Scarlatti Sonata
Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757) was an Italian composer who was born in Naples, Italy, in 1685, the same year as Johan Sebastian Bach and George Handel, and spent much of his life in Spain and Portugal as music master to the princess Maria Barbara who later became Queen of Spain.
The Scarlatti’s Sonatas
Form and Tonal structure
In the works of Scarlatti there are no sonatas that may be considered completely typical. Generally there is a single movement in binary form with both a varied and expressive range. Formal devices are utilized, in which each half of a sonata leads to a pivotal point that the Scarlatti scholar Ralph Kirkpatrick termed “the crux,” and that is sometimes underlined by a pause or fermata. The first half announces a basic tonality and then moves to establish the closing tonality of the double bar (The crux, dominant, relative major or minor) in a series of strong cadences. The second half departs from this tonic of the double bar, eventually to reestablish the basic tonic in a series of equally strong cadences, making use of the same thematic material that was used for the establishment of the closing tonality (the crux) at the end of the first half. Nearly 400 of the sonatas are brought together in pairs. One may be in minor and the other in major, but both members of a pair always have the same tonic. The relationship between the sonatas of a pair is either one of contrast or of complement.
Classical Sonata
Exposition:
First theme
Tonality
Scarlatti Sonata
Tonic
( modulation to
Dominant)
First Half: opening, continuation, transition Second theme
Dominant
Crux: Closing tonal section
Development:
Modulation
(starting with
Dominant)
Recapitulation:
First theme
Tonic
Opening, excursion
Second theme
Tonic
Crux: Restatement of closing tonal section Second half: modulatory excursion
* The Excursion termed by Kirkpatrick is that portion of the second half of an asymmetrical Scarlatti sonata which lies between the double bar of the
The Scarlatti’s Sonatas
Form and Tonal structure
In the works of Scarlatti there are no sonatas that may be considered completely typical. Generally there is a single movement in binary form with both a varied and expressive range. Formal devices are utilized, in which each half of a sonata leads to a pivotal point that the Scarlatti scholar Ralph Kirkpatrick termed “the crux,” and that is sometimes underlined by a pause or fermata. The first half announces a basic tonality and then moves to establish the closing tonality of the double bar (The crux, dominant, relative major or minor) in a series of strong cadences. The second half departs from this tonic of the double bar, eventually to reestablish the basic tonic in a series of equally strong cadences, making use of the same thematic material that was used for the establishment of the closing tonality (the crux) at the end of the first half. Nearly 400 of the sonatas are brought together in pairs. One may be in minor and the other in major, but both members of a pair always have the same tonic. The relationship between the sonatas of a pair is either one of contrast or of complement.
Classical Sonata
Exposition:
First theme
Tonality
Scarlatti Sonata
Tonic
( modulation to
Dominant)
First Half: opening, continuation, transition Second theme
Dominant
Crux: Closing tonal section
Development:
Modulation
(starting with
Dominant)
Recapitulation:
First theme
Tonic
Opening, excursion
Second theme
Tonic
Crux: Restatement of closing tonal section Second half: modulatory excursion
* The Excursion termed by Kirkpatrick is that portion of the second half of an asymmetrical Scarlatti sonata which lies between the double bar of the