HANDEL

George Frideric Handel non solo fu un genio della musica, ma fu anche un grande uomo. La sua fu
una vita piena di successi e di fama, favoriti dallo straordinario talento, ma guadagnati anche grazie
al suo impegno e all'incessante lavoro. Sappiamo che la sua fu una vita piena di determinazione,
che si trov a dover sostenere eroiche ed incessanti battaglie (Lang). Egli incass anche delle
sconfitte, ma sempre transitorie, sapendo reagire con energia e carattere alle avversit.
A differenza di quella pubblica, molto documentata, non si hanno che scarse notizie sulla sua vita
privata: Handel fu sempre una persona molto riservata. Sappiamo che era molto intelligente,
educato e possedeva un'ottima cultura (conosceva almeno quattro lingue: inglese, francese, italiano,
oltre ovviamente al tedesco). Aveva una forte personalit, anticonformista, sincera, schietta,
indipendente, incapace di piegarsi al servilismo cortigiano. Anche se l'anedottica lo ritrae collerico un giorno Handel rimprover anche il re perch si era presentato in ritardo ad un suo concerto:
Giorgio II incass senza batter ciglio - e con un carattere un po' arcigno, tutte le persone che lo
frequentarono fecero commenti sulla sua naturale inclinazione all'intelligenza e al senso
dell'humour (Burney), al suo buon carattere e alla sua disponibilit, che si faceva apprezzare e
benvolere in ogni ambiente, in qualsiasi classe sociale, a palazzo come a corte, in chiesa come in
una semplice famiglia borghese... Fu anche molto sensibile alla condizione dei pi sfortunati:
si occup del mantenimento di numerosi orfani e fu sensibile ai problemi dei carcerati, molti dei
quali ottennero la libert grazie al suo impegno.
Come compositore, egli riusc ad essere un geniale, prolifico, affascinante creatore di tutte le forme
musicali praticate alla sua epoca: complessivamente ci ha lasciato pi di 600 lavori; oltre 40 opere
per il teatro, 30 fra oratori, serenate ed odi, quasi 300 fra cantate da camera e musica sacra, oltre ad
un grande numero di composizioni strumentali. Handel stato uno dei pi grandi compositori di
musica per scena in assoluto, grazie all'eccezionale padronanza nello stile dell'opera seria italiana e
all'originalit dei suoi oratori inglesi. Egli si distinse per l'innata capacit di assimilare tutti i
linguaggi musicali praticati al suo tempo, come sostiene con efficacia Romain Rolland: Tout ce
qu'il touche, Handel le fait sien . Ma la sua arte non manc mai di originalit, arricchita come fu da
un'invenzione melodica, un'esuberanza e una libert creativa straordinarie. Handel raggiunse un tale
grado di celebrit da essere onorato in vita, unico fra i compositori, con una statua eretta nel 1738 a
Londra nei Vauxhall Gardens e la sua popolarit non declin affatto dopo la morte.
Oltre che con l'opera, che Handel pratic per quasi quarant'anni, egli si distinse negli anni della
maturit, per un genere di sua invenzione: l'oratorio in lingua inglese. E' grazie a queste
composizioni che Handel ha superato indenne il mutare delle mode, che avevano ben presto
relegato le sue opere teatrali e quelle strumentali nel dimenticatoio: a differenza di tanti altri
compositori dell'epoca barocca, egli non mai stato dimenticato perch le sue composizioni
oratoriali continuarono ad essere apprezzate in Inghilterra e nei paesi anglosassoni anche dopo la
sua morte e nel corso dei secoli.
La crescente frequenza delle esecuzioni oratoriali, che diventano momenti di eccezionale
richiamo culturale e spettacolare in tutta l'Inghilterra, e il contemporaneo oblio delle opere teatrali,
contribuirono a formare l'immagine di Handel autore "sacro", capace di dare il meglio di se' soltanto
nell'oratorio, e per lungo tempo tenuto lontano dalla via maestra da un incomprensibile e nefasto
interesse per la frivola ed edonistica opera italiana (Danilo Prefumo)
In Italia, e nei paesi di area latina, la sua fama stata per lungo tempo basata principalmente su una
sola composizione: il Messiah. Questo magnifico oratorio ha rischiato di eclissare nei tempi
moderni tutto il resto della sua produzione; ma questo lavoro non che una punta delliceberg di
una vasta produzione musicale avvolta ancora da certi pregiudizi ed ignoranze che pongono Handel
un po in secondo piano rispetto al suo contemporaneo J. S. Bach. Ci dipende essenzialmente dal
fatto che le opere per il teatro rappresentano la parte principale della sua produzione, quella che
Handel preferiva e nella quale ha dato il meglio di s, e ben sappiamo quanto lascoltatore moderno,
specie se musicista, sia abituato a sentire pi "strumentalmente" che "vocalmente" e come si faccia

