Musicians - Domenico Scarlatti

Home > Listing Index > Musicians > Domenico Scarlatti

	Musicians - Domenico Scarlatti

Domenico Scarlatti (October 26, 1685 – July 23, 1757) was an Italian composer of the Baroque era. He was extremely influential in the development of keyboard music, especially in Spain, Portugal and England, through his individual style.

Life and career

(Giuseppe) Domenico Scarlatti was born in Naples, Italy, the sixth of ten children and a younger brother to Pietro Filippo Scarlatti, also a musician. Most likely he first studied under his father, the composer and teacher Alessandro Scarlatti; other composers who may have been his early teachers include Gaetano Greco, Francesco Gasparini, and Bernardo Pasquini, all of whom seem to have influenced his musical style.

He became a composer and organist at the royal chapel in Naples in 1701, and in 1704, he revised Carlo Francesco Pollarolo's opera Irene for performance at Naples. Soon after this his father sent him to Venice, but the four years there are a blank in the record. In 1709 he went to Rome in the service of the exiled Polish queen Marie Casimire; while in Rome he met Thomas Roseingrave who would later lead the enthusiastic reception of the composer's sonatas in London. Domenico was already a harpsichord-player of eminence, and there is a story that at a trial of skill with George Frideric Handel at the palace of Cardinal Ottoboni in Rome he was adjudged perhaps superior to Handel on that instrument, although inferior on the organ. Later in life, he was known to cross himself in veneration, when speaking of Handel's skill.

Also while in Rome, Scarlatti composed several operas for Queen Casimira's private theatre. He was maestro di cappella at St Peter's from 1715 to 1719, and in the latter year came to London to direct his opera Narciso at the King's Theatre.

In 1720 or 1721 he went to Lisbon, where he taught music to the princess Maria Magdalena Barbara. He was at Naples again in 1725 and during a visit to Rome in 1728 he married Maria Caterina Gentili. In 1729 he went to Madrid as music master to the princess, who had married into the Spanish royal house. Maria Barbara became Queen of Spain and he remained in Spain for some twenty-five years and had five children there. After the death of his wife in 1742 he married a Spaniard, Anastasia Maxarti Ximenes. During his time in Madrid Scarlatti composed over five hundred keyboard sonatas. It is for these works that he is best remembered today.

Domenico Scarlatti died in Madrid, aged 71. His residence on Calle Leganitos is designated with a historical plaque, and his descendants still live in Madrid today.

The lack of a clear picture of Scarlatti's life or personality may have obstructed the reception of his music, when a vivid image would seem to be appropriate in order to accept the sometimes demonic eccentricity of the music. On the other hand, perhaps this should free us up as listeners.

Music

Only a tiny fraction of this output was published in the composer's lifetime; Scarlatti himself seems to have overseen the publication in 1738 of the most famous collection, a book of 30 "Essercizi" which, surprisingly, dominate modern concert repertoires. These were rapturously received throughout Europe and were championed by the foremost English writer on music of the eighteenth century, Dr. Charles Burney. They may also have influenced J. S. Bach's Goldberg Variations, but there is little concrete evidence to support this idea. Scarlatti's influence on late-eighteenth style may have been considerable, but he has always tended to be written into music history as an "outsider". The reasons for this may be due to generalizations about epochs (Baroque/Classical) or perhaps due to nationalistic tensions: Spain is almost off the map of most art-music histories, while Italy is known as the land of opera.

The mass of sonatas which were unpublished during the composer's lifetime have only appeared in print irregularly in the two and a half centuries since, and the repertoire is not well-understood today. Scarlatti has, however, attracted notable admirers, including Chopin, Brahms, Bartók, Heinrich Schenker and Vladimir Horowitz. The Russian school of pianism has always championed the sonatas.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Domenico Scarlatti ]

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article Domenico Scarlatti; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.

Searches on eBay