- Cat fugue
Fugue in G minor, Kk. 30, by
Domenico Scarlatti , is a one-movementharpsichord sonata popularly known as the "Cat fugue" or "Cat's fugue".tory of the nickname
The nickname, which wasn't introduced until early in the 19th century (and thus never used by the composer himself), originates from a story about how Scarlatti came up with the strikingly unusual motif on which the
fugue is built. Legend has it that Scarlatti had a pet cat called Pulcinella, who was described by the composer to enjoy walking across the keyboard, always curious about its sounds.On one occasion, according to the story, Scarlatti wrote down a phrase from one of these "improvisation sessions", and used it as a lead motif in a fugue:
:
The nickname was used in concert programmes in the 19th Century (see "Performances" section below), and was also used by publishers including Clementi, Czerny, and Longo. [Booklet accompanying CD box set "Scarlatti: The Keyboard Sonatas" performed by Scott Ross; see page 143]
Influence
Kk. 30 was published in
London in 1739.Handel , famous for his reuse of his own music and 'borrowings' from the work of others, wrote his Grand Concertos Op. 6 between late September and late October 1739 and the strange descending intervals of the second movement of No. 3 are reminiscent of Scarlatti's piece. [Simon P. Keefe, "The Cambridge Companion to the Concerto," page 63. Cambridge University Press, 2005. ISBN 0-521-83483-X.] Early 19th century theorist and composerAnton Reicha knew the work and wrote a fugue on the same subject for his "36 Fugues" of 1803. [Peter Eliot Stone. "Reicha, Antoine", "Grove Music Online", ed. L. Macy, [http://www.grovemusic.com/ grovemusic.com] (subscription access).]Performances
Kk. 30 has been a popular piece.
Franz Liszt — who had been introduced to the piece by the Roman collector of manuscriptsAbbé Santini [Roberto Pagano and Malcom Boyd: '(Giuseppe) Domenico Scarlatti', Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy, accessed May 2006] — included it in his programmes in Berlin in the early 1840s; [Dana Gooley, "The Virtuoso Liszt," page 179. Cambridge University Press, 2004. ISBN 0-521-83443-0.]Ignaz Moscheles also performed it; both programmed it under the title "Cat's fugue." [Booklet accompanying CD box set "Scarlatti: The Keyboard Sonatas" performed by Scott Ross; see page 143]Notes
External links
* [http://www.midiworld.com/skindx.htm MIDI recordings by John Sankey (The "Cat fugue" is K. 30)]
* [http://icking-music-archive.org/scores/scarlatti/k030.pdf Sheet music for the fugue, also edited by John Sankey]
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