A brief look at the life of Domenico Scarlatti

This video is a brief look at the life and keyboard music of Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757). Not a ‘deep dive’ by any means (more like a ‘shallow toe dipping’), but I hope it provides some basic insights into the life and music of this unique keyboard composer and inspires you to look into his life and music more deeply.
Recorded by Anthony Olson, Professor of Music (piano and organ) at Northwest Missouri State University (www.nwmissouri...) and co-owner of the Bellus Music Studio (www.bellusmusi....
Recorded in the spring of 2021 in our ‘piano parlor’ by our 7 ft. 2 in., 1901 Knabe parlor grand piano, with some of the audio clips recorded on the campus of Northwest Missouri State University.
If you enjoy our work, please consider supporting us on Patreon / lyricduo
And be sure to check out our CDs. linktr.ee/lyri...
SCARLATTI PLAYLIST
• Video
SOURCES
en.wikipedia.o...
en.wikipedia.o...
Oxford (Grove) Music online www-oxfordmusi...
www.baroquemusi...
biography.your...
RECOMMENDED FURTHER READING
Ralph Kirkpatrick, Domenico Scarlatti (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1953).
Malcolm Boyd, Domenico Scarlatti-Master of Music (New York: Schirmer Books, 1987).
John Gillespie, Five Centuries of Keyboard Music: An Historical Survey of Music for Harpsichord and Piano (New York: Dover Publications, 1972).
Stewart L. Gordon, A History of Keyboard Literature for the Piano and its Forerunners (New York: Schirmer Books, 1996).
MUSIC SCORES
imslp.org/wiki...

[@lyricduo]

This video is a [VERY] brief look at the life of Domenico Scarlatti. We hope you enjoy this ‘shallow toe dipping’ into the life and music of a unique keyboard composer and are inspired to learn more about him and his music. This video is part of a playlist that includes a number of his keyboard pieces - see our entire playlist at kzbin.info/www/bejne/p3u9aHiqa7qenbM

[@caffreyc1945]

My dad used to play many of these pieces. He was self-taught but quite good and my memory of his playing is very strong. Bittersweet because I love the pieces and the time when he play was one of the happiest of my life, long gone. Thank you.

[@lennon_becker]

The pic at the start is Allesondro Scarlatti, his father

[@lyricduo]

Yeah…. I realized that after I had uploaded it. 🤷‍♂️

[@elaineblackhurst1509]

Alessandro Scarlatti.

[@claudiotoffoli5355]

In fact, Scarlatti was hired to teach Portuguese King D. João V’s daughter, Maria Barbara de Bragança, when she was around ten. They became closely associated and Scarlatti followed her when she married Spanish prince Fernando and went to Spain. He remained her music teacher until his death in 1757, and many of his Sonatas were probably written for her use. During his Spanish time Scarlatti came to be known by his translated first name, Don Domingo.

[@georgehaeh4856]

Scarlatti's one publication during his lifetime was Essercizi per Gravicembalo. Sonata was applied to Scarlatti's pieces later.

[@StefanoFierabracci-kp5qi]

You have put the wrong photo. This is his father Alessandro Scarlatti

[@lyricduo]

Yeah. . . I realized that after the fact. DOH! 🤨

[@mickgreenwood589]

One of my favourite composers without question, thank you so much for taking the time to put together this biography :)

[@NichtWunderkind]

Really wonderful & interesting video

[@douwese]

What a nice and clear description of the life of this wonderful composer. I believe that this Ralph Kirkpatrick also discovered that, at the Spanish court, Scarlatti had access to some of the earliest pianos by Cristofori. If that is true it could be that Scarlatti composed some of his later works for piano.

[@geraldfrancke9439]

Isn‘t the portrait his father’s, Alessandro Scarlatti?

[@lyricduo]

Oops. . . Yup. It is. From the paintings left to us he looks nearly identical to his dad.

[@genustinca5565]

@@lyricduo Nonsense. They look totally different. If you want to be taken seriously, change the portrait.

[@gaelperrin3422]

Thank you, very interesting. I am starting to get into Scarlatti and am more and more enjoying his sonatas.

[@chungfish823]

Thanks for your introduction 😊

[@le-vonwhite4430]

Wonderful!

[@isabellagodde4935]

thank you so much! I have my Grade 7 pinao exam tomorrow and was looking for some quick general knowledge about Scarlatti!

[@lyricduo]

I'm glad it is helpful. Good luck on your exam. (Trinity College exam?) 🙂

[@user-tg2rk5wq6f]

Thank you so much for this!

[@InnesHeppler]

very interesting video

[@happynotes708]

Is Scarlatti's K.209 in Simple Binary Form or Rounded Binary form ?

[@lyricduo]

That one seems to be in binary rounded too.

[@happynotes708]

@@lyricduo Thank you so much for getting back to me. :) Just trying to work out some form and structure of pieces for my DipABRSM exam and had some doubts about the Scarlatti. So, is it right that K.208 is in Simple Binary Form but K.209 is in Rounded Binay Form ?

[@lyricduo]

@@happynotes708 Looks that way. Best wishes in your musical journey.

[@happynotes708]

@@lyricduo Thank you very much. Appreciate your help.

[@elaineblackhurst1509]

Scarlatti was Italian and therefore his name is pronounced Scarlatti, not Scarlarddi.

[@vayasaberlo8]

It's an American accent, they also say "sonaDa" 😢not to mention "Can tada" 😂 One just needs to tune in one's ear....

[@elaineblackhurst1509]

@@vayasaberlo8 The words are Italian, they cannot be pronounced with a foreign accent, especially an American-English one; Cincinnati (Ohio) is pronounced ‘Sinsinaddi’ (American English), or Sinsinatti (English). An Italian would mispronounce Cincinnati as ‘Cheen-cheen-*ah*-tee’ which is as absurd as the routine mutilation of a huge number of Italian words by speakers of American-English. ‘Cheen-cheen-*ah*-tee’ and ‘Scarladdi’ are a grotesque a pair of gargoyles and as repulsive as each other. The disregard for correct pronunciation is as disrespectful as it is downright ignorant, from wherever it originates; in Italian more than almost any other language, absolute accuracy in the correct pronunciation of both vowels and consonants is essential to conveying meaning.

[@tjwhite1963]

And his keyboard works weren't performed on a modern piano. ...

[@vayasaberlo8]

​​@@elaineblackhurst1509 0:08 While I totally agree, & am always annoyed when English speakers mispronounced Spanish too, I was trying not to be too hard on the presenter. I often need the cc to understand Americans because of this exact mispronouncuation of t as d. It's also quite offensive to my ear when people call Bach "Back". 😮

[@elaineblackhurst1509]

@@tjwhite1963 Generally speaking you are quite right, the huge majority of his sonatas are conceived as idiomatic harpsichord music; that said, they do work well on the modern piano as well. Ralph Kirkpatrick (he of the K numbers) however in his extensively researched and definitive biography *Domenico Scarlatti* (1953) is quite clear that there were more modern fortepianos to be found in the royal residencies and palaces around Spain, he even suggests a small number of sonatas that might have been actually conceived for the more modern instrument - K149 being one such if my memory serves correctly.