'His Own Worst Enemy'.

Scarlatti: Some Unanswered Questions

Jane Clark

Early Music, Vol. 13, No. 4. (Nov., 1985), pp. 542-547.

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Jane Clark
'His own worst enemy'
Scarlatti: some unanswered questions
1 Paolo Antonio Rolli (1687-1765). anonymous engraving
prefixed to his translation of Paradise Lost ( 1 735)
Despite much musicological activity in the 30 years
since Ralph Kirkpatrick's monumental study of Domen-
ico Scarlatti was published' not one major fact about
him has been discovered. In the preface to his
complete edition of the sonatas2 Kenneth Gilbert
comments: 'Of all the major 18th-century composers
Scarlatti remains surely the most enigmatic; it is
doubtful if any significant new elements can be
expected to alter this state of affairs in the future'. In
542 E A R L Y MUSIC N O V E M B E R 1985
the absence of any supporting information on them
anyone who has battled with Domenico's sonatas is
inevitably assailed by the sinking feeling that Mr
Gilbert may well be right, but occasionally hope
appears in unexpected situations. My own work
concentrated entirely, initially, on the Spanish ele-
ments3 in Scarlatti's music, but the purpose of this
article is to suggest aspects of his life and output in
which research might possibly yield further know-
ledge of this elusive composer.
One fact we do possess is the publication of the 30
Essercizi pergravicembalo, but even this is shrouded in
mystery and poses many questions. In 1739 two
editions appeared simultaneously; one, the official
publication with Scarlatti's own Preface and Dedi-
cation to John V of Portugal, and the other, a pirated
version, in two volumes edited by Thomas Roseingrave
(which also contained some additional sonatas). Until
1953 it was thought, on the authority of Charles
Burney, that the official edition was published in
Venice; however, during preparation of a book4 on
music publishing Charles Humphries and William
Smith discovered an advertisement in the Counrry
Journal or The Crafismen revealing that Scarlatti's
official edition also appeared in London. The advertise-
ment is dated February 1739 and reads:
Just publish'd. Essercizi per Gravicembalo. Being 30 Sonatas
for the Harpsichord, in 110 Large Folio Pages, finely
Engraved in big Notes, from the Originals of Domenico
Scarlatti. Musick-master to the Most Serene Prince and
Princess of Asturias. To be Sold by Mr. Adamo Scola. Musick
Master in Vinestreet near Swallowstreet, Piccadilly, over-
against the Brewhouse. Price Two Guineas. Beware of
incorrect printed Editions, a scandal in this great Nation,
and let not its fundamental Principles of Liberty and
Property be abus'd by vile Worms that gnaw the Fruit of
others ingenious Labour and Expense.
Roseingrave's edition was published by Benjamin
Cooke and appeared with the Royal License of the King
of England:
GEORGE the Second, by the Grace of God, King of Great
Britain. France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c.To all
whom these Presents shall come, Greeting: Whereas our
Trusty and Well-beloved Benjamin Cooke, of the Parish of St
Martin in the Fields, in our County of Middlesex, Musick-
Printer, hath, by his Petition, humbly Represented unto Us,
That he has purchased a Collection of Original Pieces of
Vocal and Instrumental Musick. Compos'd by Signior
DOMENICO SCARLATTI. and other Authors; and with great
Labour and Expense, has Engrav'd. Printed, and Fitted some
of the said Works, in part of the same, in such a Manner as
will render them very Useful and Entertaining to all Perform-
ers on the Harpsichord, or Organ, or any other Instruments,
as the said Musick may require: and hath therefore humbly
besought Us, to grant him Our Royal Priviledge and License,
for the sole Engraving, Printing, and Publishing the said
Works, for the Term of Fourteen Years: We being willing to
give all due Encouragement to this his Undertaking, are
graciously pleased to condescend to his Request; and We do
therefore by these Presents, so far as may be agreeable to the
Statute in that Behalf made and provided, grant unto him the
