Domenico Scarlatti (jan 1, 1685 – jan 1, 1757)

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Son of Alessandro. Most remembered for musical accomplishments dating from relatively late in his career.

In 1719 Scarlatti took a position as music director at the cathedral of Lisbon in Portugal, where he not only produced several oratorios and other sacred vocal works but also supervised the musical education of Infanta Maria Barbara...What he wanted to compose was virtuosic harpsichord music for himself and, we presume, his royal pupil to perform.

Unconstrained by any requirements yet prompted by a tremendous musical curiosity and imagination, he invented what amounted to a new style of composition, which he called "ingenious jesting with art." His music displays a commitment to the ideal of delighting--rather than edifying or instructing--the listener far from the generally austere world fo JS Bach. Scarlatti became the great miniaturist of his age, spending the last four decades of his life turning out upward of 555 short, freestanding compositions for the harpsichord individually called sonatas. THey require great instrumental virtuosity, particularly in the use of special effects like crossed hands and glissandos. THey show harmonic extravagance in both their boldly handled dissonance and an often-flamboyant, yet exquisitely graded use of modulatory chromaticism. Finally, some of them reflect the local color of Spain, one that to listeners in other countries seems "exotic," an early instance of local color being valued for its musical allure.

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