The development of the idiomatic piano language through Clementi’s edition of D. Scarlatti’s sonatas (1791)

Muzio Clementi edited the first known publication of Domenico Scarlatti´s sonatas for piano: Scarlatti’s Chefs d’Oeuvre, for the Harpsichord or Piano forte [1791]. This work contains ten Scarlatti´s sonatas selected by Clementi among some 18th- century manuscripts, one Antonio Soler sonata, and another anonymous one. The imnportance of this collection is that it made possible the diffusion of the Scarlatti’s sonatas Kk 378, 380, 490, 400, 475, 381, 206, 531, 462, 463, which only were accessible to a minority. Moreover, The musical text of Clementi´s edition varies considerably from most other manuscript sources. Studying the published reviews, it will be possible to contribute information about the interpretive practice of the key instruments about the end of the 18th century, about the characteristics of the English pianos for which Clementi realized the above mentioned review, and about the development of the idiomatic specific language of the piano in this epoch