This was the last of the 30 sonatas of the 12th Venice volume of Scarlatti's keyboard sonatas. The manuscript was dated 1756, though some of its works probably date to the previous year or two. If the Venice manuscript, not originals but copied from originals, listed the sonatas in chronological order, then this C major effort very probably was written in 1756. In any event, this Sonata is unusual for Scarlatti in that it contains very explicit tempo markings: Moderato e Molto allegro—Presto. Obviously, one can discern from this directive that the character of the work is one of a bucolic nature, but the latter part, with its furious Presto tempo, clearly veers away from the idyllic calm one associated with things pastoral.

The Sonata opens with a theme based on a Neapolitan Christmas song, the music here divulging a simple beauty, more cosmopolitan than Neapolitan in its child-like character and relatively simple writing. There follows a lively, dance-like episode seemingly of peasant celebratory character, full of color and joy. Next, the character of the music changes radically, the mood turning animated in the Presto section, almost manic in its joyous busyness, in its hyperactive drive. In the end, this five- or six-minute sonata must be assessed as one of the more colorful late works of the innovative Scarlatti.

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