This sonata doesn't seem to be one of Scarlatti's more popular ones, but it does have an exciting and fun character throughout! The melody is nice and elegant and also quite moving, after all it is in the Galant Style! This sonata shows Scarlatti extending himself to a much larger symmetrical rounded binary structure, that I must say is not far off from being sonata form. Scarlatti begins with the theme, which is built upon short phrases that are repeated, in D major (mm. 1-8) and then starts his move to the dominant key of A. But, instead of using A major, he begins with A minor (mm. 20-35). A major is finally reached in measure 36 and goes on until the repeat sign. Scarlatti uses the B part of the rounded binary form as the "development" section. Here, he plays on several of the motives that were presented in the previous section. Scarlatti returns to the A (prime) section in measures 74 to the end (notice that he does not use the main beginning thematic material from measures 1-8, but instead uses the material from measures 19 and following). This section does not modulate back to A major or minor, but Scarlatti retains the key of D major. As can be seen, the seeds of Sonata allegro form were being born! The theme is built upon short phrases that are repeated.
As one can see, Scarlatti uses wonderful sections of contrast and repetition in this sonata. It also seems as if Scarlatti is imitating the guitar in this Sonata. Scarlatti uses a wider variety of harmonic and textural color, as well as greater technical difficulties for the keyboardist...like the fun, lyrical virtuosic scalar patterns. To me, this is piece has quite the Baroque feel (maybe due to the use of the harpsichord and trills/mordents).
Hope this helps some of you out! Feel free to use in your notebooks if you would like!
Sam
Sam,
ReplyDeleteVery nicely done! It is interesting that he does not return the opening material in the "recap." The sonata form is not yet developed, but you can see how it is beginning to be formed in these late-Baroque/pre-Classical pieces like Scarlatti's. And seems to be guitar influences, too. There are so many gems among Scarlatti's hundreds of sonatas, and this is one of them!