Scarlatti is known to have composed at least 555 keyboard sonatas. This C minor effort appeared in the first Venice volume, dating to 1752, and was thus likely written in the late-1740s or early-1750s. That makes this a late work, of course, but incredibly Scarlatti would turn out nearly 400 more keyboard sonatas before his death in 1757. Though the composer tended to favor major over minor keys (405 sonatas are in major keys), and brighter, livelier moods over darker, slower ones, this C minor affair is decidedly in the minority in most respects.

Marked Andante, the work opens with a melancholy theme whose descending contour in the first half is balanced by a gentle climb back up the keyboard in the latter half. Yet, while the music is playful and exudes a sense of innocence, it remains darkly pensive throughout. The writing is extremely transparent in its mostly two-part design, though in the thematic development that comes in the latter half of the work, it becomes more complex and the mood somewhat more intense. Again, the music here can divulge an almost jaunty innocence in its gentle melancholy. This Sonata in C minor typically has a duration of about six minutes.

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