Domenico Scarlatti - Introduction

Portrait of Domenico Scarlatti, whose groundbreaking keyboard sonatas transformed the expressive possibilities of the harpsichord.

To fully realize his extraordinary gifts, Domenico Scarlatti had to free himself from paternal authority and emigrate. Only through distance and independence was his creative imagination able to unfold—ultimately to the great benefit of music itself. In his search for the new, Scarlatti focused almost exclusively on keyboard composition, particularly for the harpsichord, an instrument that was rapidly evolving and gaining an increasingly central place in the musical life of his time.

The 555 keyboard sonatas that emerged from his creative mind are far more than technical studies or mere esercizi, as he modestly called them. Rather, they form an imaginative and remarkably varied collection of short works that introduce bold new playing techniques and anticipate the mature tripartite sonata form.

These compositions reveal an exceptional reservoir of harmonic invention and rhythmic vitality. Scarlatti was not only a dazzling virtuoso, but also a master of musical imagination. With rare subtlety and balance, he blends polyphony with monody, maintaining throughout the elegance, wit, and clarity characteristic of the Baroque era. He does not imitate; instead, through innovation, he creates the conditions for others to follow.

The sonatas—undeniably the core of Scarlatti’s legacy—have long been the subject of scholarly investigation and cataloguing. The first systematic effort was undertaken by the Italian pianist and composer Alessandro Longo, whose catalogue assigned the prefix L to the works. A later and more widely accepted catalogue was compiled by the American harpsichordist Ralph Kirkpatrick, whose K numbering system is now considered definitive.