The keyboard sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti
for people who use both sides of their brain
Domenico Scarlatti, born October 26 1685 Napoli, died July 23 1757 Madrid, composed some of the most beautiful music of all time. This site provides the essential background to each of his nearly 600 pieces for solo keyboard instruments.
Use the navigation links underlined below to reach the portable document format (pdf) files in this website, which are, with date of latest revision:
cogito (my premises and conclusions) 2-7-14
curriculum (dates in Scarlatti’s life) 11-1-13
citations (bibliography of works I used) 11-1-13
conversion of Kirkpatrick numbers to primary sources; calendar for 2014 with matching Parma and Venezia numbers 12-16-13
catalogue (all of the accepted Scarlatti sonatas, and many of the doubtful ones) 5-30-14
collections (18th century Scarlatti source collections and their contents) 1-30-14
card games (experiments to determine the order in which some of the collections were compiled) 7-9-13
contemporaries (keyboard pieces by other composers in collections arranged somewhat like Scarlatti’s) 11-6-13
chart of sonatas arranged by dates and keys 3-1-14
characteristics (keys, themes and other features arranged in chronological tables) 4-13-14
chronology (methods used to assign dates to the sonatas) 2-7-14
capriccio (notes toward a definition of a Scarlatti sonata) 3-8-12
correspondence (selections from emails) 2-20-14
Summary of the more important changes to the website files listed above:
May 2010-May 2011:
revised Chart of about dates;
revised Characteristics;
commedia dell’arte characters (Capriccio, Catalogue);
Lodovico Giustini and Vicente Rodriguez added to Contemporaries;
1739 date for Essercizi reconfirmed in spite of Prozhoguin theory (Catalogue, Collections, Card games);
information on Münster 4&5 scribe identified by Anthony Hart added to Collections;
possible direct connection of Scarlatti with Münster 4&5 scribe through Francesco Corradini and confirmation of 1754 as the actual date of copying (Collections);
golden sections (phi) found for all sonatas (Catalogue, Characteristics, Cogito, Capriccio)
Correspondence file added to the website;
Roberto Pagano and Serguei Prozhoguin articles and Venezia online added to Citations;
additions and corrections to Curriculum;
reasons for Scarlatti to be in Halle in 1728 discussed (Curriculum, Cogito): possible purchase of Silbermann piano for dom Antonio and possible meeting with J S Bach;
more Parma and Venezia calendar associations found (Capriccio, Catalogue);
identification of the meaning of the Parma 13:7 C to 14:4 C sequence (Catalogue);
association of Wien Q15116 with L’Augier investigated further (Collections);
possible influence of Scarlatti on Mozart through L’Augier noted (Catalogue);
title-page transcriptions improved (Collections, Catalogue);
investigation of golden section added to Albero worklist (Contemporaries);
Madrid-Ayerbe 11&12 maps added to Catalogue;
major reorganization and proofreading of the notes in the Catalogue begun
June-July 2011:
Catalogue notes reorganization completed; Newberry Library (Chicago) case ms 5110 described and determined likely to be a late-20th century hoax (Card games);
more evidence of Scarlatti contact with J S Bach (1728) added to Catalogue: see Parma 10:8 d;
golden section identifications for most sonatas described in the Catalogue notes (in addition to the locations already given on the maps);
more Venezia 1742 & 1749 graphic characteristics examined (Collections and Catalogue);
Parma 13:7 C group of 28 sonatas explored further (Catalogue);
revisions to Zaragoza (Collections);
calendar for 2012 with Parma and Venezia numbers for each date (Conversion)
October 2011-December 2012:
sources now available online added: Johnson 1752 (Collections), Seixas CIC110 (Contemporaries);
Agueda Pedrero-Encabo citations for Barcelona and Montserrat mss, Essercizi and Rodriguez Tocatas added; maps made and her newly published sonatas attributed to Scarlatti discussed (Catalogue, Collections and Contemporaries);
problems with measure numbers corrected in Catalogue;
maps and notes for 16 doubtful sonatas or movements added to Catalogue for sources in Boivin-LeClerc, Haffner, London, Madrid, Montserrat and Paris
January-June 2013:
calendar for 2013 with Parma and Venezia numbers for each date (Conversion);
article by Tudurí-Vila and others supports my chronology (Cogito: section on dates);
the Orfeó Catalá manuscript added to sources, based on an article by Pedrero-Encabo (Collections, Catalogue);
newly available citations for Tenerife and Avila mss (Collections);
new details for sonatas in the Lisboa ms (Catalogue, Collections);
mention of Sloane’s 2001 article on the ratio of major-key beginnings (Chronology)
July-December 2013:
Duron’s 2012 article on the Boivin-LeClerc editions cited (Citations, Collections, Card games);
further notes on the graphics of the Venezia 1749 version of some sonatas (Catalogue, Collections);
contents of New York, Morgan library Cary ms 703, brought to my attention by Serguei N Prozhoguin, added to Collections. Four previously unknown sonatas from this source have been mapped in the Catalogue and integrated into Characteristics
January-June 2014:
all files were adjusted for this new web host;
dates next to the list of files near the beginning of this page indicate the latest significant changes to the file
comments or corrections?
contact [email protected]
I began writing the materials for a Scarlatti website January 28 2004 and first published them on the web April 30 2007; latest posting June 2014
copyright 2007-2014 Christopher Hail