pi facilmente catturare dalle grandi architetture del suono strumentale bachiano che dallopera
vocale handeliana.
Haendel ha finito inevitabilmente per risentire delle inclinazioni intellettuali del nostro secolo, pi
disposto ad apprezzare l'arte cerebrale e problematica di Bach che quella comunicativa, spontanea
ed ottimistica del nostro autore (D. Prefumo)
Questa incomprensione dei valori pi autentici della produzione musicale handeliana pare oggi
superata perch, con lavvento di una serie di interpreti preparati nel Bel Canto settecentesco e con
il recupero filologico delle partiture, stiamo assistendo, anche in Italia, ad un ritorno di fiamma per
il "Caro Sassone" (cos venne ribattezzato Handel in Italia) e per le sue magnifiche Opere Barocche
che tornano ad essere eseguite nei teatri.
La grandezza della produzione oratoriale certamente un fatto indiscutibile, come indiscutibile
la suggestiva bellezza delle sue opere strumentali. Ma Handel fu, e volle essere, soprattutto
un'operista. Chi ha assistito o ascoltato i suoi grandi lavori teatrali sa bene quali eccezionali
sorprese musicali essi riservano.
Straordinario signore della musica, Handel ha profuso nelle sue opere i tesori di un'invenzione
melodica di stupefacente ricchezza; drammaturgo di eccezionale talento, ha creato personaggi che
restano figure vive, palpitanti, indimenticabili (D. Prefumo).

Suites per clavicembalo

Nel giugno del 1720 Handel ottenne il privilegio reale per i diritti esclusivi di pubblicazione della
sua musica vocale e strumentale per quattordici anni. Di conseguenza per l'Europa cominciarono a
circolare copie non autorizzate delle sue partiture. In questo contesto va inquadrata la prima
raccolta di Suite de piece pour le clavecin Premier Volume, HWV 426-433, che nel novembre
del 1720 Handel si sent in obbligo di pubblicare lamentandosi di un'edizione pirata che era apparsa
ad Amsterdam, come riferisce egli stesso nel frontespizio della raccolta: Sono stato costretto a
pubblicare alcuni delle brani che seguono perch di essi circolano copie clandestine e incorrette in
altri paesi. Ho aggiunto parecchie novit per rendere l'opera pi utile, e se otterranno un accoglienza
favorevole, io ne pubblicher altre in futuro, ritenendo mio dovere servire attraverso il mio modesto
talento una Nazione da cui s generosa protezione ho ricevuto.
Sono pezzi, approssimativamente composti prima del 1717, in cui, grazie alla naturalezza e alla
facilit con cui scriveva per il clavicembalo, egli abbraccia ogni forma di letteratura
clavicembalistica, francese, tedesca, italiana. Lo studio degli stili nazionali era cominciato gi negli
anni giovanili in cui ricopiava, secondo le indicazioni del suo insegnante Zachow, i lavori dei pi
grandi clavicembalisti ed era proseguito nel soggiorno ad Amburgo, dove si guadagnava da vivere
proprio tenendo lezioni di cembalo. E tuttavia egli permea questo genere di lavori di quel "fuoco",
di quel "fervore", eloquentemente descritto dal Mainwaring, che al suo arrivo a Roma dest tanto
clamore nel pubblico che accorreva ad ascoltare le sue improvvisazioni di fantasie, fughe e
variazioni all'organo. Una su tutte la pittoresca Air and Variations della Quinta Suite, conosciuta
come The Armonious Blacksmith, ispirata secondo la leggenda dal canto di un fabbro e il suono
della sua incudine. Di grande impatto anche la Passacaille presente nella Suite n.7.
Tra i suoi incarichi di musicista di corte vi era anche quello di paziente insegnante di clavicembalo
delle principesse Amelia e Carolina; possibile che alcuni dei pezzi che furono composti come
materiale di lezione per le principesse siano finiti nella seconda raccolta, che Handel mand in
stampa nel 1733, come aveva promesso in seguito alla favorevole accoglienza della prima edizione,
dato che alcune piece sembrano pedagogicamente stimolare l'interprete ad improvvisare e a
prolungarle con abbellimenti ben al di l dell'abitudine dell'epoca. Ci che certo che pure qui
Handel conferma la fecondit del sua invenzione melodica, la semplicit maestosa, la vitalit, il

