Pietro Filippo Scarlatti was the elder brother of Domenico Scarlatti, both sons of the composer Alessandro Scarlatti and members of the prominent Scarlatti musical family. While Domenico became renowned for his keyboard sonatas and spent much of his life in Portugal and Spain, Pietro Filippo pursued his own career in Italy as a composer, organist, and choirmaster.
Pietro Filippo began his musical career earlier than Domenico, serving as choirmaster in Urbino from 1705 and later becoming a court organist in Naples after their father brought him there in 1708. As musicians they shared a familial artistic environment, yet their careers diverged geographically and stylistically, with Pietro Filippo remaining rooted in Italian musical traditions while Domenico developed his distinctive keyboard style abroad.