said Benjamin Cooke, his Heirs, Executors, Administrators,
and Assigns. Our License for the sole Engraving, Printing.
and Publishing of the said Works, for the Term of Fourteen
Years, to be computed from the Date hereof, strictly
forbidding all Our Subjects, within Our Kingdoms and
Dominions, to reprint or abridge the same, either in the like,
or in any other Size or Manner whatsoever,or to import, buy.
vend, utter, or distribute any Copies thereof, reprinted
beyond the Seas, during the aforesaid Term of Fourteen
Years, without the Consent of the said Benjamin Cooke, his
Heirs, Executors, Administrators, and Assigns, under their
Hands and Seals, first had and obtain'd, as they will answer
at their Perils; whereof the Commissioners, and other
Officersof Our Customs, the Master. Wardens, and Company
of Stationers are to take Notice, that due Obedience may be
rendered to Our Pleasure herein declared. Given at Our Court
at St. James's the Thirty-First Day of January. 1738-9. in the
Twelfth Year of Our Reign.
This surely indicates that the two publications came
out in direct competition with one another. To the
English public clearly Roseingrave's was the 'official'
version, having a long list of subscribers, most of
whom were established and respected members of the
musical profession in L ~ n d o nThe
. ~ fact that Rosein-
grave had tampered with the text and added extra
works by himself and Alessandro Scarlatti would not
have concerned them. Whatever the closeness of this,
subsequently much-flaunted, friendship between
Roseingrave and Scarlatti-possibly pure worship of
the one for the other, perhaps something of a n
embarrassment to the sophisticated and possibly, at
that stage in his career, fairly ambitious Italian-such
pirating would surely have concerned the composef?
The story of their meeting is well-known6 and Scarlatti
was evidently showing Roseingrave who was master o n
his own territory. All composers were keen to have
their music published in London and that Scarlatti's
own edition of the 30 Essercizi appeared there is not
mysterious. The more unfortunate aspect is that
Roseingrave's protected publication was the only one
of which anyone appears to have been aware. So far
the sole evidence for the other, with a lavish frontis-
piece by Amiconi, is the advertisement in The Craftsman.
A purely political journal, The Craftsman aligned
itself in opposition to the King and the government,
and was supported by the men who, in 1733, estab-
lished the so-called 'Opera of the Nobility' in direct
competition with Handel and, thereby, the King.
Farinelli, the Opera's principal singer, hero and friend,
left England in 1737 for Madrid, where Scarlatti had
already been for four years. The secretary of the
company was Paolo Rolli (illus.1); before he came to
England in 17 15 h e had been a member of Domenico's
circle in Rome. He was librettist of Scarlatti's opera
Narciso (a revised version of Amor d'un ombra e gelosia
d'un'aura), performed in London by the newly-formed
Royal Academy of Music in May 1720, and strong
evidence exists that he wrote the celebrated paper
against Handel in The Craftsman in April 1733.' Rolli
was still in London in 1739 when the Essercizi appeared.
Jacopo Amiconi, creator of the frontispiece (see
illus.4),was enjoying great success in England both as
a portrait painter and as decorator of the newly-built
mansions of the aristocracy and the speculators. A
measure of his success can be deduced from the fact
that when he was to decorate the staircase in the
Cavendish Square house of the Duke of Chandos in
1735, the Duke remarked that he could take the canvas
elsewhere to work on it, 'otherwise I shall have the
house perpetually filled with people coming to see
He was also a lifelong friend of Farinelli. Clearly n o
expense was spared o n the Essercizi and one wonders
who payed. A particularly strange aspect of this
publication is that Farinelli, who must have known all
about it (Amiconi joined him and Scarlatti in Madrid in
1747) even if he was not directly responsible for it, led
Burney to believe that it had been printed in Venice. It
