Fandango for harpsichord

Antonio Soler is not a household name today. He was born in the Catalonia region of northern Spain in early December, 1729. His father was a musician, and the young Antonio was sent to one of the best music schools, Escolonia, associated with the Benedictine monastery at Montserrat. Thus began Soler’s lifelong relationship with sacred music, although he was also strongly influenced by his contemporary, the Queen’s music master, Domenico Scarlatti. Soler excelled in making use of native Spanish styles in conjunction with the best of the Italian and Austrian composers, including Haydn.

The connection to Scarlatti permeates Soler’s numerous keyboard works, which—like Scarlatti’s paradigmatic solo sonatas—feature wide-ranging modulations within a basic binary form. Some pieces draw out the most difficult, the most bravura technical feats a keyboardist can manage. The Fandango, Soler’s best known composition (even though some doubt its authenticity), comes from a slightly different tradition, the tradition of popular guitar music played at court. Interest centers more on texture and virtuosity than harmony or form. A parallel may be made to Ravel’s Bolero, where a sectional structure is enlivened by gradual rhythmic intensification and thickening texture. Soler’s keyboard figurations remain close to the fandango’s roots in improvisation. The harmonies are so static and repetition so pervasive, however, that we may be forgiven if we welcome the work’s relative brevity. Other 18th-century fandangos last for several hours!

(c) Jason Stell