vigore e l'energia ritmica straordinarie che rendono la sua musica cos memorabile da essere fonte
di ispirazione per molti dopo di lui: ad esempio, nella Prima Suite il preludio d' ouverture, dove
vengono alternati dei grandiosi accordi arpeggiati e dei passaggi di scale, si pu riconoscere il tema
che utilizzer Tippett nella Fantasia su un Tema di Handel, mentre il movimento Aria con
variazioni, un leggero richiamo al celebreArmonious Blacksmith, fu ripreso da Brahms per il
suo Variazione e Fuga su un Tema di Handel op.24. Nella Quarta Suite compare la celebre
Sarabanda di Handel.
6 grandi fughe
Le raccolte cembalistiche che furono pubblicate dopo il 1720, come quella pubblicata nel 1733
dalleditore John Walsh, tenendo alloscuro Handel, presentava errori, ed infatti Handel le teneva
come bozze da sviluppare successivamente: sono pezzi con piccole Ouvertures che risalgono ai
tempi di Amburgo ed Halle: sono inclusi cicli di variazioni su minuetti, gavotte e chaconnes ed altre
forme italiane. Questa pubblicazione non presenta i preludi e le fughe che certamente Handel
avrebbe inserito se avesse avuto intenzione di darle al pubblico. Francamente sorprende come non
abbia pensato ad una simile eventualit, dal momento che la sua raccolta del 1720 ebbe un successo
straordinario, dopo che Handel fu costretto a pubblicarle con il titolo Serie di pezzi per cembalo,
composti da George Frederich Handel, con la prefazione in cui asseriva Sono stato indotto a
pubblicare alcuni dei brani seguenti, perch allestero ne circolano surrettiziamente copie scorrette.
Ledizione quindi del 1733 era in sostanza una truffa perpetrata contro Handel, e quindi, il Caro
Sassone si dovette rassegnare a fargli pubblicare come Appendice allopera le SIX FUGUES OR
VOLUNTARYS FOR THE ORGAN OR HARPSICORD, 1735, Opera 3: la loro genesi deriva
dal suo soggiorno a Canons, prima del 1720, e quella HWV 605 in sol minore risale al tempo del
suo inizio di dimora in Inghilterra: Tali fughe divenute subito celebri si diffusero manoscritte fino in
Germania: le fughe sono di carattere essenzialmente melodico, fatte addirittura per poter adattarsi al
canto, tanto che due di esse furono conglobate in due dei cori dellISRAEL IN EGYPT.
Sebbene Handel sia partito dai modelli di Kuhnau e di Krieger, le sue composizioni hanno una ben
altra vitalit, poich hanno un procedere intrepido, una foga una fiamma proprie a lui solo.
Vivono! Ogni nota parla dice Mattheson.

