Giuseppe Domenico Scarlatti, also known as Domingo or Doménico Scarlatti, was an Italian composer who was born on October 26, 1685, in Naples and died on July 23, 1757, in Madrid. Although Scarlatti was classified primarily as a Baroque composer chronologically, his music was influential in the development of the Classical style.
According to Wikipedia, "Like his renowned father Alessandro Scarlatti, he composed in a variety of musical forms, although today he is known mainly for his 555 keyboard sonatas. He spent much of his life in the service of the Portuguese and Spanish royal families."
Scarlatti was born in 1685, the same year as George Frideric Handel and Johann Sebastian Bach. He was the sixth of ten children, and came from a family of artists. His dad was a teacher and composer, and his older brother (Pietro Filippo) was a musician.
Scarlatti was appointed as the organist and composer at the royal chapel in Naples in 1701. In 1703, his father sent him to Venice. Six years later, in 1709, he went to Rome and entered the service of the exiled Polish queen Marie Casimire. There, he composed several operas for Queen Casimire's private theatre.
Only a small number of Scarlatti's compositions were published during his lifetime. Wikipedia states, "Scarlatti's 555 keyboard sonatas are single movements, mostly in binary form, and some in early sonata form, and mostly written for harpsichord or the earliest pianofortes....Other distinctive attributes of his music are:
The influence of Iberian (Portuguese and Spanish) folk music."
Olivia listened to four pieces by Scarlatti, and her comments and thoughts follow.
Olivia's thoughts and comments:
- Definitely happy and fast-paced. This would be hard to play. It would be challenging.
- In terms of playing, I'm not at this speed.
- The part at 2:31 - there are more notes and the use of dynamics.
- There's a lot of repetition in this piece.
Olivia's thoughts and comments:
- You know if he didn't play it this fast, it sounds kind of like a creepy song that you would hear in a creepy mansion. But you don't get that feel because it is played so fast. Because of the tempo, it's not as creepy.
- It looks like a mini-organ.
- I'm surprised how tiny and tall the harpsichord is.
- It's impressive that she could play it that fast. I think I liked the first one [Sonata in D Major] better.
Olivia's thoughts and comments:
- It's weird that her fingers can move that fast. It doesn't seem natural.
- How do you come up with something like this?
- It's crazy how they can come up with music like this, but they come up with boring names for the songs.
- That felt a lot longer than about three minutes. He crammed a lot in the song. It was good.
Sonata L. 366/K.1
Olivia's thoughts and comments:
- I feel like they [the songs we've heard] start with almost the same note.
- In parts, it does seem slower than some of the other ones we listened to.
1 comment:
I don't know hw any of them can get their fingers to move that fast!
Even the ones on the piano make me think of harpsichords. :)
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