Domenico Scarlatti / by Ralph Kirkpatrick.
| Author/creator | Kirkpatrick, Ralph |
| Format | Book |
| Publication Info | Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, 1953. |
| Description | xix, 473 pages : illustrations, folded genealogical table, music ; 24 cm |
| Subjects |
| Contents | The fledgling. Naples ; Birth ; The Scarlatti family ; The conservatories ; Alessandro's teaching ; Domenico's first employment ; Political uncertainty ; First voyage ; Rome ; Florence and Ferdinando de' Medici ; Cristofori's instruments ; Domenico's first operas ; Departure from Naples -- The young eagle. Alessandro's letter ; Venice ; Music and masquerades ; The conservatories ; Gasparini ; The Venetian opera ; First account of Domenico's harpsichord playing ; Roseingrave ; Friendship with Handel -- Roman patrimony. Queen Cristina and her circle ; Cardinal Ottoboni ; Pasquini ; Corelli ; Arcadia ; Maria Casimira of Poland ; Capeci, Juvarra, and Domenico's operas -- Church and theater. The Vatican ; The Portuguese embassy ; Roman theaters and Domenico's last operas ; Emancipation ; The mythical London voyage ; Departure -- Lisbon patriarchy. Lisbon ; Joao V ; Royal chapel ; Maria Barbara ; Don Antonio ; Seixas ; Alessandro's death ; Domenico's marriage ; Royal weddings -- The Spanish scene. Seville ; Felipe V and Isabel Farnese ; Fernando and Maria Barbara ; Aranjuez, La Granja, Escorial ; Madrid ; Juvarra and the royal palace ; Arrival of Farinelli ; Madrid opera ; Scarlatti's knighthood ; Essercizi per gravicembalo ; Scarlatti's portrait ; Death of Catalina Scarlatti ; Death of Felipe V -- The reign of the Melomanes. Accession of Fernando and Maria Barbara ; Scarlatti and Farinelli ; Palace opera ; Embarkations at Aranjuez ; Harpsichord sonatas ; Scarlatti's second marriage and family ; Amiconi's portrait ; Scarlatti's only surviving letter ; Royal chapel ; Soler ; Scarlatti's reputation outside Spain ; Forebodings of the end ; Scarlatti's testament and death ; Death of Maria Barbara, of Fernando VI ; New regime and Farinelli's departure ; Posterity -- Royal sonatas. The Queen's and other manuscripts ; The missing autographs ; The designation sonata ; The pairwise arrangement ; Chronology of the sonatas ; Early works, background of Scarlatti's keyboard style ; The earliest pieces ; The fugues ; Early sonatas ; The Essercizi ; The flamboyant period and the easy pieces ; The middle period ; The late sonatas -- Scarlatti's harpsichord. Farinelli's and the Queen's instruments ; Conclusions as to Scarlatti's harpsichord ; The early pianoforte ; Scarlatti's organ music ; Scarlatti's harpsichord playing ; Scarlatti's keyboard technique ; Harpsichord sound as bounded by the organ, guitar, and orchestra ; Shadings of harpsichord sound ; Imitations of other instruments ; The influence of the Spanish guitar -- Scarlatti's harmony. Consistency of Scarlatti's harmonic style ; Basic triads and the three-chord analysis ; Inversion and fundamental bass ; Remaining elements of harmonic vocabulary, peculiarities of seventh chords ; Cadential vs. diatonic movement of harmony ; Vertical harmonic intensities ; Essential peculiarities of Scarlatti's treatment: dropping and adding of voices, transposition of voices, harmonic ellipse, pedal points both real and understood ; Harmonic superposition ; Contractions and extensions ; Longo's "corrections" and Scarlatti's intentions ; Equal temperament and key system ; Soler's rules for modulation ; Temporary and structural modulation -- The anatomy of the Scarlatti sonata. The varied organism of the Scarlatti sonata ; Definition ; Identification and function of its members, the Crux ; The opening ; The continuation ; The transition ; The pre-Crux ; The post-crux ; The closing ; The further closing ; The final closing ; The excursion ; The restatement ; Main types of form ; The closed sonata ; The open sonata ; Exceptional forms ; Tonal structure ; Treatment of thematic material, the three main traditions ; The interplay of forces that shape the Scarlatti sonata -- The performance of the Scarlatti sonatas. Attitude of the performer ; Scarlatti's text ; Registration and dynamics ; Tempo and rhythm ; Phrasing, articulation, and inflection ; Expressive range -- |
| Contents | Appendices. Appendix I. The Scarlatti family. A. Notes on the Scarlatti family ; B. The Scarlatti family tree -- Appendix II. Documents, chronologically arranged, concerning Domenico Scarlatti and his offspring -- Appendix III. Documents concerning instruments. A. Cardinal Ottoboni's instruments ; B. Inventory of Queen Maria Barbara's instruments ; C. Provisions of Farinelli's testament concerning music and instruments ; D. Indications for registration in Scarlatti's organ pieces -- Appendix IV. Ornamentation in Scarlatti. Sources of information ; The appoggiatura ; The short appoggiatura ; The long appoggiatura ; The trill ; The tied trill ; The trill with termination ; The upper appoggiatura and trill ; The lower appoggiatura and trill ; The rhythmic values of the trill ; The tremolo ; The remaining ornaments not indicated by signs: the mordent, the turn, the slide, the acciaccatura, arpeggiation ; Additions to Scarlatti's text ; Peculiarities of rhythmic notation -- Appendix V. Keyboard works. A. Principal manuscript sources ; B. Note on miscellaneous manuscripts of secondary importance ; C. Eighteenth-century editions ; D. The editions of Czerny, Longo, Gerstenberg, and Newton -- Appendix VI. Vocal music. A. Operas ; B. Oratorios, serenades, and other occasional pieces ; C. Partial list of chamber cantatas and arias attributed to Domenico Scarlatti ; D. Church music -- Appendix VII. Miscellaneous, doubtful, and spurious works. A. Miscellaneous works attributed to Domenico Scarlatti ; B. Spurious keyboard works ; C. Spurious vocal works -- Bibliography -- Catalogue of sonatas and table of principal sources in approximately chronological order ; Table of sonatas in the order of Longo's edition. |
| Abstract | Because Domenico Scarlatti left almost no personal records and because his brilliant and erratic keyboard style has never been entirely understood, he has suffered a neglect unsurpassed in the literature of music for a composer of his stature. Now after two hundred years he finds in this first full-length biography his greatest opportunity to become known. This rediscovery of Scarlatti gains special significance from the fact that it has been made by a celebrated harpsichordist to satisfy his own need for a fuller understanding of a favorite composer. 'At all times,' writes Ralph Kirkpatrick, 'my interest has been that of a performer of Scarlatti who wishes to leave no source of information or enlightenment untouched that might affect a conception of his music.' Through his discoveries, the known facts of Scarlatti's life have been more than tripled. Through his reconstruction of the background of events, persons, and places, so penetrating an insight is gained into the composer's career that the point of view seems to be Scarlatti's and the bare outlines of biography afforded by the documents are filled in as if by a contemporary hand. The second half of the book is an illuminating study of Scarlatti's 555 sonatas, most of them the astonishing harvest of the last few years of his life and his finest achievement. The last chapter on the performance of the sonata bears the authority of the writer's almost unique position as both a scholar and a world-famous performing artist. |
| Local note | Little-344015--305131050071Q |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (pages 429-439) and index. |
| LCCN | 53006387 |
Availability
| Library | Location | Call Number | Status | Item Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Music | Music Stacks | ML410.S221 K5 | ✔ Available | Place Hold |