The Genius of Domenico Scarlatti, Part 1

[@bwv9883]

No smart words here, just thanks for taking the time and effort it took in producing this outstanding video!

[@markchandler7089]

Thank you for the whole series! I grew up listening to Wanda Landowska and Igor Kipnis on LPs. My father played Scarlatti on the clavichord and took me to hear Ralph Kirkpatrick perform when I was about 11 years old. These are great memories. The elegance and playfulness of Scarlatti's music is absolute magic. It is clearly baroque but also romantic and impressionistic. The discussion of how these effects are created is very helpful. Are there any newer biographies or books on Scarlatti you might recommend? Is there a written text to accompany this series?

[@rufarolo]

A clear and direct explanation even for those which english is a second language

[@SpencerMusicSchool]

Thank you so much!! Such an enlightening lecture similar to the ones I have given on Scarlatti for university. I never get tired of playing Scarlatti. So much variety, emotional content, amazing ornamentation and technical challenges and imagery. Such an enlightening lecture. I will have all my harpsichord and piano students watch.

[@ivarvaldez9027]

Minute 3:08, it sounds like Mambo number 8, by Perez Prado. Wow. He is a big influence for a lot of musicians.

[@Oswald_Anthony]

The best music never dies...

[@jordanstephens95]

Such an instructional set of videos you've posted. It's so valuable to have a detailed breakdown of some of my favorite Scarlatti sonatas. I have a feeling I'll be back to watch these over and over again. Thanks so much!

[@metteholm4833]

So will I. This is a gem.

[@karynation128]

Somehow a contemporary of Bach and Handel paved the way for Beethoven and Rachmaninoff.

[@excelsior999]

If you are wondering who won the keyboard contest between Scarlatti and Handel, Scarlatti was adjudged to be the winner of the harpsichord competition. Before the verdict was announced on who was the better organist Scarlatti graciously conceded that Handel was indeed superior on that instrument. Anyone who has never heard the recording Ivo Pogorelich playing Scarlatti's K. 8 should do so immediately so that you don't forget. You can come back to this video later. At your first opportune moment you should also listen to Pogo's entire Scarlatti album. kzbin.info/www/bejne/nouwZWmsdpmJiKM

[@mallorga1965]

¡Excelent video! I won't miss the rest.

[@brew2019]

Would be helpful to know if there is a reference for the "funeral dirge" of K.8 remark. Totally new to me. I suspect one can land here as a possible "personal interpretation." I assume that is what is presented here, though it comes off as a more authoritative remark made without historical reference or attribution. There is no mention of any such interpretation of this as a funeral piece or dirge like character in Kirkpatrick's volume "Domenico Scarlatti." Coming to the piece natively, I perceive a dance rhythm character, and the somewhat rolled bass signature effect noted in this video, I see as an example of Scarlatti's guitar effect - not necessarily one that conveys a dirge though. With the understanding that these pieces were conceived, for the most part, on the harpsichord (and not the piano), this also impacts compositional choices and interpretive analysis. As I'm currently playing through this piece in my repertoire cycle, I'm seeking and open to commentary on this piece. Looking to dig deeper on the analysis presented in this video for K.8.

[@johnappleyard4123]

Absolutely wonderful presentation.

[@frankfeldman6657]

You have good things to say and a nice manner. Kudos.

[@emanuel_soundtrack]

i would give a precise title for this analysis, mentioning the work, or at least plaing the whole work before analysing. Anyway still veryy good!

[@dolfboerman2033]

Very good! I am interested in the cords he uses: it looks like he inverts all cords in both directions e.g. He uses a g cord both upward (g-b-d) and downward (g-e-c). The modern player has a hard time getting this middle voice right. Any suggestions how to study and analyse his music?

[@Alix777.]

This is so great ! Thanks a lot !

[@dulcamarabuffo]

An excellent video. Regards from Weimar, Germany.

[@Raynozal]

Love how you present the biography and your playing is fantastic too! Just watching this before my DipABRSM exam.

[@ant8064]

Such a shame that she is unable to pronounce some of her words properly!

[@elaineblackhurst1509]

The routine mangling of Italian words by American-English speakers is disrespectful; to be discussing the ‘sonadas’ of ‘Scarladdi’ is simply a horrible mutilation of one of the most attractive languages on the planet.

[@Santiago-rw6sn]

Solo puedo decir: es deprimente. Sinceramente su interpretación es deprimente. Todo aquel que quiera escuchar a Scarlati y un pianista enserio, busquen videos de Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli.

[@keithchiv6166]

very good exposition,though i wish she d used a harpsichord.

[@djtomt]

A wonderful education. Thank you.

[@heisenberg0022]

I'm using this for a paper it is super informative thx

[@Pianoforjoy]

What a marvelous video! I knew nothing about Scarlatti before. Now I know a lot! I never knew Scarlatti called his 555 Sonatas Etudes! Could Chopin have been influenced by him?

