Antonio Soler, Sonatas for harpsichord

Created in 1373 by Pope Gregory XI (then in Avignon), the monastic order of Saint Jerome prescribes a religious life in solitude, silence, prayer and penance. Delivered to the Lord to such an extreme, the daily activities of the monks of this order would begin at five in the morning and between prayers, lessons and prayers before the Stations of the Cross, they ended at twelve at night with a last exercise of contemplative life and prayer.

Padre Soler
But the Spanish harpsichordist and composer Antonio Soler y Ramos, better known today as Padre Soler, was not deterred by so much personal sacrifice. When he was just over twenty years old he joined the order, ready to lead a life of penance. He had started his musical studies at the age of six, and ten years later he was serving as a chapel teacher in the cathedral of Lleida. In 1752 he held the position of organist and director of the choir of the monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, where he became part of the community of Hieronymite monks of the monastery, and in whose company he remained until his death in 1783.

A huge production
It is amazing, then, that the degree of devotion already mentioned has not been an obstacle for Padre Soler, as a Hieronymite monk, to have composed more than 200 sonatas for harpsichord, 6 quintets for organ and string, 6 concertos for two organs, 9 masses, 25 ecclesiastical hymns, 5 requiem and 60 psalms, in addition to a large number of Magnificats, motets and Christmas carols.

Other contributions
To this vast musical production must be added the construction of an instrument of keys and strings that he called afinador or templante, and the writing of a treatise on harmony, Llave de la modulación y Otras antigüedades de la música (Key of modulation and Antiquities of music), published by the Hieronymite community of El Escorial in 1762, which aroused some controversy for its advanced theories on modulation.

The sonatas
A student of Domenico Scarlatti while he was at El Escorial, Padre Soler is perhaps the most important musician of the 18th century in Spain. Although he differed from his tutor, Soler's music is undoubtedly influenced by the footprint that the Italian composer left in Spain, which is clearly seen in his harpsichord sonatas, especially in the repeated use of crossing hands and large leaps.

Soler's "sonatas" (as well as Scarlatti's) are very short one-movement pieces; They bear that name as the equivalent of "instrumental music" to differentiate them from vocal music ("cantatas") and were intended for the practice of the instrument and the amusement of the performer.

Presented here is the Sonata for harpsichord No. 88 in D minor, performed on piano by the Swiss musician Jean Baptiste Muller.