Sonata in D Minor, K. 64 (Gavotta)
Domenico Scarlatti (1685–1757) · sheet music
- Key D minor
- Time 2/4
- Levels 9
- Passages 1
Your turn · both hands
Preparing your passage…
Domenico Scarlatti, Italian baroque (1685–1757). The reading release has 1 passage from this piece at level 9; the reader above opens on the easiest, bars 17–20 for both hands together.
The hardest stretch is bars 17–20 at level 9.
Your practice path
Learn it the way teachers do: each hand on its own, then together, then the hard bars. Each step is a real graded passage of Sonata in D Minor, K. 64 (Gavotta).
- Hands together · bars 17–20 level 9
How to play Sonata in D Minor, K. 64 (Gavotta)
- Tempo:It is marked Allegro and lasts about two minutes in Angela Hewitt's recording. Start slower than you think and speed up only when the left-hand chords land cleanly.
- Left hand:Treat the left hand like a guitar or continuo player strumming. Play the chords with a light, quick attack and release them, so the dissonant notes ring briefly and the rhythm stays driving.
- Right hand:Sing the gavotte tune in your head and phrase it in short, dance-like gestures. Detach the notes slightly rather than slurring everything.
- Hands together:Practice with the left hand alone first, then add the melody. Keep the chords softer than the tune so the tune stays on top.
- Pedal:Use little or no pedal; this is harpsichord music, and clarity matters more than resonance. If you add pedal, use quick half-changes on the chords only.
- Dynamics:The harpsichord cannot swell, so use dynamics sparingly. Shape phrases with timing and articulation, then add gentle contrast between the two parts.
- Practice:Isolate the places where the hands move apart and loop them slowly. Play with a metronome, adding a few clicks of speed each day until you reach a lively dance tempo.
Common mistakes
- Playing the left-hand chords too heavily so they swamp the tune. Fix: Keep them short and light, and listen for the melody on top.
- Smoothing over the dissonant notes in the chords. Fix: Play them with a clear attack; the clash is part of the sound.
- Rushing because the piece is marked Allegro. Fix: Count two beats in a measure and keep them even; the dance will speed up on its own.
- Using continuous pedal that blurs the chords and the tune together. Fix: Practice without pedal first; add it only if it is needed.
Structure: binary
Like most Scarlatti sonatas, this is a single movement in two halves, each meant to be repeated. In his usual plan the first half moves away from the home key and the second half finds its way back to D minor.
- A · First part (D minor)
- The gavotte tune enters in a lively duple rhythm over rhythmic chords in the left hand. Look for the chords with sharp dissonant notes and play them with a crisp attack.
- B · Second part
- The music answers the first part and heads back to D minor. Expect the same dance rhythm, so you are mainly reading new harmony over a familiar groove.
About Sonata in D Minor, K. 64 (Gavotta)
Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757) was born in Naples and spent most of his career serving the Portuguese and Spanish royal families. He was music master to Princess Maria Barbara, following her to Seville in 1729 and to Madrid in 1733. Nearly all of his 555 keyboard sonatas are single movements, mostly in binary form, and K. 64 follows that pattern.
IMSLP lists Gavotta as the sonata's alternative title, and the tune has the lilt of a gavotte, a French dance in a moderate duple meter. Pianist Angela Hewitt calls the melody extremely attractive and a true gavotte, with the left hand behaving like a continuo group marking the rhythm underneath.
Scarlatti wrote mostly for the harpsichord, though some sonatas suit the earliest pianos. Hewitt notes that the left-hand chords here contain deliberately clashing notes that sound percussive on harpsichord; on the piano they lose that clang but can be brought out in other ways.
- Scarlatti left 555 keyboard sonatas, and the K. numbers that identify them come from Ralph Kirkpatrick's catalogue of 1953.
- K. 64 is also known as L. 58 and P. 33, after the older Longo and Pestelli catalogues.
- Thirty of Scarlatti's sonatas were published in 1738 under the title Essercizi, or exercises, and were praised across Europe.
- Angela Hewitt points out that the left-hand chords hold deliberate 'wrong' notes that sound percussive and noisy on the harpsichord.
Why the first passage is level 9
That passage is level 9 rather than 8 because it leaps a fifth plus an octave.
A single graded passage here sits at level 9, in 2/4 with one flat. It is built from fast dance rhythms and chords, so read in groups and by hand shape rather than note by note.
Questions about Sonata in D Minor, K. 64 (Gavotta)
- How hard is Sonata in D Minor, K. 64 (Gavotta) to play?
- Its passages grade from level 9 on Real Sight Reader's ten-level reading scale, so the full piece is intermediate to advanced reading. The hardest stretch is bars 17–20 at level 9.
- Is there an easy part of Sonata in D Minor, K. 64 (Gavotta) for beginners?
- Its easiest passage is level 9, so it suits a reader past the beginner stage. Start with bars 17–20 for both hands together, the level-9 passage in the reader at the top of this page; it is level 9 because it leaps a fifth plus an octave.
- What key and time signature is Sonata in D Minor, K. 64 (Gavotta) in?
- Sonata in D Minor, K. 64 (Gavotta) is in D minor, 1 flat. The engraving on this page is in 2/4 time.
- Who composed Sonata in D Minor, K. 64 (Gavotta)?
- Domenico Scarlatti, Italian baroque (1685–1757). Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757) was born in Naples and spent most of his career serving the Portuguese and Spanish royal families.
- Can I practice Sonata in D Minor, K. 64 (Gavotta) online for free?
- Yes. The reader on this page plays any of the one graded passage from Sonata in D Minor, K. 64 (Gavotta) in your browser, with an on-screen keyboard or a MIDI keyboard, and marks every note as you play. No signup.
- What do K., L., and P. mean in a Scarlatti sonata number?
- They name three catalogues: K. for Ralph Kirkpatrick (1953, the standard today), L. for Alessandro Longo, and P. for Giorgio Pestelli. This sonata is K. 64, L. 58, and P. 33.
- Why is it called Gavotta?
- The tune moves like a gavotte, a French dance in moderate duple time, and IMSLP lists Gavotta as an alternative title for this sonata.
- Can Scarlatti be played on piano?
- Yes. His sonatas were written mainly for harpsichord, but pianists play them widely; Angela Hewitt recorded K. 64 on the piano for Hyperion and wrote about how its clashing chords translate to that instrument.
Every passage, easiest first
The reading release grades one passage of this piece. Open any of them in the reader:
- Level 9
- bars 17–20 both hands
More pieces to sight-read
Score: public-domain engraving from the corpus (pdmx), graded by the piano-reading-v2-20261023-identity-audit reading release.