The bulk of Scarlatti's keyboard sonatas date from the last decade or so of his life. In fact, about the last 400 come from the period 1752 - 1757. Interestingly, this D minor work may be one of the few keyboard sonatas composed when Scarlatti was still living in Portugal. It first appeared in a 1742 publication, which contained many works predating 1738, and a few written before 1729, the year the composer departed Portugal for Spain. This Sonata in D minor exhibits few of the Spanish musical elements that often filtered into his later compositions. Marked Andante moderato, it opens with a bright, stately theme that even divulges certain Italianate qualities (he spent the first half of his career in his native Italy), but also a serenity in its more than vaguely Bachian flow. Scarlatti imaginatively develops his thematic material in the latter half, the music taking on a slightly more serious and intense manner as it alternates between intense and relaxed moments. Less a sense of colorful and varied than most of Scarlatti's later sonatas, this composition is nevertheless quite rewarding. Typically, it has a duration of five or six minutes.

© All Music Guide

Portions of Content Provided by All Music Guide.
© 2008 All Media Guide, LLC. All Music Guide is a registered trademark of All Media Guide, LLC.