Scarlatti sonatas and flamenco
There is something about Scarlatti sonatas that has haunted me for years. This is a look at the life of a composer who is better known for his harpsichord music. He spent the last 29 years in Spain until his death in 1757. The forgotten flamenco pioneer? Maybe not, but at least some Scarlatti sonatas sound suspiciously like flamenco to anyone who cares to listen closely to them.
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Domenico who?
A contemporary of Bach, Domenico Scarlatti was born in Naples,
the sixth of ten children. After his early training and career
in Italy, he moved to Portugal in 1720 to work as music master
to King John V. In 1729, his patron and pupil Maria Barbara married
the Spanish crown prince, the future Ferdinand VI. Scarlatti followed
the royal pair to Madrid where he spent the last 29 years of his
life. He was the first composer to explore the free style of playing
the harpsichord. Although he wrote many other pieces like operas
and sacred works, he is mainly remembered for his 555 harpsichord
sonatas. The most commonly cited catalog of Scarlatti's compositions
was compiled by the American harpsichordist Ralph Kirkpatrick
(1911 - 1984). Hence the prefix letter K attached to each numbered
piece.
OK! Fine! So what's the point?
It's my view that Domenico Scarlatti may have influenced the evolution
of flamenco music. It would be stretching the point to say any
more than that but I think it's fair to give credit where credit
is due. Unlike some of the people cited below, I would not go
so far as to call his music flamenco just because of a few isolated
passages. Just for fun, let's put our skeptic hats on and go down
this path anyway to see where it takes us. Don't forget to tie
your camel first. (It's doesn't pay very well, but I love to be
the Devil's advocate)
What is a sonata?
This term usually denotes work for solo instrument (eg, piano,
violin and in the case of Scarlatti sonatas, a harpsichord). After
about 1750, the form was also used with small ensembles. The sonata
form enjoyed tremendous popularity during the Classical period.
Sonatas are typically three or four movements in length, with
a fast first and third movements. The second movement is generally
slow and in a different key from the other two movements. (1)
History of the Scarlatti sonatas
"Only with his definitive departure from Italy, and after his father's death in 1725, does Domenico Scarlatti appear to have developed the style that has rendered him one of the greatest keyboard composers of all time. For nearly ten years he was attached to the Portuguese court as chapel-master, and also served as music-master to the young Princess Maria Barbara and her younger brother, Don Antonio. Upon the former's marriage in 1729 to the heir to the Spanish throne, Fernando VI, he moved to Spain, spending the last 28 years of his life at the Spanish court. Most of the five hundred and fifty-odd surviving harpsichord sonatas appear to have been written for this musically unusually gifted princess."
"In Madrid, Scarlatti was for a time alone in the musical spotlight. On April 21, 1738 knighthood was conferred on Scarlatti by his former patron, King John V of Portugal. The earliest dated collection of Scarlatti sonatas was published in 1738 under the title Essercizi per Gravicembalo,and dedicated to King John. From this time on Scarlatti hardly composed any more vocal music, but confined himself to the writing of several hundred harpsichord sonatas. In these he conferred on the binary form a variety and expressive range that have never been surpassed by any other composer."
"From 1752 to 1757 thirteen volumes of Scarlatti sonatas were copied out for the use of Queen Maria Barbara. They were carefully written in a rather large format,widely spaced and decorated with colored inks. To this series were added two preliminary volumes that had been copied out in 1742 and in 1749, likewise decorated with colored inks. All fifteen volumes were bound in red morocco with the combined arms of Spain and Portugal tooled in gold on the cover. In 1835 the Queen's set of Scarlatti sonatas was acquired by the Biblioteca Marciana in Venice. The fifteen manuscript volumes (the 'Venice manuscripts') contain 496 Scarlatti sonatas."