Scarlatti e le sonate

Five hundred and fifty five! This is the impressive number of sonatas Scarlatti wrote for
harpsichord. Although they are mostly short pieces of a few minutes each, it would take nearly 35
hours to play all of them.
Domenico Scarlatti was born in 1685, the same year as Handel and J.S. Bach, but there is little
known about his life. At first it seemed as though Domenico would follow in the footsteps of his
father, Alessandro Scarlatti who seems to have from an early age given him thorough instruction in
music. As a result, between 1706 and 1719 Scarlatti took several posts as concert master in Vienna
and Rome and his first compositions, mostly opera and sacred music, are from this period.
The meeting between Handel and Scarlatti is relatively certain. Apparently Cardinal Ottoboni had
invited them both to his palace in Rome for a friendly competition on the organ and harpsichord.
Scarlatti was nominated the winner of the harpsichord and Handel won on the organ.
In 1719, life changed for Scarlatti when he left Italy to serve as concert master at the court of the
Portugese King Joao V, in Lisbon where his duties included giving lessons on the harpsichord to the
Kings daughter, Maria Barbara. After her marriage to the Spanish heir to the throne in 1729, he was
to follow her to Seville and four years later to the royal court in Madrid where he remained until he
died in 1757.
Although Scarlatti may have already composed several sonatas for harpsichord in Italy, most
however, would have been written in Portugal and Spain as studies for his exceptionally talented
pupil. The dates of composition and in some cases even their authenticity are uncertain, due to the
fact that not a single manuscript remains from Scarlattis own handwriting; only reproductions by
professional copiers have been passed down.
During the composers lifetime only one collection of pieces was published under the title Essercizi
per Gravicembalo in 1738. The preface of this publication was by Scarlatti himself and was highly
amusing.
Dear reader, whether you be Dilettante or Professor, in these Compositions do
not expect any profound Learning, but rather an ingenious Jesting with Art, to
accomodate you to the Mastery of the Harpsichord. Neither Considerations of
Interest, not Visions of Ambition, but only Obedience moved me to publish
them! Perhaps they will be agreeable to you; then all the more gladly will I
obey other Commands to favor you with more simple and varied Style.
Therefore show yourself more human than critical, and then your Pleasure will
increase. As for the positions of the hands, let me tell you that a D means the
right and an M means the left. Live Happily.
The first complete publication was by Alessandro Longo in 1906 and not quite 50 years later there
was a new and critical publication by the American harpsichordist, Ralph Kirkpatrick who
attempted to sort the sonatas chronologically. Longo had put together suites according to his own
taste. Unlike Longo, Kirkpatrick refrained from including indications for dynamics and articulation.
Today, both the Longo and Kirkpatrick indexes are the most commonly used listings of Scarlattis
sonatas.
The meaning of sonata in Barock times was used for every form of instrumental music and was
the only differentiation between choral and instrumental music. It would be, therefore, incorrect to
regard Scarlattis sonatas as precursors to the classical sonata form. Each sonata has one movement
and almost all have 2 parts with a repetition; formally they resemble the Barock suite movements.

As a contrast to the relatively simple form, Scarlattis sonatas contain an enormous wealth of tone
colours, harmonies, modulations, original motives and rhythms. Some of these harmonies and
rhythms were surely influenced by Spanish folklore. In the Sonata D minor, K. 141, the repetition
of the right hand is reminiscent of a guitar or mandoline, especially in combination with the sharp
attack of chords in the left hand where the so-called Acciacatura or dissonant notes have been
added. An example of a typical Spanish dance rhythm is found in the Sonata in D major, K. 492,
where a Buleria is echoed.
Virtuosity plays an important role in the sonatas which is not surprising as they were conceived as
studies. In the B flat major Sonata, K. 441 the left hand has to manage leaps over 3 octaves; the G
major Sonata, K. 104 combines similar leaps with crossing of the hands. And the Sonata in A major,
K. 39 is a true firework of repetition and rapid runs.
Even though four-fifths of the sonatas are in fast or very fast tempi, it is in the quieter pieces, such
as K. 466, K. 380 and K. 197 where strength of expression and depth of musical feeling develop.
Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757)
Keyboard Sonatas

Probably one of the most outrageously individual compositional outputs of the Baroque era is to be
found in the keyboard sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti. Scarlatti was born in 1685, in the same year
as J. S. Bach and Handel and two years earlier than Rameau. His sonatas pose an exception to most
"rules" in musical history. Unlike so many other compositions, it is impossible to trace at all clearly
the influences on which their style depends. They stand out undoubtedly as Scarlatti's own, highly
original inventions. Some parallels can be drawn with Frescobaldi, C. P. E. Bach or Handel, but
very few. We can only imagine how alien the sonatas must have sounded at the time that they were
written and it is small wonder that they were nicknamed, somewhat misleadingly, "original and
happy freaks". The poet Gabriele d'Annunzio compared them to "a necklace which breaks,
producing a resounding hail of glistening pearls rolling around and bouncing about like precious
bubbles of watery beauty"; a more reasonable comparison. To me, they seem like an assortment of
diverse guests at a masquerade, where the conflict of a disguised character with the real individual
behind the mask amplifies the almost schizophrenic duality which seems apparent in virtually all of
Scarlatti's sonatas.
Domenico Scarlatti was born in Naples, the son of the composer Alessandro Scarlatti who was one
of the direct forerunners of Mozart in opera writing. Domenico found his own voice through the
miniature art of the Baroque sonata - composing about 555 of which only thirty were published
during his lifetime. For the first 33 years of his life, while still under influence of his father and of
the Neapolitan opera and church music of the time, the young Scarlatti wrote nothing of real
significance. But from 1719, when he left home and was appointed to the royal court in Portugal,
his life began to take an entirely new route. One of Scarlatti's responsibilities at the court was the
education of Maria Magdalena Barbara, who was to marry into the Spanish royal family in 1729
and who became Queen of Spain. The 44-year-old composer followed his young pupil and
patroness to Seville and later to Madrid, where the court settled permanently in 1733, to continue
the lessons. He was never to return to Portugal. The atmosphere was rather gloomy at the court and,
as a remedy, Maria Barbara asked for a regular supply of fresh sonatas. At the age of 50, Scarlatti's
muse finally awakened and it was then that the miracles started to take shape in the form of at least
555 sonatas - an almost unparalleled legacy in the history of music.
As an Italian artist, Scarlatti took the opportunity to explore Spanish folk music and popular
rhythms in their original form when he moved to Spain. His sonatas vividly reflect the colourful and
emotional Iberian way of life: the fire of flamenco, the click of castanets, the strumming of guitars
and the thump of muffled drums. And yet they manage to retain many Italian elements, not

