Work

Domenico Scarlatti

Domenico Scarlatti Composer

Sonata in B, K.261, L.148

Performances: 3
Tracks: 2
MIDIs: 1
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Musicology:
  • Sonata in B, K.261, L.148
    Key: B
    Genre: Sonata
    Pr. Instrument: Harpsichord

Preserved in the "fourth" Venice volume, from 1753, this Sonata is unusual for Scarlatti in its key signature, B major. Of his 555 keyboard sonatas only four of them are in this otherwise quite common key. By comparison, Scarlatti wrote 76 sonatas in D major and 69 in G major! He further demonstrates his dislike for B major here when he modulates to a different key early on in the expository sections. The development section, which comes in the latter half of the Sonata, is also unusual in its dramatic opening, where vehement repeated notes suggest the sounds of a guitar while deftly serving as a striking fanfare.

Marked Allegro the Sonata opens with a lively though unhurried theme filled with sunshine and playfulness. But it is immediately contrasted with the second subject, which contains more driven, serious material, even if it too yields to a playful manner near the end. After the main thematic ideas are heard a second time their development begins with the aforementioned dramatic opening, after which the music launches into an even more serious treatment of the material of the second subject. Still, the music returns to a gentler, more playful demeanor in its closing sections here. This Sonata typically lasts just over five minutes.

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