"When Scarlatti died in Madrid on July 23, 1757, he left
behind him a few manuscript collections of sonatas that remained
almost entirely unknown to the world at large until their partial
publication by Czerny in 1839 and their virtually complete publication
by Longo in 1906." (2)
Scarlatti sonatas capture the essence of
Spain
"Most particularly he has expressed that part of his life
which was lived in Spain. There is hardly an aspect of Spanish
life, of Spanish popular music and dance, that
has not found itself a place in the microcosm that Scarlatti created
with his sonatas. No Spanish composer, not even Manuel de Falla,
has expressed the essence of his native land as completely as
did the foreigner Scarlatti. He has captured the click
of castanets, the strumming of guitars
the thud of muffled drums, the harsh bitter wail of gypsy lament,
the overwhelming gaiety of the village band, and above all the
wiry tension of the Spanish dance." (3)
Borrowed flamenco riffs
Considering the flamenco sounding ideas in Domenico Scarlatti's
music, the burning question is, "did he borrow from the
gypsies?" or was it the other way around? An un-educated
simpleton like myself is tempted by simple puzzles like this,
but the real answer is probably even simpler. Although gypsies
had been in Spain for over three centuries when Scarlatti came
along, it would be fair to say that there were enough folkloric
songs and dances available to the general public to fire Scarlatti's
imagination.
I've heard some people say that some song forms like Tangos and
Bulerias are pure gypsy flamenco, as if to imply they dreamed
it up out of thin air. Much as I would like to believe in this
sort of spontaneous magic, the truth is that nothing on Earth
is truly original. If you were to say that Bulerias evolved slowly
from a blend of existing gypsy rhythms and adapted local music
I might believe you. Why not extend the same courtesy to Scarlatti
sonatas? Any similarity between Scarlatti sonatas and gypsy flamenco
melodies can be safely attributed to a coincidence of expression
based on the same musical roots. It doesn't take a genius to come
to the conclusion that raw musical idioms (or "riffs") that we
recognize as 'flamenco' were already a common part of the popular
musical culture, and could be borrowed and adapted by anyone who
felt the urge to do so.
Moorish flamenco?
Historically, flamenco as we know it did not exist pre 1492 (the
Christian reconquest). And yet the influence of the Moors and
the Sephardic
Jews survives in today's flamenco. How we interpret this
depends on how poetic you want to be. Humans have a unique tendency
to think in retrospect and come up with romantic notions that
have little or no substance. It feels good and helps us to escape
the daily grind but we can easily get lost in the legend. For
example, if we could be transported back to the time of the Moors
in Spain to listen to their music, are we going to say;
"Hey, listen to that, I heard a passage from Paco de Lucía's latest
CD in that song. Therefore, the Moors played flamenco." No. That's
silly. It's not uncommon to find this sort of historical "influence"
in today's flamenco.
Given that Domenico Scarlatti came along two and a half centuries
after the Moors, we can safely speculate that he also influenced
flamenco music in some way or other, just as the Moors did. The
interesting thing about the references I cite below is that there
are enough people out there in the music world who have made the
flamenco connection on their own, probably on the basis that some
Scarlatti sonatas have a 'Spanish' or 'flamenco' flavor. Are they
misguided? Perhaps. To my knowledge, the word 'flamenco' did not
exist in the Spanish vocabulary as a common term to describe folkloric
or gypsy dances in Scarlatti's time. So it's unlikely he would
have thought of calling a piece 'flamenco D minor sonata for mandolin
and continuo'.
Besides, not only is Madrid miles away from the flamenco heartland
of Andalucia, but flamenco as we know it didn't hit the streets
until a hundred years later. Therefore, the flamenco sounding
passages in Scarlatti sonatas can safely be attributed to the
folkloric musical traditions that existed in his lifetime. Gypsy
flamenco music also borrows from, and has some seeds in these
same traditions. The point here is that flamenco evolved later
from these influences but did not technically exist in it's own
right in the 16th century.