infrequently preserving the bel canto style. Scarlatti undertook frequent excursions to Cdiz and
Granada, where life was rich in Moorish sensuality and there was an oriental touch to the
Andalusian chants. One can identify the bitter wail of a gypsy lament (in K20, K426 and Sonata in
G minor, which lacks a "K" number since it does not appear in Kirkpatrick's catalogues), the
overwhelming gaiety of the village "orchestra" (in K435 and K492) and the wiry tension of the
Spanish dance (K455 and K429). K435 and K455 embody extreme changes of mood: roaring,
noisy passages as well as passages that seem filled with bliss. Both mandolins and castanets are
heard. Some repeated note-figures are so tricky that one almost suspects Scarlatti of having turned
to his advantage the nuisance of the rattling keys of some worn-out harpsichord on which he may
have had to play. The hemiolas give them an extra rhythmic flavour. K492 and K20alternate lyric
echoes of the Italian Opera and mock tears in ascending scales with breathless scherzando leaps. In
the moments of uncertain tonality, the basses often move in cautious stepwise progressions "like a
fencer jockeying for position, cling to pedal points like a quivering cat about to spring, or roll from
side to side of a dominant like a dancer maintaining movement in a limited space", as Kirkpatrick
put it so eloquently. K365 and K448 are polyphonic and demonstrate unusual harmonic shifts.
Persistent calls are sounded in the repetitive broken 5ths. The contrast between a regular pulse and
its sudden displacement in K427 and insistent syncopations in K545 (left hand) can be rather
exciting. Some of the pieces are as desiccated and lean as a sun-baked Mediterranean scenery
(K406), while others descend into impressionistic transcriptions of day-to-day life, church bells,
howls in the streets and abrupt gunshots (K492, K435 andK427).
K487 is grandiose in style with wind instruments clearly heard in the opening. The piece is
characterized by the interplay of huge octave leaps in different registers. Sometimes trumpets,
horns, strings, woodwinds, and drums merge into a grand jumble at the finale of the sonata, with the
addition of bells. The tessitura and accumulation of sound, as implied by the composer in the
texture, is enormous. K429 is a naughty piece: sustained harmony in the opening carefully
examining possibilities before a nifty improvisation which takes us to the most diverse harmonic
spheres later in the piece. K30 is one of Domenico's five fugues. It was nicknamed the Cat Fugue
because of the bizarre intervals of the subject. It is said that Scarlatti was inspired to elaborate on
the projected theme by hearing his cat walking about on the keyboard. An intriguing story, but in
practice, only an unusually accurate super-kitten could manage to avoid stepping on the
neighbouring keys (I have tried this unsuccessfully with my own kitten). In any case, polyphony
served Scarlatti primarily in underlining poignant harmonic shifts and their tormented journey
towards redemption, as in K87. Similar in mood, K466, consists entirely of series of cadences,
which Scarlatti manipulates with such wizardry as to form a continuous and sustained piece. The
unusual modulations have here become the nucleus of the poetic imagery that he uses to transport
the listener between different harmonic worlds. In K24 Scarlatti is at his coarsest and most
uninhibited. This firework display is an orgy of luminous reverberations and shrill guitar
strumming.
Keeping Scarlatti's circumstances in mind, we can only speculate on the reasons for the
experimental nature of the sonatas. Probably because he composed all of his sonatas for the Queen,
who by all accounts was a brilliant performer, and because he wasn't seeking popularity or
commercial profit, he could allow his imagination free flow. It is astonishing how rarely Scarlatti
repeats himself in the sonatas. The musical material is sometimes similar, but each sonata is like a
new and highly demanding innovation. This certainly doesn't make it easier to narrow down a
choice to only 18 sonatas to represent the enormous spectrum of diverse characters: from the savage
to the refined (K545 to K365) or the flashy to the meditative (K24 to K197). Both the Queen and
Scarlatti were extraordinary harpsichordists and had great improvisational skills. It is very plausible
that for each of the notated sonatas, there were 50 or so other versions. This says a lot about the
spontaneity and variety essential to performance of the pieces. When Scarlatti decided to publish a
set of sonatas, which he called 30 Essercizi per Gravichembalo, this is what he wrote in the preface

