at the vice-regal court of Naples, at the same time as his brother Francesco was made first violinist. It was alleged that they owed their appointments to the intrigues of one of their sisters (apparently Melchiorra) with two court officials, who were dismissed.

For the next two decades over half the new operas given at Naples were by Scarlatti. Two of them, Il Pirro e Demetrio (1694) and La caduta dei Decemviri (1697), were especially successful, but by 1700 the War of the Spanish Succession was beginning to undermine the privileged status of the Neapolitan nobility, rendering Scarlatti's position insecure. In 1702 he left with his family for Florence, where he hoped to find employment for himself and his son Domenico with Prince Ferdinando de' Medici.

When these hopes failed, Scarlatti accepted the inferior position in Rome of assistant music director at San Maria Maggiore. With a papal ban on public opera, he found an outlet for his talents in oratorio and in writing cantatas for his Roman patrons, notably Prince Ruspoli and the cardinals Ottoboni and Pamphili.

In 1706 he was elected to the Arcadian Academy, with Pasquini and ...

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