Domenico Scarlatti

From Citizendium
Revision as of 15:04, 9 March 2024 by Pat Palmer (talk | contribs) (Text replacement - "Naples" to "Naples, Italy")
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This article is a stub and thus not approved.
Main Article
Discussion
Related Articles  [?]
Bibliography  [?]
External Links  [?]
Citable Version  [?]
 
This editable Main Article is under development and subject to a disclaimer.

Domenico Scarlatti (born Naples, Italy, 26 October 1685, died Madrid, 23 July 1757) was an Italian composer. Though he wrote many other compositions, his fame rests on his 555 keyboard sonatas. Called Essercizi when composed—as harpsichord exercises for Portuguese Princess Maria Magdalena Bárbara, whom he followed to Madrid when she became Queen of Spain—they have also become a staple of the piano repertoire, Vladimir Horowitz being a renowned performer. There are famous harpsichord recordings by Wanda Landowska and Ralph Kirkpatrick, and synthesiser ones by Wendy Carlos. It was Kirkpatrick who catalogued and numbered the sonatas chronologically (though the old L, or Longo, numbers are still occasionally used).