in 1738:
Reader,
Whether you be Dilettante or Professor, in these Compositions do not expect any profound
Learning, but rather an ingenious Jesting with Art, to accommodate you to the Mastery of the
Harpsichord. It was not self-interest or ambition which led me to publish them but obedience.
Perhaps they may please you, in which case I may more willingly obey further commands to gratify
you in a simpler and more varied style. Therefore show yourself more human than critical, and then
your Pleasure will increase. Vivi felice.
The human aspect of the performance of the sonatas must have been of great importance to
Scarlatti. He was also quite worried that the published set might turn out to be too difficult. But the
kind of flamboyant variety and emotional maturity that followed in the next sonatas makes the 30
Essercizi seem like a walk in the park. Some vigorous, often frankly unnecessary hand-crossings as in K27 and K24 - disappear in later sonatas. According to some sources, this was due to the
Queen's corpulence with age which made it increasingly difficult for her to cross hands in a graceful
manner. So Scarlatti had to restrain himself from this potentially hazardous way of writing.
So far, despite the complete absence of the autograph manuscripts, evidence suggests that the 555
sonatas were conceived only within the last 20 years of Scarlatti's life. It is impossible to establish
the proper chronological order. Ralph Kirkpatrick makes a strong argument that because many
sonatas were copied out in pairs in some manuscripts, they should be played in pairs, so as to
complement each other (like K406 and K407 on this recording). However, although coupling two
movements together was a common practice among Scarlatti's Italian contemporaries, the fact that
the sequence of the sonatas varies greatly from one manuscript to another makes it hard to prove
this argument conclusively. There is also evidence that at the time, Baroque sonata movements were
frequently performed separately. The true importance of perceiving movements of a sonata as an
organism emerged only with the arrival of the Classical sonata form.
The sonatas were by no means as popular in the 19th century as they were to become in the 20th.
Chopin assigned some of Scarlatti's sonatas to his pupils, who weren't at all enthusiastic. Though
Chopin himself had often expressed his conviction that Scarlatti would soon be played in concerts
as part of a standard repertoire, this did not happen until Franz Liszt and Clara Schumann started to
include the sonatas in their regular recital programs from around 1838. Finally, in 1839, the first
"complete" edition of Scarlatti sonatas was published in Vienna, edited by Czerny, who noted in his
preface: "It was Liszt who gave the first impulse to this undertaking". But it wasn't until Horowitz's
time that the sonatas became known on a much wider scale. Suddenly, the sonatas found their brisk
way into the repertoire of great pianists like Hess, Michelangeli, Haskil and Lipatti as well as that of
great harpsichordists of this period. Interest in Spanish music in general had already begun to grow
and the audiences' fascination with the Iberian ingredients so well preserved in the sonatas became
even more apparent.
It came to my attention that harpsichords in Scarlatti's time had a typical range of about 4 octaves,
but that some of the sonatas (especially the later ones) demand a larger span of at least 5 octaves.
Further, the colours and moods implied as well as the kind of keyboard technique required (which
was possessed by very few harpsichordists at this period) are so advanced that I can't help but
wonder whether the composer was somehow anticipating the modern piano. Or maybe he merely
had the spirit and effect of the music in mind, eager to explore and transform the instrument beyond
its standard confines into orchestral sounds. Somehow I find that, because of their innovative
language, there is a foreshadowing in these sonatas of the efflorescence in musical literature which
was to come decades later. Or maybe it is precisely because of the subsequent rich musical bequest
that our ears can now appreciate the sonatas in a new and different way.