REPERTOIRE

MARTHA MASTERS
BAROQUE AESTHETICS IN SONATA
K.213 (SCARLATTI) - PART I

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LESSON DESCRIPTION

This first lesson of three by Martha Masters will

cover Scarlatti’s Sonata K213, one of his longer
and more thought-provoking works. For this
video, she’ll share some thoughts about
transcriptions, and general stylistic approaches
that work for the whole piece. Her purpose is to
share ideas for you think about, rather than give
a tutorial for how to play the piece “her way”.
She encourages you to know the piece just as
well as you know the “terrain of your local
neighborhood” and decide for yourself how to
navigate it successfully. This piece lies nearly
perfectly on the guitar, with only a few octave
displacements needed. However, it’s important
to be aware of a few traps and pitfalls that
guitarists run into.

“Make artistic choices yourself – don’t

surrender to any one published edition.”

Masters 2
 ABOUT YOUR
INSTRUCTOR
Martha Masters first achieved international recognition in 2000
when she won first prize in the Guitar Foundation of America
International Concert Artist Competition.

Since then, Ms. Masters has been active as a solo recitalist,

chamber musician and concerto soloist around the world. Masters
studied with Manuel Barrueco at the Peabody Conservatory, and
completed the Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of
Southern California. Ms. Masters is currently on the guitar faculty
of Loyola Marymount University and California State University
Fullerton, and is president of the Guitar Foundation of America.

CHAPTERS
Introduction

Transcription Decisions

Baroque Aesthetic

Tempo

Note Durations

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 INTRODUCTION
Scarlatti wrote over 500 sonatas for the keyboard, and luckily, this
particular one lies particularly well on solo guitar. Sonata K.213
even works in the original key with little alteration required. If you
take every repeat, the piece is around ten minutes, one of
Scarlatti’s longer sonatas. However, it’s only moderately difficult -
the piece can be learned very quickly. At the same time, there’s a
lot of food for thought. You can spend months thinking about the
material, which is what makes the piece so interesting to Martha.

Since any one person’s preferred approach can change quickly,

Martha wants to encourage you to really dig into the piece itself.
There are often many interesting and valid interpretations that
arise. What’s important is that you understand the elements of the
piece, and then engage in a dialogue between the performer and
the composer. This process of discovery is one of the most
wonderful parts of playing music.

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 TRANSCRIPTION DECISIONS
Consider the harpsichord, the instrument this sonata was originally
written for. Harpsichords have a wider range than the guitar, and
can play more notes at once, but they can’t play dynamics. It’d be
foolish to ignore the guitar’s unique abilities – dynamics and tone
color among the most important.

To start thinking about how to interpret this piece for yourself,

locate the original manuscript of the harpsichord score, and any
published transcriptions you can find. Ask yourself what changes
have been made between versions, and which you like better than
others. Decide whether you’d like to write out your own
transcription, or mark up an existing edition with your own edits.
Don’t be intimidated – this is all part of the process of making
music! Make sure you check carefully where voices need to be
eliminated or octave displacements should be made.

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 BAROQUE AESTHETIC
There’s no absolute “right” way to play Baroque music. For Martha,
it’s important to realize that musicians of the Baroque era were
human – with rules, guidelines, breathing lungs and beating hearts,
just like us. While it’s important to at least think about the
aesthetic, it’s more important to successfully communicate our
humanity to an audience. Be sure to breathe with the music while
you play, and keep a steady pulse as you play with the music.

If you’re a musician who’s usually very focused on pulse, that’s a

wonderful thing, but you’d benefit from thinking about breathing,
and taking your time with certain phrases. The same goes for a
musician who’s usually focused on breath – focusing on pulse will
add a lot to your interpretation. Each perspective has something to
bring to the table.

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 ‘Rubato’ used to be avoided in Baroque repertoire, but it’s
gradually become a commonly accepted tool to use in the
interpretation of this music. There’s no recordings from the time
period of course, but listen to all sorts of contemporary recordings,
to understand how your intention connects with the baroque
aesthetic.

TEMPO

Be warned, this piece is a trap! In Martha’s view, K.213 tends to

start too fast, get even faster, and then slow down dramatically. For
her, 45-48 beats per minute is a healthy tempo. Any slower than 40
might make it difficult to connect the phrases, and any faster than
50 may rush through the sixteenth note melodies. Experiment with
tempo options in different sections of the piece to find the one
overall that feels good and that you can keep steady. Sing the piece
yourself, ideally without the guitar, and think about how fast
everything should go.

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 Identify the fastest and slowest places, and try to find the sweet
spot that makes them both work. Use a metronome as you first
start practicing this piece to make sure you’re consistent. Of
course, all our preconceived ideas can change as we practice.

NOTE DURATIONS
Before jumping into the specifics of the piece, there are general
challenges when playing Baroque music. One of Martha’s pet
peeves is when players don’t adhere to the exact written durations
of notes. In Baroque music, the clarity of the voices is most
important. Controlling the duration of the notes helps preserve the
structure of each voice. Look at measure one of Scarlatti K213:

It appears like an arpeggio, but at this slow tempo, it should be

treated like a phrase. It would be very easy to play with each note
ringing over the top of one another.  However, this isn’t what
Scarlatti’s asking for. Each note should stop when the next note
begins. Lift thoughtfully from the D to the F, and again from the A to
the high D.

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 It’s also important to prevent your bass strings from vibrating
sympathetically. They’re hard to hear in the video lesson, but if you
play on your own, you will hear them. An incredibly pure sound is
obtained when the bass strings are cut, and it’s important to
respect this.

On measure 2, beat 2, the C-sharp should remain, but the A above

it should stop before the G. Additionally, use the back of your
thumb to block sympathetic vibrations of the fifth and sixth strings.
These extra vibrations can be gorgeous in certain contexts, but are
not appropriate in this very exposed passage.

Think about these extraneous vibrations throughout this piece. An

excellent resource for practicing these is the Shearer Scale Pattern
Studies. The book includes exercises on different scales, several of
which are great for noticing where you habitually forget to cut
notes. Once your ears recognize a problem, your fingers will want to
fix it!

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 RESOURCES
Martha Master's Lesson On Style and Structure in Sonata
K.213 (Scarlatti) - Part II
Martha's second video on this sonata dives into ornaments,
dynamics, and breaks down her structure for organizing the piece.

Thomas Viloteau's Lesson On How to Learn a Piece

Start off on the right foot with this lesson full of tips to guarantee
you learn any piece effectively and efficiently.

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NOTES