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Antonio Soler

A keyboard composer in the Escorial, Scarlatti's Spanish echo

ClassicalHarpsichordSonata

Who he was

Antonio Soler (1729–1783) was born in Olot, Catalonia, sang as a boy at the monastery of Montserrat, and later joined the Hieronymite order, living for most of his life at the Escorial outside Madrid. There he played the organ, wrote church music and taught the royal children. He encountered Domenico Scarlatti's music in Madrid and is traditionally counted among his pupils, carrying Italian keyboard technique into a Spanish monastery.

His place

Soler belongs to the early Classical period, when keyboard music was moving from harpsichord to fortepiano. His sonatas are mostly single movements in binary form, modest in scale yet full of sudden modulations, crossed hands and repeated notes. He wrote a great many of them, and also six concertos for two organs, which shows that the monastery was not short of instruments.

What to hear

Listen first for the trumpet: the sonata titled De Clarines imitates a bugle, its repeated notes behaving like military music. Then for sudden modulation: a phrase has barely settled before it slides to a distant key — Scarlatti's mischief. Next, crossed hands: the parts swap registers, and the eyes are entertained as much as the ears. Finally, the pulse of dance: many sonatas carry Spanish folk rhythms, the bass moving like footsteps.

Key works

Influence

Soler rooted Scarlatti's keyboard language in Spain and made the monastery a place of keyboard experiment. His sonatas are often heard as an extension of Scarlatti, yet their Spanish rhythms and harmonies are wilder.

Listen in the library

Keyboard Sonata in A major, R.53 'De Clarines'C15:11键盘奏鸣曲 R.53，A 大调，标题「De Clarines」——右手模仿小号的重复音型，像从修道院窗口传来的军乐（C1）DetailsKeyboard Sonata in C major, R.9C16:00键盘奏鸣曲 R.9，C 大调——短小的二部结构，听一个乐句还没站稳就滑向远处的和声（C1）DetailsKeyboard Sonata in D major, R.84C13:33键盘奏鸣曲 R.84，D 大调——双手交叉与快速音型，斯卡拉蒂式的顽皮在这里最明显（C1）DetailsKeyboard Sonata in D minor, R.15C14:31键盘奏鸣曲 R.15，d 小调——小调的阴影与西班牙舞曲的脉搏，听低音怎样推着旋律走（C1）Details

All tracks from midicn-lib — inline badge is the license tier (C1 commercial / C2 non-commercial / C3 study only).

Sources

  • 索莱尔生平、埃斯科里亚尔修道院职位与 R 编号，参 The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "Soler, Antonio"；本文为原创表述
  • 与斯卡拉蒂的师承及西班牙键盘奏鸣曲背景，参通行索莱尔研究；实例 why 为本站听辨提示

Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.