account.

In the same year in which Corelli published his Op. 1 (1683), Domenico
Scarlatti, the famous harpsichord player, was probably born; in the
history of development his name is the principal one of importance
between Corelli and Emanuel Bach. In the matter of technique he
rendered signal service, but, for the moment, we are concerned with
his contribution towards development. Scarlatti does not seem to have
ever considered the sonata in the sense of a work consisting of
several contrasting movements; all of his are of only one movement.
The title "sonata" as applied to his pieces is, therefore, misleading.
Whether the term was actually used by the composer himself seems
doubtful. The first thirty of the sixty Scarlatti sonatas published by
Breitkopf & Haertel appeared during the lifetime of the composer at
Madrid. They are dedicated to John the Just, King of Portugal, and are
merely entitled

_Essercizi per Gravicembalo._

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 Orchesographie
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 & Haertel 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 the