Work
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Sonata in G, K.63, L.84Key: G
Genre: Sonata
Pr. Instrument: Harpsichord
Scarlatti scholar Ralph Kirkpatrick has noted a similarity between this G major work and a sonata by Adolf Hasse, a student of Scarlatti's father, Alessandro. The Hasse sonata was published in London in 1740, and was likely influenced by the young Scarlatti's G major effort here. The Scarlatti Sonata, like most of the 30 of his appearing in the 1738 Essercizi per gravicembalo, probably dates to a much earlier period, possibly to the second decade of the eighteenth century. Indeed, it brims with youthful vigor and lightness of expression, qualities found in the composer's earliest keyboard works.
Marked Capriccio—Allegro, the Sonata opens with three arpeggiated chords that infuse the main theme with a joyous, festive sense. The music is lively in its celebratory glitter and playfulness, even in its brief moments of relative repose, which typically come near the end of the expository sections. Scarlatti introduces some thematic development in the second half of this sonata, but pursues it only briefly, bringing the work to an end after but two minutes' duration. While this G major effort is short even by Scarlatti's normally Lilliputian standards, it is nevertheless highly rewarding.
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