[@elaineblackhurst1509]

This is a lovely and helpful video but to refer to these pieces as ‘etudes’ is simply wrong. In 1738, the first thirty sonatas - now K1-30 - were published in London as ‘Essercizi’. These works were virtually the only ones to leave the hands of Scarlatti and his patron Maria Barbara during the composer’s lifetime. The word ‘Essercizi’ is Italian, and usually translates into English as ‘exercises’, though in the eighteenth century this did not quite mean what it does today - beside the obvious translation as ‘exercises’, it simply meant ‘pieces’ or ‘lessons’. To introduce the entirely spurious French word ‘etude’ (a ‘study’) is confusing and unhistorical; it is not helpful as it means something completely different, and is therefore misleading. The only real link with Chopin is that he rated Scarlatti very highly, something that was unusual at the time.

[@felipejacob4242]

Chopin was definitely influenced by Scarlatti. In fact, he frequently assigned Scarlatti sonatas to his piano pupils, to the disapproval of some of his colleagues.

[@elaineblackhurst1509]

Assigning Scarlatti’s sonatas as esercizi to students is not the same thing as being influenced by him. Czerny did a similar thing, and issued a major nineteenth century edition of some of the sonatas, as did Clementi also. To claim ‘influence’, you would need to evidence specific, multiple examples relating to melodic shape, harmony, form, structure, technique, et cetera. Chopin acknowledged the high musical quality of Scarlatti’s sonatas and was also well aware of their value as teaching material. The two composers are too far apart historically, writing for very different instruments and totally different audiences to claim ‘influence’, though both were innovative pioneers of keyboard writing and technique in their own times. The only real comparison to be drawn is the supreme quality of the vast majority of both composers’ works.

[@Christian-uv6gs]

That's not correct. The video says "Etudes" but the real word in italian is "Esercizi". Etudes would be "Studi", esercizi is more "Exercices".

[@ivarvaldez9027]

I thought the same... I am not wrong at all.

[@Lesya77]

So what is a Scarlatti effect?

[@Christian-uv6gs]

I don't agree with your translation Etudes. The real italian word is "Esercizi". You can use it, no need to translate. Etudes would be translated in Studi, in italian, not in Esercizi.

[@elaineblackhurst1509]

You’re quite right, the use of the word ‘etude’ is wrong and misleading; it is something I covered in my own comment above, but it’s good to get some back-up - thanks.

[@Christian-uv6gs]

@@elaineblackhurst1509 thank you for the feedback. Viva Scarlatti!

[@elaineblackhurst1509]

@@Christian-uv6gs Indeed, and as Scarlatti himself - maybe - said in the preface to the thirty Essercizi published in London in 1738, ‘Vivi felice’.

[@Christian-uv6gs]

@@elaineblackhurst1509 if you have listened Scarlatti's sonatas you can not say maybe. He wrote vivi felice, guaranteed!

[@elaineblackhurst1509]

@@Christian-uv6gs I currently have about 40 Scarlatti sonatas in my repertoire as over the past couple of years, I appear to have become hopelessly but happily addicted to them - I enjoy them a lot, and do very much vivo felice whilst playing them. I am currently learning K101, not technically the most difficult to play, but one that demands absolute precision and accuracy; the first 24 bars of the second half are simply astonishing. Still not totally convinced that Scarlatti actually wrote that preface to the London edition of the Essercizi, but the spirit of the words is 100% Scarlatti - my Henle edition says that the famous Preface is ‘…possibly not by Scarlatti’, and that ‘Scarlatti is not known to have been involved in any way with this publication’. That said, like yourself, I would like to think Scarlatti did write it, as it is so true to the spirit of this extraordinary music.

[@tjwhite1963]

On a modern piano? Really?

[@marcussfebruary9104]

Not a single harpsichord referance.

[@metteholm4833]

This is not about instruments, but about the music.

[@ruperttmls7985]

Both comments are correct

[@Emma-ob5oj]

you got a new subscriber

[@CarapuceShiney]

The first notes remind me of the Scherzo in LVB's 2nd Symphony !

[@zidanidane]

very nice video! oh, but i'm a bit late

[@edanmendelson3274]

and 4:45 ?/ amazing!

[@dariusmolark6820]

excellent, thank you.

[@onlinetheory5115]

The first piece sounds like it influenced the third movement of Beethoven’s 2nd symphony. Same key and basically same tempo.

[@edanmendelson3274]

what is the opening piece?

[@jordanstephens95]

+edan mendelson The opening piece is K492 in D major. The 4:45 piece is K27 in B minor. Enjoy :).

[@edanmendelson3274]

+Jordan Stephens THANK YOU MY FRIEND!