In editions of the eighteenth century the composer's pieces are styled Lessons or Suites. However, twelve published by J. Johnson, London, are described on the title-page as Sonatas modernas.
From the earliest days of instrumental music dance tunes were divided into two sections. The process of evolution is interesting. In the earliest specimens, such as the Branle given in the Orchésographie of Thoinot Arbeau, we find both sections in the same key, and there is only one theme. The movement towards the dominant note in this Branle may be regarded as a latent modulation. In time the first section was developed, and the latent modulation became real; then, after certain intermediate stages, the custom was established of passing from the principal to the dominant key (or, in a minor piece, to the relative major or dominant minor), in which the first section closed. But in Corelli,[12] and even in Scarlatti,[13] we find, occasionally, a return to an earlier stage (i.e. a first section ending in the same key in which it commenced). In most of his pieces Scarlatti modulates to the dominant; in minor, to the relative major. Some exceptions deserve mention. In the Breitkopf & Härtel collection, No. 26, in A major, passes to the minor key of the dominant; and No. 11, in C minor, modulates to the minor key of the dominant, but the section closes in the major key of the dominant.
Scarlatti's sonatas consist, then, of one movement in binary form of the early type. Only in a few of these pieces is there a definite second subject; in none, a return to the opening theme.
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In No. 26 there is just a return to the first bar (see second section, bar 11), but the previous ten bars show no modulation, and one can scarcely speak of thematic development. After the few bars of development and modulation, in some cases, the second section is found to consist merely of a repetition of some part of the first section, the key being tonic instead of dominant. This is, practically, embryonic sonata-form. The tonic and dominant portions of the first section are becoming differentiated; but the landmark, i.e. the return to the opening theme in the second section which divides binary from sonata form, is, in Scarlatti, non-existent. His first sections often consist of a principal theme and passages, also phrases indirectly connected with the opening one; sometimes of a chain of short phrases more or less evolved from the opening thought (see Nos. 1, 21, 29). (These and the numbers which follow refer to the Breitkopf & Härtel edition of sixty Scarlatti sonatas.) The composer often passes through the minor key of the dominant (in the first section) before arriving at the major; sometimes the major is introduced only late in the section (Nos. 7, 17, etc.), or minor remains (No. 26). We meet with a similar proceeding in Beethoven. Minor pieces often pass to the dominant minor, but end in major (i.e., first section). In Scarlatti there is, for the most part, no second subject, but frequently (Nos. 5, 7, 9, etc.) a concluding phrase which can, at times, be traced to the opening theme. Sonata 6, in F, shows a second subject of a certain independence. The best examples are to be found in Nos. 24 and 29 (in A and E); in these the character of the second subject differs from that of the first, and it is also in a minor key, which offers still another contrast.
And now a word or two respecting Scarlatti's method of development. He alters figures (Nos. 12 and 54), extends them (Nos. 9 and 54), but often merely repeats passages on the same degrees as those of the first section, or on different ones. He makes use of imitation (Nos. 7 and 36). Sometimes he evolves a phrase from a motive (No. 11). In No. 19 the development assumes a certain importance. It commences, not, as in most cases, with the opening theme or figure of the first section, but with a group of semiquaver notes which appears later in that section. In No. 20 Scarlatti preserves the rhythm, but with total change of notes (No. 20)—
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The same number gives another interesting specimen of change of rhythm. In No. 48 he picks out an unimportant group of notes, and works it by imitation and sequence. There are some interesting specimens of development in the thirty sonatas printed from manuscripts in the possession of Lord Viscount Fitzwilliam by Robert Birchall. Scarlatti's development bars are seldom many in number.