The keyboard sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti survive in part from manuscripts possibly bequeathed to the great Italian castrato Farinelli, who was employed at the Spanish court.
Composer Biography
Domenico Scarlatti once competed in a keyboard contest against Handel in Rome, where Handel was declared the better organist and Scarlatti the better harpsichordist.
Performer Biography
The pianist on this album, Duanduan Hao, is a Chinese pianist who won First Prize in the 2009 Shanghai International Piano Competition.
Composition History
Domenico Scarlatti's hundreds of single-movement sonatas were largely designed for the use of his pupil, the Infanta Maria Barbara, who became Queen of Spain in 1746.
Composer Biography
Domenico Scarlatti, the composer of these sonatas, was the sixth of ten children of Alessandro Scarlatti, who was chiefly responsible for the early development of Neapolitan opera.
Composition History
The American harpsichordist Ralph Kirkpatrick created a new listing for Scarlatti's sonatas in 1953, distinguished by the letter K, which is based on the chronological order of available sources.