is tempting to assume that, like so many of the
activities of Italians in London in the 1730s the issue
held political significance which, even more than 30
years later, Farinelli was still too diplomatic to reveal.
E A R L Y M U S I C N O V E M B E R 1985 543
 sought lessons from someone. While Pasquini was
still alive (he died in 17 10)his name figures repeatedly
in the letters and diaries of English 'milords' who not
only studied with him, but commissioned music from
him. After his death accounts show that the milords
still bought harpsichords and engaged music masters
and Scarlatti seems the obvious candidate for Pasquini's
clientele, his father having returned to Naples in 1708.
It has always been said that Roseingrave was
responsible for putting on Narciso at the King's Theatre,
London in May 1720. This seems unlikely. even
though he directed it and wrote a few extra numbers.
The people responsible for the choice were, surely,
Lord Burlington and the other founder-members of the
Royal Academy of Music, many of whom must have
met Domenico in Rome. It was clearly planned that the
composer himself would direct the performances
since an entry in the Vatican archives1° states that he
had left. in September 17 19, for England. About this
time Lord Burlington (who seems, unfortunately, to be
almost as shadowy a figure as Scarlatti) returned to
London from Rome after his second visit, one of the
purposes of which was to recruit Italian musicians for
the Royal Academy. Did Scarlatti come, and leave
before the performances, delegating them to Rosein-
2 Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington. by Godfrey Kneller grave? That he did not want to face competition with
(Devonshire Collection. Chatsworth)(photo:Courtauld Institute Handel's Radamisto, also done that season, is possible.
of Art)
Hasse had similar reservations; when invited to direct
Domenico must first have met Farinelli when he the Opera of the Nobility, he is supposed to have
returned to Italy from Portugal in 1724. It was then that refused on the grounds that Handel was not yet dead.
he also met Johann Adolf Hasse, who is responsible With an important post at the Portuguese coun
for first mention of a Scarlatti sonata. Niggli, in his awaiting Scarlatti, it would perhaps have been unwise
biography of Hasse's wife Faustina Bordoni, maintains to have taken a back seat in London. Whether he came
that she only consented to marry Hasse after she had or not, a route from Rome to Lisbon via London was
heard him play 'one of the most difficult sonatas of not inconceivable in the 18th century.
Domenico S~arlatti'.~ If this story has any foundation Owing to the Methuen Treaty of 1703 trade between
then it has to be dated between 1728 when Faustina England and Portugal was intense and both Lisbon
arrived in Venice and 1730 when she and Hasse were and Oporto had large English populations. It seems
married. In all the reports of Scarlatti's harpsichord likely therefore that Portugal had its share of the early
playing as a young man there is no indication that he 18th-century, wide compass (GC-g"'), English harpsi-
was necessarily playing his own music. His father. chords and spinets and it is perhaps these instruments
Alessandro, who by all accounts was not a virtuoso, that were responsible for the similar compass of some
presumably wrote his virtuosic keyboard music for his Iberian harpsichords. Was it even Scarlatti himself.
brilliant son. It is possible that it was these works and who, on his arrival in Seville in 1733, persuaded
his improvisatory skill that accounted for Domenico's makers there to build these large instruments? Seville
early fame. was still an important Spanish port and centre of
Scarlatti was 35 when, in 1720. he left Rome. It is a instrument building at the time and so it is reasonable
mystery that so far no reports of his teaching activities to conjecture that imported English instruments, held
there have come to light. Rome was full of English in high esteem," inspired Iberian designs.
amateur musicians on'The Grand Tour' who must have It seems reasonable to suppose, in the face of no

