Gavotta No.1 (after Corelli)

Description

A keyboard arrangement by Clementi of music by Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713), whose reputation rests on his violin writing and whose melodies were held up as a model for instrumental music throughout the eighteenth century. That a tutor for beginners should reach back nearly a hundred years says a good deal about the character of Clementi's book.

In D major and cut time: 200 notes, under forty seconds. The gavotte is a duple-time dance that characteristically begins partway through the bar, but here the plainness of the melody matters more than the dance function. The left hand supplies the frame of the harmony and nothing more; the writing is thoroughly spare.

A beginner piece. The key to cut time is feeling two large beats rather than counting four: counting small makes the music heavy and costs the gavotte its lightness. Take the phrase divisions of the upbeat opening from the shape of the melody rather than from the barline.

A piano method Clementi published in 1801, comprising 50 lessons that arrange famous Baroque and Classical works for solo piano.