scarlatti fun

[stringoverstrung]

When i hear the sonatas of Scarlatti i always think:

this sounds like this man had a lot of fun in his life, that he had everything in the right place and that he enjoyed himself tremendously with his talented pupil and this in every aspect of life 

 1) your opinion?

2) i'd sure like to know more about him. For Christmas i will order the book from Kirkpatrick (princeton).
Any other good books  about Scarlatti, his contemporaries or about history in general and/or the spanish(?) court or the persons that lived there during his lifetime?

Thanks

[iumonito]

Right on the money.  Vivi felice.  Live Happily.  That's what Scarlatti wrote in the dedicatory of his published sonatas.

The Kirkpatrick book, romanticized as it is, is very dated (yet delightful).  Read it as fiction.

FOr something a little more up to date, try:

Maxwell, Carolyn, ed. Scarlatti, Solo Piano Literature: A Comprehensive Guide: Annotated and    Evaluated with Thematics. Boulder, CO: Maxwell Music Evaluation, 1985.

still 20 years old, but a little better.  There is a recent British book, but I read an excerpt and seemed hopelessly boring, very much unlike the music.

[bernhard]

Scarlatti was completely dominated by his father Alessandro (one of the great composers of the age), and it is likely that he went to Portugal in order to escape his authority. Later on, as the Portuguese princess who was his pupile became Queen of Spain, he followed her there (and died there). Farinelli (the famous castrato) was the music director of the Spanish Court at the time and a personal friend (Scarlatti was an inveterate gambler and apparently Farinelli rescued him from debt). You may wish to research him as well (there is an interesting movie about him “Farinelli” available on DVD). Scarlatti married late, and twice (his first wife died), and there is very little information about his private/personal life: he appeared to have been very modest and self-effacing.

There is surprisingly little literature on Scarlatti and his sonatas. (Thanks Iumonito, for the Maxwell reference – I will look it up - by the way, I love the – dated or not – Kirkpatrick book)

Malcolm Boyd wrote a biography:

“Scarlatti: Master musician” (Schirmer)


The boring British book Iumonito suggested is:

W. Dean Suttcliff - The Keyboard Sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti and Eighteenth-Century Musical Style (Cambridge University Press)

See more related references here:

https://www.classiccat.net/scarlatti_d/books.htm



Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[stringoverstrung]

iumonito and Bernhard: Thank you!

now i'll know what to do during the slowest week of the year (the one with all the familly Christmas diners) and can actually look forward to it.   

PS: i've made my first Bernhardian (et alumni)  planning... I now have about three months to select my first scarlatti sonata!   

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