544 EARLY M U S I C NOVEMBER 1985

mention of a keyboard piece by Domenico before
1728, that he did not write any until after his arrival in
Portugal. This notion is somewhat shaken by a Sonata
such as ~ 5 0 3which has no element in the Pastorale
sections to distinguish it from those of Pasquini or
Aldovrandini, and nothing in the final section that
could not have been written by his father. It is a
typically Italian piece of the early 18th century. It is. of
course, possible that he wrote such a piece later at the
request of a pupil but this example perhaps shows that
arriving at a chronology for the sonatas is, at the
present time, an impossible problem.
A technical feature that no one seems thoroughly to
have investigated is hand-crossing. This seems to have
been essentially a French characteristic. first of all in
the pieces croisees and later in the more acrobatic form
invented, he claimed,'* by Rameau in Les Cyclopes of
3 Connoisseurs in Rome (~1750). possibly by James Russel
(~1720-1763)(Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection)
4 Frontispiece of Scarlatti's Essercizi ( 1 739). by Jacopo Amiconi

EARLY M U S I C NOVEMBER 1985 545

1724. If his claim is correct-and certainly Bach's C
minor Fantasy and Bb Partita and Couperin's Les Tours
de Passe-passe postdate Les Cyclopes-did Scarlatti
know the Rameau Pieces de Clavecin? There is what
appears to be a quotation from Les Cyclopes in K547 (see
ex.1) and comparison between Rameau and Scarlatti
Ex. l a Rameau, Les cyclopes (Pieces de Clavecin. 1724)
Ew.1 b Scarlatti, Sonata in G , K547
reveals too many similarities-in addition to hand-
crossing-to be coincidental (see ex.2). This also
applies with regard to Rameau's Pieces de Clavecin en
Concert, and it ought to be remembered that the
Spanish court was Bourbon and its library contained,
for instance, cantatas by C l e r a m b a ~ l t . ' ~
I have indicated14 that purely Andalucian elements
in the sonatas, coupled with the feeling of excitement
and novelty those that employ them generate, could
imply that they were written in 1729-33, the years
Domenico spent in Seville. All indications are that he
h.2a Rameau, Les cyclopes (Piecesde Clavecin, 1724)
Ex.2b Scarlatti.Sonata in D minor. K 5 1 7
composed less and less as he grew older and perhaps
the fact that he seems to have been supplanted by
Farinelli and other Italians was in some measure his
546 E A R L Y M U S I C N O V E M B E R 1985
own fault. The fact that h e wrote no operas after h e left
Italy has so far thought to have been strange, but if we
are to judge from the songs in N a r c i ~ o 'he
~ appears to
have been incapable of writing a good tune. All the
interest, and it is considerable, is found in the
instrumental parts, which in turn contain many ele-
ments present in the sonatas. This talent would,
however, not have appealed to audiences who liked to
bathe in the beautiful, though totally undemanding,
tunes of Ariosti, Bononcini, Hasse and even Farinelli's
brother, Broschi. Perhaps the great appeal for Scarlatti
of Andalucian music was its rhythmic, harmonic and
figurative rather than melodic interest. Such tunes as
there are tend to be fragmentary like his own.
Surprisingly, the obvious influence of Spanish
music on Scarlatti may possibly be the most straight-
forward aspect of this mysterious composer. How that
influence throws light on the chronology of the
sonatas is inevitably conjectural, but surely helpful.
To what extent and in what manner a performer
responds to it is, as we all hear, capable of endless
variety. A serious study of Andalucian music suggests
a manner of performance that reveals, in its use of
ornamentation, rhythmic alteration and (above all)
emotional intensity, an influence of a far more pro-
found character than is commonly thought. The
pervading mood of solitary anguish, present in so
much of this folk music, clearly struck a sympathetic
chord in Domenico and may perhaps provide a clue to
his character.
After reading Frank Walker's article 'Some Notes on
