This Sonata in D major was preserved in the 12th Venice volume of Scarlatti's keyboard works, dated 1756. It is obviously a late work, written in 1756, or perhaps during the previous year or two. It is an attractive Sonata, but does not fit the singing character suggested by its Alla breve, Cantabile marking. K. 490, 491, and 492 all share the same key and were likely written within weeks of one another, if not days. D major, by the way, was Scarlatti's favorite key: of his 555 keyboard sonatas, 76 were in D major!

The Sonata's main theme has a fanfare-like quality in its opening half, with grandiose trills followed by a descending scale. There follows a festive march-like episode to close out the colorful thematic statement. An inversion of sorts of the main theme ensues, with ascending scales leading to the march music. The mood turns a bit more serious in the latter part of the exposition and remains that way throughout most of the development section, which starts midway through. The flow of the music in both the exposition and development is often interrupted by glittering episodes that have a cadenza-like feel in their tendency to begin but not carry through on an elaborate tangential solo passage.

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