The keyboard sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti and eighteenth-century musical style / W. Dean Sutcliffe.
| Author/creator | Sutcliffe, W. Dean |
| Format | Book |
| Publication Info | Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2003. |
| Description | xi, 400 pages : music ; 26 cm |
| Subjects |
| Contents | Domenico Scarlatti the interesting historical figure -- Panorama. Place and treatment in history ; The dearth of hard facts ; Creative environment ; Real-life personality ; The panorama tradition ; Analysis of sonatas ; Improvisation ; Pedagogy ; Chronology ; Organology ; Style classification ; Style sources ; Influence ; Nationalism ; Evidence old and new -- Heteroglossia. An open invitation to the ear: topic and genre ; A love-hate relationship? Scarlatti and the galant ; Iberian influence ; Topical opposition -- Syntax. Repetition and rationality ; Phrase rhythm ; Opening and closure ; Sequence ; Kinetics ; Vamps -- Irritations. Der unreine Satz. Introduction ; Voice leading ; Counterpoint ; Cluster chords and dirty harmony ; Rationales -- Tempo and Scarlatti's andantes ; Ornamentation ; Source matters -- 'Una Genuina Música de Tecla'. Fingermusik and 'mere virtuosity' ; Keyboard realism ; Texture and sonority -- Formal dynamic. Binary-form blues ; Thematicism ; Formal properties and practices ; Dialect or idiolect? ; Lyrical breakthrough ; Pairs -- Finale. |
| Abstract | The author investigates one of the greatest yet least understood repertories of Western keyboard music: the 555 keyboard sonatas of Scarlatti. This composer occupies a position of solitary splendour in musical history. The sources of his style are often obscure and his immediate influence is difficult to discern. Further, the lack of hard documentary evidence has hindered musicological activity. The author offers not just a thorough reconsideration of the historical factors that have contributed to Scarlatti's position, but also sustained engagement with the music, offering both individual readings and broader commentary of an unprecedented kind. A principal task of this book, the first in English on the sonatas for fifty years, is to remove the composer from his critical ghetto (however honourable) and redefine his image. In so doing it will reflect on the historiographical difficulties involved in understanding eighteenth-century musical style. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (pages 381-391) and index. |
| LCCN | 2002035012 |
| ISBN | 0521481406 |
Availability
| Library | Location | Call Number | Status | Item Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Music | Music Stacks | ML410.S22 S88 2003 | ✔ Available | Place Hold |