the Scarlattis'16 one is left with the suspicion that
Scarlatti was restless. He draws attention to the many
uncharted periods of the composer's life between 17 19
and 1728, and to the possible significance of a notice
in the Hallische Zeitungen (1728) quoted by Walther in
his Lexikon (1732). No attempt has been made to
explain why a notice concerning payment of Scarlatti's
travelling expenses by the King of Portugal was in a
newspaper in Halle. It is possible that the persuasive
enthusiasm of Kirkpatrick's magnificent book has
lulled us all into a false sense of security and that it is
time, once more, to examine the life of Domenico
Scarlatti.
If, as seems likely, he was something of an 18th-
century misfit, caused perhaps by his father's early
domination, this state of affairs would have been
aggravated by his early lack of public success as an
opera composer and by the unfortunate misfiring of
his own edition of the Essercizi. It is also possible that
Domenico was of a nervous and accident-prone
disposition and that his father had been forced to take
especial care over him. Domenico was probably un-
willing- to Dresent the rest of his great C0lleCti0n of
sonatas and it may have been with some difficulty that
Farinelli and Queen Maria Barbara persuaded him
have them copied out at the end of his life, particularly
since so many of them owed their greatness to his
unique and interpretation of the much-
despised folk music of southern Spain.
Another strange fact that seems to have gone
llnnoticed is the 'lause in the Order of
conferred on Scarlatti in 1738-which constrained
him to 'conjugal chastity'. His wife had to give her
permission for him to receive the Order, which also
required that he eat, drink and sleep as a different
man." Perhaps this was a desperate move by Maria
Barbara to keep her harpsichord master on the rails.
That she did not succeed may be born out by the fact
that, not only did she have to pay his gambling debts,
but after his wife's death in 1739 he married again,
some time between 1740 and 1742. Perhaps the most
revealing remark of all about Scarlatti appears in
Mendel's Lexikon:I8 'fortune was on his side, only h e
himself was his own worst enemy'.
M y thanks are due to Ann Turner of BBC W and George
Clarke.
'R. Kirkpatrick, Domenico Scarlatti (Princeton, 1953, rev.3/1968)
' 0 . Scarlatti: Sonates, ed. K. Gilbert, Le pupitre (Paris, 197 1-)
'J. Clark, 'Domenico Scarlatti and Spanish Folk Music', EM, iv
,...-~--
,1976,,
, DD,19ff
-
'C. H u m ~ h r i e sa nd W. C. Smith, Musichrblishinpin theBritish Isles
1'954, rev.2/1970)
A
' copy of Roseingrave's edition, with a complete list of sub-
scribers, is housed in the Rowe Library, King's College, Cambridge.
%ee Kirkpatrick, op cit, p.30
' G . E. Dorris, Paolo Rolli and the Italian Circle in London (The Hague,
1967)
'C. H. Collins and M. I. Baker, James Biydges. First Duke of Chandos
(Oxford, 1949), p.285
'A. Niggli, Faustina Bordoni-Hasse (Leipzig, 1880)
I0Kirkpatrick, op cit, p.333
"B. K. de Pascual, 'Harpsichords, Clavichords and similar instru-
ments in Madrid in the second half of the 18th century'. R. M A.
Research Chronicle. xviii (1982), pp.66ff
''J.-P. Rameau, Pieces de clavecin avecune methodesurla mechanique
des doigts (Paris. 1724), p. 19
"A. Livermore. A Short History of Spanish Music (London. 1972).
p. 109
''Clark, op cit
lSD. Scarlatti, SONGS/ in the New /OPERA/Call'd NARCISSUS/,
printed for I. Walsh and I. Hare (London. 1720); British Library.
London, H.315
I6F. Walker. 'Some notes o n the Scarlattis'. Music Review, xii
(1951), pp. 185ff
"Kirkpatrick, op cit, pp.99f
''Mendel and Riessmann, eds., Musicalisches Conversations-Lexihon,
ix (Berlin, 1883), p.73
EARLY MUSIC
February 1986

Jane Clark is a harpsichordist who is also known for her COUPERIN Peter H o l m a n

research on Scarlatti and Couperin. She is participating in GEMINIANI Peter Walls

the Scarlatti festivals in Amsterdam and Nice this autumn.

PYRAMID'

for All Historical Bow

and Plucked- String

- ------
EARLY M U S I C NOVEMBER 1985 547