This week we celebrate the music of Domenico Scarlatti who was born in Naples, Italy on October 26, 1685 (the same years as Johann Sebastian Bach and Georg Frideric Handel). His father, Alessandro Scarlatti, was a composer famous for his numerous operas. He probably was Domenico's first music teacher. The early part of Scarlatti’s career was spent in Italy. In 1701, at the age of 16, he got the position of a composer and organist at the royal chapel in Naples. Later, in 1704, his father sent him to Venice, and by 1709 he was in Rome, employed in the service of the exiled Polish queen Marie Casimire. By that time, Scarlatti had attained a reputation as an exceptional harpsichordist. It is said that while in Rome, he and Handel competed in harpsichord and organ playing. Scarlatti was judged the better harpsichordist, yet inferior to Handel on the organ.
In the following years Scarlatti traveled to London and Portugal, where he remained for a number of years. In 1729, he moved to Seville and four years later to Madrid. He settled in Madrid for the rest of his life and, after the death of his first wife, an Italian, married a Spanish woman. He became music master to Princess (and future Queen of Spain) Maria Magdalena Barbara. It was during his time in Spain that he composed most of the 555 piano sonatas for which he is nearly exclusively known for today. He befriended Farinelli, the famous castrato singer and fellow Neapolitan; it’s mostly from Farinelli’s letters that historians learned about Scarlatti’s years in Spain. Scarlatti died in Madrid on July 23, 1757.
We’ll hear several of Scarlatti’s sonatas. First we’ll hear Heather Schmidt playing Sonata in E Major, K. 380. Then Jie Chen, the Chinese pianist now residing in New York, plays Sonata in G Major, K 547. The Italian pianist Davide Polovineo performs Sonata K. 39
L 391 in A Major. And finally, May Phang, a pianist from Singapore, plays the whimsical Etude Hommage à Scarlatti by the pianist and composer Marc-André Hamelin. To listen, click here.
October 24, 2011
This week we celebrate the music of Domenico Scarlatti who was born in Naples, Italy on October 26, 1685 (the same years as Johann Sebastian Bach and Georg Frideric Handel). His father, Alessandro Scarlatti, was a composer famous for his numerous operas. He probably was Domenico's first music teacher. The early part of Scarlatti’s career was spent in Italy. In 1701, at the age of 16, he got the position of a composer and organist at the royal chapel in Naples. Later, in 1704, his father sent him to Venice, and by 1709 he was in Rome, employed in the service of the exiled Polish queen Marie Casimire. By that time, Scarlatti had attained a reputation as an exceptional harpsichordist. It is said that while in Rome, he and Handel competed in harpsichord and organ playing. Scarlatti was judged the better harpsichordist, yet inferior to Handel on the organ.
In the following years Scarlatti traveled to London and Portugal, where he remained for a number of years. In 1729, he moved to Seville and four years later to Madrid. He settled in Madrid for the rest of his life and, after the death of his first wife, an Italian, married a Spanish woman. He became music master to Princess (and future Queen of Spain) Maria Magdalena Barbara. It was during his time in Spain that he composed most of the 555 piano sonatas for which he is nearly exclusively known for today. He befriended Farinelli, the famous castrato singer and fellow Neapolitan; it’s mostly from Farinelli’s letters that historians learned about Scarlatti’s years in Spain. Scarlatti died in Madrid on July 23, 1757.
We’ll hear several of Scarlatti’s sonatas. First we’ll hear Heather Schmidt playing Sonata in E Major, K. 380. Then Jie Chen, the Chinese pianist now residing in New York, plays Sonata in G Major, K 547. The Italian pianist Davide Polovineo performs Sonata K. 39
L 391 in A Major. And finally, May Phang, a pianist from Singapore, plays the whimsical Etude Hommage à Scarlatti by the pianist and composer Marc-André Hamelin. To listen, click here.