Minuet (after Scarlatti)
Muzio Clementi (1801)
Description
A piece after Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757), who served the Spanish court and left 555 keyboard sonatas, known for crossed hands and audacious leaps. What Clementi chose here, though, is a calm minuet a beginner can play.
In B-flat major and triple meter: 390 notes, about a minute and a half. It keeps its character as a dance in three, and the right-hand melody sings plainly with a little ornamentation. The left hand marks chords and nothing more; none of the technical devices of Scarlatti's own sonatas have been carried over.
A beginner piece. A minuet is a dance meter, and three even beats quickly turn monotonous: put the weight on the first and carry the music forward by the phrase. B-flat major has two flats, so checking the hand position with a scale before reading reduces mistakes.
A piano method Clementi published in 1801, comprising 50 lessons that arrange famous Baroque and Classical works for solo piano.
Browse all songs in Introduction to the Art of Playing on the Piano Forte Op.42 →Sheet Music
Sheet music provided by Mutopia Project
About the Composer
Muzio Clementi (1752-1832)
Muzio Clementi was born in Rome and moved to England while still young, building a career in London as a pianist, composer, and instrument manufacturer. Often called the "father of the pianoforte," he wrote the study collection Gradus ad Parnassum and numerous sonatinas that remain staples of piano pedagogy. This site includes pieces from his Op. 42 tutor, built on "Ah! vous dirai-je, Maman" and melodies by Haydn and Mozart, along with movements from the Sonatina, Op. 36, No. 1.
View all works by Clementi →