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: : It is not unusual for a sonata in a minor key to modulate to the relative major instead of V. If we remove all of the instances of minor to relative major from the list, we are left with: : : K.10 d-d; K.32 d-d; K.40 c-c; K.130 A flat-c; K.241 G-b; K.256 F-a; K.280 A-f sharp; K.289 G-b; K.296 F-a; K.317 F-d; K.366 F-a; K.457 A-c sharp; K.508 E flat-c; K.518 F-a; : : Now here we see an interesting trend. Beginning with Sonata K. 130, scarlatti occasionally modulates to iii or vi instead of V (in music theory terms). Also, after his early sonatas, he never begins the second half in the same key as the first half. : : The two B-flat sonatas mentioned in the initial inquiry either modulate to iii or vi, so there is a pattern there, and it's not limited to B-flat sonatas by any means. : : I hope this was informative :) : : -~=Chris : Many thanks to both Marko and Chris, and my apologies for not responding earlier. Yes, I should have worded my initial : question more precisely and excluded those sonatas in minor keys which modulate to III. Those which are left--K 130, : 280, 289, 296, 317, 366, 457, and the two mentioned in question, are an interesting bunch. During the time that I was : not responding to this forum I purchased the first 8 volumes of a projected complete works edition edited by Fadini. : Maybe there are others and I can discover them, but this is a good start. I once studied ysis under a musicologist : who taught the "Law of Sonata Gravity: What goes up, must come down." He stressed the movement to V as an essential : element in major key sonatas and noted that modulation from i to v rather than III became commoner in the later : classical period. While Mozart went to III in minor-key sonatas (even in the late K457), Beethoven went to v (Moonlight : sonata III, both sonata-movements of op. 31 #2 and others). Though he never put it in quite these terms, I believe he : thought that there was "progress" towards a sonata form defined in tonic-dominant relationship. This seems a very : old-fashioned view, but others apparently believe something similar, and in the program notes to his performance of the : Beethoven sonatas posted on rec.music.classical.performing newsgroup, pianist Robert Silverman made a big deal about : how daring, how innovative was Beethoven's modulation in the first movement of the Hammerklavier sonata. I think the : tonic-dominent polarity in sonata form is not an essential element, and I seek examples in Scarlatti and elsewhere as : support. Maybe sonata form is more accurately described as a musical narrative, or if that is too programmatic, as : contrast in texture and sonority. Bach used I-V polarity effectively in in early works like the Fantasie : und Fuga BWV 944 and then rejected it, perhaps because he found it too simple. The Praeambulum to the fifth keyboard : partita is a wonderful example of a sonata form that does not use I-V as a defining formal element. And to return to : Scarlatti, in K 249 he doesn't mind bringing back in the second half a modulating theme in the second half (m. 24-28 : and 98-102 im Hashimoto edition), both in g (Beethoven does similar in Op. 81a, I). : Did I mention that K 249 is a wonderfully rich sonata and well worth playing or listening to no matter where it may : tonally wander? Anyway, thanks again to Marko and S. Christian Collins and to anyone else who cares to let me know of : sonatas by Scarlatti or anyone else in this era that depart from I-V or i-III. And no more long post, I promise!

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