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Bon Journal

In search of Scarlatti's Sicilienne

After Faure's famous Sicilienne, I discovered that JS Bach had written at least two. Thus began my hunt for Sicilienne.

Someone told me that Domenico Scarlatti had written one. A Sicilienne is a form of slow dance, usually in 6/8 or 12/8 time. The right hand is a slow melodic line, accompanied by arpeggios in the left hand. The arpeggio isn't necessary, as demonstrated by Robert Schumann's Sicilianisch.

I looked in Houston, Brussels, and London. Finally, I went to Italy. Surely, the Ricordi music shop in Milan would have it. After all, Scarlatti was Italian.

Domenico Scarlatti was famous for his sonatas. But he had also written many suites. Was his Sicilienne hidden in his suites or sonatas?

The e-mail from the Houston music store (in the right-hand column) was not clear. I could, of course, order it from them. But I thought I could spot it in my favourite secondhand bookstore or local libraries in London.

Why am I searching in vain for this piece of music? I had decided some time ago to have a concert of siciliennes. It will be slow moving..... just like my hunt for Scarlatti.

18 November 2001 Sunday

E-mail from music store:

We just some new stock in today and I noticed a book of 3 Scarlatti Suites, published by Kalmus. The second suite (in F minor) has a movement marked "Siciliano". Weren't you looking for a Scarlatti Sicilienne? It's 4 pages long (binary form with repeats) in the key of F major, and the left hand seems to jump between the treble and bass clef fairly frequently. I would fax you a copy of the first page, but unfortunately, we don't have a copy machine here. In any case, I was excited to see that there did appear to be a Scarlatti Siciliano. We sell it for $9.95 USD, but you may want to try to track it down in London. The Kalmus number on it is K02165.

Pender's Wadler-Kaplan
3907 S. Main
Houston, TX 77002 USA
tel: (713) 529-2676 local (713) 529-2844
fax (800) 952-7526 toll-free