Domenico Scarlatti (1685–1757)

Domenico Scarlatti was born in Naples in 1685, the same year as Bach and Handel. His father, Alessandro, was one of the great opera composers of the age. Domenico began his career in Italy, notably in Rome, writing operas and church music.

Around 1719 he moved to Lisbon, where he became music director to the King of Portugal and music teacher to Princess Maria Barbara. When she married the heir to the Spanish throne in 1729, Scarlatti followed her to Seville and then Madrid, where he stayed until his death in 1757.

It was for her that he wrote most of his harpsichord sonatas, almost all in a single movement in binary form. Only thirty were published in his lifetime, as the Essercizi per gravicembalo (1738–1739). Today they are numbered after Ralph Kirkpatrick’s catalogue (“K.”).

His writing is uniquely daring: hand-crossings, dizzying leaps, repeated notes, dissonant acciaccaturas, rhythms and colours that evoke Spanish guitar and dance. Each sonata explores an idea or a technical gesture with humour and brilliance.

At the piano, his sonatas develop lightness, accuracy in leaps, speed in repeated notes and clear articulation. They make perfect recital openers and study pieces.