Description
K.455 in G major is one of the many keyboard sonatas Scarlatti composed. He spent the later part of his life at the Spanish court, and most of his sonatas are single movements in binary form, each half repeated. K.455 belongs to that body of work written for the court's keyboard instruments.
It is in G major and 2/2. It features a bright, singing melodic line and rich harmony, along with the lively leaps and Spanish-tinged rhythmic flavour typical of his style. Compact at around one minute fifty seconds, it is dense at some 1,274 notes, the two hands trading figures closely as it moves forward.
Rated intermediate, its bass goes slightly below a 61-key keyboard, so 88 or 76 keys suit it. Passages requiring nimble finger rotation appear throughout, and the key to performance is making the exchanges between the hands sound light. Slowing the playback to work out the fingering of fast passages, following the hand-to-hand handoffs with the hand colours, and looping the hard spots with A-B will bring you towards an even, buoyant sound.
Selected sonatas from Scarlatti's output of 555, known for innovative keyboard technique and original musical ideas.
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Sheet music provided by Mutopia Project
About the Composer
Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757)
Domenico Scarlatti was born in Naples and spent the latter part of his life at the Spanish and Portuguese courts. Born in the same year as Bach and Handel, he is renowned for his 555 single-movement keyboard sonatas, notable for their bold leaps and incorporation of Spanish dance idioms. This site includes his Sonatas K. 455 and K. 491, among others.
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