The month of May has moved by in a blur. Overnight, the trees have their leaves, flowers are in bloom, birdsong fills the air, and the sun is rising earlier each day. This dynamic energy inspired me to feature one of my favorite Scarlatti Sonatas, K141. VAN magazine ranked each and every Scarlatti Sonata and declared this one THE BEST! I hope you enjoy listening to it - I was able to find a video of one of my favorite pianists, Martha Argerich, performing this as an encore.
Domenico Scarlatti
Domenico Scarlatti lived a long life. He was born in Naples, Italy in 1665 and died in Madrid, Spain in 1757. He was the son of another famous composer, Alesssandro Scarlatti. While his father was famous for composing operas, Domenico is well known for his keyboard sonatas. He spent part of his life in Venice and Rome but was drawn to Portugal and Spain where he spent the remainder of his life. Scarlatti used interesting effects in his music, such as hand crossing, chords that imitated the sound of the Spanish guitar, and fragments of Spanish folk song. Although he was categorized as a Baroque composer, he paved the way for Classical style, especially as a model for the keyboard sonata. Harpsichordist Maha Esfhani claims, “With each phrase of this truly original music … Scarlatti surprises us anew, with his humor and his empathy with his fellow humans, and ultimately reveals us to ourselves.”
What is a Sonata?
The word “sonata” comes from the Italian word suonore, which means to sound. The definition of a sonata has changed through time, but it has always referred to compositions that are played by an instrument or instruments. As you can imagine - many composers wrote sonatas for keyboard instruments: Beethoven wrote 32, Haydn 60,Chopin 4, Brahms 3, Mozart 35, Schumann 3, Rachmaninoff 2, Debussy 0. Domenico Scarlatti wrote over 550 and is well known for these keyboard sonatas. The 555 keyboard sonatas are relative miniatures and are generally only a few minutes each. They are in single two part movements, but within those deceptively simple bounds, there's an immense variety of mood — cheerful and melancholy, lighthearted and pensive. Sadly, only 30 of these Sonatas were published during Scarlatti’s lifetime and more than 90% are hardly known to this day, although there seems to be a growing appreciation for them.
For Further Reading
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