Posted by Mark Sabine on August 07, 19100 at 14:17:08:

Hi! Several years ago, I read an essay about Scarlatti which included the most extraordinary account of the master's imporvisation on the harpsichord, written by Scarlatti's younger contemporary and follower, the Irish composer Thomas Roseingrave. Can any of you Scarlatti fans out there tell me where I might find Roseingrave's account written out if full?
For any of you who haven't read this account, but are intrigued, it is well worth a look: Roseingrave claims Scarlatti's playing was so wild and bewitching that 'it was as though tenthousand demons had been at the instrument', and Scarlatti's technique as a player left Roseingrave so humbled that, he claims, if there had been a sharp enough knife in the room,
he (Roseingrave) would have cut his own fingers off there and then (exactly how he planned to cut off BOTH sets of fingers by himself is anyone's guess, but luckily no knife was available, and Roseiongrave went on to write some accomplished harpsichord music of his own, heavily influenced by Scarlatti).

So, if anyone could help me out I'd be very grateful. Incidentally, the reason I need to find out is because I'm doing some research on an historical novel by the Portuguese writer Jose Saramago, in which Domenico Scarlatti is one of the principal characters. Saramago's account of Scarlatti in the novel is totally apocryphal and highly fantastical, but it's
a fascinating novel and contains two or three extraordinary descriptions of the sound of Scarlatti's music and the effect it has on people. The novel is called 'Baltasar and Blimunda' in English translation (in the original Portuguese, 'Memorial do Convento') and it was written in 1982.

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• Re: D. Scarlatti and Thomas Roseingrave S. Christian Collins 21:05:18 10/20/100 (0)

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