Domenico Scarlatti on Music Theory Print

Amor d'un'ombra e gelosia d'un'aura

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background and performance history#

Queen Maria Casimira had taken up residence in Rome in 1699 following the death of her husband Jan III Sobieski and her subsequent exile from Poland. Once in Rome she set up a court and became an active figure in the city’s musical life. In 1709, Domenico Scarlatti succeeded his father Alessandro as her court composer. His librettist, Carlo Capece, was her private secretary and court poet. Amor d’un’ombra e gelosia d’un’aura premiered at Maria Casimira’s private theatre in the Palazzo Zuccari in January 1714 and proved to be the last of the several operas which Scarlatti had composed for her. Five months after the premiere, she departed for France, leaving a string of debts behind her. In addition to Scarlatti’s opera, the 1714 Carnival opera season in Rome saw the premieres of Caldara’s Tito e Berenice (also with a libretto by Capece) and Gasparini’s Lucio Papirio (with a libretto by Antonio Salvi). These two were the result of a competition set by Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni, a prominent patron of the arts in Rome. Two rival academies, the Accademia degli Arcadi and the Accademia dei Quirini, were each to sponsor an opera to be performed in the newly renovated Teatro Capranica. Ottoboni would give a generous gift to the academy which had produced the best one. According to a French correspondent at the time, Tito e Berenice had considerably less success with the audiences than Lucio Papirio, but the best opera presented that season was actually Amor d’un’ombra e gelosia d’un’aura. A revised version of the opera with the addition of two arias and two duets composed by Thomas Roseingrave opened at the Haymarket Theatre in London on 30 May 1720 under the title Narciso. Roseingrave also published the overture and arias of the opera, the only vocal music of Scarlatti that was printed in his lifetime. Capece’s original libretto was adapted for the London performance by Paolo Antonio Rolli who eliminated the role of Nicandro. While the cast for the Rome premiere is unknown, the principal roles in the London performance were taken by Margherita Durastanti (Narciso), Anastasia Robinson (Eco), Benedetto Baldassari (Cefalo), and Ann Turner Robinson (Procri). The Haymarket Theatre Narciso proved to be the last time one of Scarlatti’s operas was performed in his lifetime. The discovery of a copy of the manuscript score in the library of Friedrich Chrysander led to several late 20th and early 21st century revivals. A version using the voices of opera singers but with the characters portrayed on stage by marionettes was produced in 2002 at the Besançon International Music Festival.

Cat fugue

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History of the nickname#

The nickname, which was never used by the composer himself but was introduced only early in the 19th century, originates from a story about how Scarlatti came up with the strikingly unusual motif on which the fugue is built. Legend has it that Scarlatti had a pet cat called Pulcinella, who was described by the composer as prone to walking across the keyboard, always curious about its sounds. On one occasion, according to the story, Scarlatti wrote down a phrase from one of these “improvisation sessions”, and used it as a lead motif in a fugue: \header tagline = ##f \score > \layout \context \Score \remove “Metronome_mark_engraver” \midi The nickname was used in concert programmes in the 19th century (see Performances section below), and was also used by publishers including Muzio Clementi, Carl Czerny and Alessandro Longo.

Essercizi per gravicembalo

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

External links#

*Domenico Scarlatti: The Keyboard Sonatas – Lists at Classical.net, sorted by Longo, Kirkpatrick or Pestelli numbers or key, time signature

Keyboard Sonata, K. 141 (Scarlatti)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Form#

Despite the name, the overwhelming majority of Scarlatti’s keyboard sonatas (including the Sonata K. 141) are not in sonata form, as they were written before sonata form was developed/codified. The sonata has one movement in binary form; its time signature is .

Score#

\version “2.18.2” \header tagline = ##f % thèmes temaRep = \repeat unfold 6 d16 \repeat unfold 6 f \repeat unfold 6 e \repeat unfold 6 d \repeat unfold 6 e \repeat unfold 6 a % ms. 7 d16 bes a g f e f g a d, e cis temaBass = 8 r8 r8 q r8 r8 8 r8 r8 8 r8 r8 8 r8 r8 % ms. 6 8 r8 r8 8 r8 r8 4 8 temaBassG = 8 r8 r8 q r8 r8 8 r8 r8 8 r8 r8 8 r8 r8 % ms. 6 8 r8 r8 8 r8 r8 4 8 % petites notes trillD = \tag #‘print d8.\trill \tag #‘midi e32 d e d~ d trillG = \tag #‘print g8.\trill \tag #‘midi a32 g a g~ g upper = \relative c \clef treble \key d \minor \time 3/8 \tempo 4. = 80 % \tempo 8 = 210 \set Staff.midiInstrument = #“harpsichord” s8*0^“Allegro” \temaRep d16 bes a g f e \relative c’ \temaRep d4. \repeat unfold 2 a4.~ a16 e cis a g’ e % ms. 23 a4. bes16 g d bes g bes g'4. a16 f c a f a % ms. 27 f'4. g16 e c g e g e'4. f16 d a f d f f’ e d c bes a % ms. 32 bes'16 a g f e d \repeat unfold 2 cis16 d \trillD cis32 d e f g16 \trillG f32 g % ms. 37 a16 e cis a e cis \change Staff = “lower” a16 e cis a e cis \tempo 8 = 130 a4. lower = \relative c \clef bass \key d \minor \time 3/8 \set Staff.midiInstrument = #“harpsichord” % ************************************** \temaBass > \relative c, \temaBassG 4. % ms. 19 \repeat unfold 2 a16 f d a f d a4. a16 f d a f d g,4. g16 e c g e c f,4. f16 d bes f d bes e,4. e16 cis a e cis a d,4. > s4 s4. s4. thePianoStaff = \new PianoStaff > \score \keepWithTag #‘print \thePianoStaff \layout #(layout-set-staff-size 17) \context \Score \override SpacingSpanner.common-shortest-duration = #(ly:make-moment 1/2) \remove “Metronome_mark_engraver” \score \keepWithTag #‘midi \thePianoStaff \midi Beginning of the sonata in D minor, K. 141, by Domenico Scarlatti.

The Taming of the Shrew (ballet)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

Cranko’s ballet is a dance version of William Shakespeare’s play The Taming of the Shrew (1590–1592). The story is a comedy about Petruchio’s determination to subdue the irascible Katherine; he woos her, marries her, and makes her an obedient wife. Shakespeare chose his title to signify to his audiences that the play was about the marriage of a man to an ill-tempered woman given to scolding, nagging, and aggression. Such a woman, especially a wife, was known in the sixteenth century as a shrew, so called after a tiny rodent with a notoriously hostile and unpleasant nature. A woman convicted in court for being a shrew was often punished in Shakespeare’s day by being confined to stocks on the village green or repeatedly dunked in a nearby pond or lake.