Album insights
Scarlatti's reputation today mainly rests on his extensive output for keyboard instruments, particularly the over five hundred esercizi, known as sonatas. While his operas are completely forgotten, only his Stabat Mater (No. 1) from his church music remains well-remembered for its profound sublimity. Likely composed between 1713 and 1719 during his time as maestro di cappella at the Basilica Giulia in Rome, this work showcases Scarlatti's use of lush textures and unexpected harmonies within a seemingly strict framework of ten voices plus continuo, akin to chiaroscuro in painting. Through smooth chromatic melodies interwoven into a contrapuntal texture, such as in the opening "Stabat mater dolorosa," Scarlatti achieves poignant emotional contrasts. Notably, the diatonic counterpoint of "Fac me vere tecum flere" evokes echoes of Palestrina's prima prattica, while the florid duet "Inflammatus et accensus" and the dance-like "Amen" exhibit truly operatic mannerisms.
Scarlatti's fame and the popularity of his keyboard sonatas, one of the most idiomatic and distinctive collections of harpsichord music, have overshadowed the fact that some of these works are suitable for the organ – with a few originally intended for this instrument. Pieces like Kk254 4 and Kk255 6 fall into this category, featuring predominantly simple textures that complement the sound of the Baroque organ well. In Kk255, two peculiar notations hint at the composer's use of musical imitation: "oytabado" (Measure 37) likely derives from the eighteenth-century Portuguese dance "oitavado," and "tortorilla" (Measure 64) means "turtle dove." In a manuscript source (I-Vnm MS.9774), Sonata Kk287 5 is labeled "Per organo da camera con due Tastatura Flautato e Trombone," while its counterpart Kk288 2 also includes registration details (I-PAc AG31412). Structurally, these two pieces are organ fantasies, distinct from Scarlatti's typical sonata form with a double bar line. Kk328 3 falls into this second category as well, annotated with registrations "Flo" and "Org." denoting "flauto" for a flute stop and "organo" for a principal stop.
Similar to the Stabat Mater, the brief Salve Regina in A minor 7 belongs to Scarlatti's early Italian period and shares resemblances with the early harpsichord fugue Kk41. Of an intimate and subtle style, the six sections of this work reveal an advanced sensitivity to the text—from the gentle, almost joyful "Ad te clamamus" to the mournful chromaticism of "gementes et flentes in hac lacrimarum valle" and the exquisite farewell of "o pia, o dulcis virgo Maria."
Nicholas Clapton © 1985
Translation: Anne Steeb/Bernd Müller