Retrospective song titles
The reference below to the "flamenco d minor sonata" performed
by the Edinburgh Barock group is therefore a bit of a puzzle to
me. It's probably going a bit far to suggest that Scarlatti set
out to consciously compose flamenco music. I don't think I've
ever seen Scarlatti sonatas called anything but a number. Yes,
I know. It's boring as hell. Mind you, if he was Chinese he might
have been inspired to give them names like "Peacock of the Golden
Sunrise sonata" or "Temple of Heaven sonata". While we're on this
subject, here's a piece of useless information for you. Did you
know that Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata was known to Beethoven
simply as Opus 27, No. 2? The Moonlight bit was an invention of
publishers after his death. I doubt if they would have taken such
liberty while he was alive. Nobody cares anymore. These composers
decomposed long ago. You are now free to call their music whatever
you like.
Summing up
Having said all that, we cannot escape the fact that Scarlatti
sonatas were hanging around for a hundred years before flamenco
as we know it began to take root in the popular consciousness.
It does not seem unreasonable to me that at least some elements
of Scarlatti's music got blended into the overall mix of flamenco
idioms.
Does it stretch the imagination too much to assume that Scarlatti
sonatas found their way onto the streets, and to some interested
gypsy ears during the hundred years following his death? If that
sounds a bit rich, let's just say that Scarlatti was the first
to "record" recognizable flamenco idioms in the form of written
notation. To him, these melodies and ideas were nothing more than
reflections of the common folk music of his day. To our retrospective
ears we could imagine him, rightly or wrongly, as some kind of
musical visionary who didn't miss a trick. I like his hairstyle
anyway. In the greater scheme of things, I'm just babbling and
all this means nothing really. I've probably just wasted ten minutes
of your valuable time, but at least you walk away with an historical
curiosity you can have strange dreams about.
Make up your own mind
Download this midi collection of Scarlatti sonatas - (the "flamenco"
sounding ones) and see what you think. K24, 105, 116, 144, 146,
175, 201, 239, 255, 404, 414, 443, 444, 450, 485, 490, 491, 492,
502. Have a good listen to K492. I could swear I heard some Paco
de Lucía in there somewhere.
scarlatti
sonatas flamenco.zip (55k)
How others connect Scarlatti with flamenco
"This CD includes 14 Scarlatti sonatas, selected for their
Spanish flavor - Flamenco song, energetic dance and guitar-like
strumming." (4)
"Well, there's a few, for example, Scarlatti Sonatas that almost
prove Scarlatti invented flamenco (laughs)… I transcribed them
because I think they're great fun to do." (5)
"This
performance is a lively and colorful programme with some Spanish
touches, played on period instruments. These include the enchanting
but surprisingly neglected mandolin, shown off here in Domenico
Scarlatti's flamenco d minor sonata, one of his six original works
for the instrument." (6)
"Your question about Spanish dances is very interesting! Here
is, of course, "FLAMENCO"! Scarlatti uses it in many sonatas (for
example K. 116 in c minor bars 37-43 and idem in the second half!
Three eights bar! "BULERIA" particularly in K. 492 in D major!!!
bars 26-34 and idem in the second half. (six eights bar here).
Now, this is a dance and a rhythm (what a handiwork to accentuate
the weak beat of the bar!!!)! "SEGUIDILLA SEVILLANA" (in K. 491
in D major!!! or K. 239 in f minor!!!). Am I right if I say that
it reminds me of a rhythm of the Chopin's polonaises?! Three quavers
bar here. "SAETA"(in K. 414 in D major second half!!! wow!!! what
a powerful acciaccaturas!, or K. 490 in D major(slower variant)).
Four quavers bar here. "TANGO GITANO"(in K. 450 in g minor, four
quavers bar). And finally, K. 255 in C major with two cute Portugal
dances "OYTABADO" and "TORTORILLA" in three eights bar!" (7)
Sources
(1) theclassicalstation.org
(2) hoasm.org
(3) Encyclopedia Britannica
(4) CD - "From Lisbon to Madrid" by Penelope Cave
(5) Interview with guitarist David Russell
(6) Edinburgh Barock Performance notes
(7) A message from Marko: - Domenico Scarlatti Discussion Deck
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