Sonata in D minor, K 34, LS 7

Larghetto

During the course of his life, Domenico Scarlatti composed some 550 harpsichord sonatas for his royal pupil and patroness, Queen Maria Barbara of Spain.

This Sonata in D minor, K 34, LS 7 is one of the easiest of these sonatas.

It has one single movement : Larghetto.

Its musical form is A-A-B-B.

Although composed for the harpsichord, this sonata is also very beautiful when played on the piano.

Please note that this score contains suggestions for performing the ornaments in accordance with Baroque performance practice.

These ornaments are as follows :

• Trills (measures 4, 8, 16 and 24) : trills begin on the upper auxiliary note, ON the beat, and must have at least four notes
• Appoggiaturas (measure 12) : appoggiaturas are played ON the beat and take two-thirds of the main note's value when the main note is dotted, as is the case here
• Mordents (measures 12 and 28) : mordents must have an incisive accent. They are played ON the beat and begin on the MAIN note, alternating very quickly with the lower auxiliary note
• Schleifer or slide (measure 19) : a schleifer is a two-note appoggiatura beginning a third above or below the main note. It is played ON the beat.

Note also that the trill in measure 8 does not appear in the sources and is thus a suggestion from our editor.

Also, we suggest adding an appoggiatura before the mordent in measure 28, as is done in measure 12.

Furthermore, note that the Longo edition shows some differences from the other sources : in measure 6, the E has been changed to an F, while in measure 14, the C has been changed to a B flat.

Duration : 02:19

Source : Domenico Scarlatti, Sonatas for Harpsichord or Piano.