Domenico Scarlatti

Scarlatti, the unique style of the sonata

A composer, a virtuoso harpsichordist, the greatest master of the sonata for harpsichord, Domenico Scarlatti really marked baroque music with the singular and virtuoso form of his music. From the musical education he received from his father, at this time director of the Royal Chapel of Naples, to the colours of Spanish folklore that influenced his musical production during the years he spent in Spain, Scarlatti developed a unique style of the sonata, that was different from the models set by Mozart, Haydn or Beethoven. In an instrumental sense, the "sona-tas" he composes have the aim to make the instrument resonate. Scarlatti let to posterity a collection that counts more than 550 sonatas for keyboard, that are composed according to a formal scheme quiet simple. Nevertheless the intentions and the themes he includes in it are very rich and varied, and let a great place to experimentation in performing them. The sonatas also have a educational aim, they become real "essercizi" (exercises for harpsichord).