Description
K.491 in D major is a Scarlatti keyboard sonata notable for its brilliant passagework and Spanish-flavoured rhythms, showcasing the refined keyboard writing of a composer who spent much of his career at the Spanish court. Like most of his sonatas it is a single movement in binary form, each half repeated.
It is in D major and 3/4. Hand-crossing figures and rapid scales appear throughout, creating a bright, energetic character. Packed into about two and a half minutes are roughly 1,341 notes, and that density itself drives the music forward. The dance-like spring of the triple metre deepens its Spanish colour.
Intermediate in scale, it still calls for finger rotation and evenness in its more demanding passages, and its bass goes slightly below a 61-key keyboard, so 88 or 76 keys suit it. Where the hands cross, the hand colours make it easy to see which hand plays what. Slowing the playback to even out the scales, and practising the hard spots in sections with the A-B loop, is the recommended approach.
Selected sonatas from Scarlatti's output of 555, known for innovative keyboard technique and original musical ideas.
Browse all songs in Keyboard Sonatas →Sheet Music
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.
View all works by Scarlatti →