Antonio Soler

The Ms. Cary 703, purchased by the Morgan Library of New York, has brought about the discovery of a few unknown sonatas attributed to Domenico Scarlatti as well as 29 unknown sonatas by Antonio Soler composed in his earlier years in Madrid and El Escorial, since the manuscript – although perhaps copied around the last third of the 18th century or a little earlier – includes works dated 1756, at least for a group of sonatas. The style of the works of Soler is here very close to Scarlatti’s, and the fact that the sonatas of both authors were copied together is proof of the high esteem that their music had at the time. This paper analyses all these new sonatas and presents several tables with the numbering and the possible pairing of the sonatas.

Content/Contenido: Sonatas nº 121, 124 to 132, 134 to 138 (sonatas in several movements) and 154 to 159.

The publication in Spain of these 20 Sonatas of Antonio Soler 1729-1783) is the last stage of a long way that has allowed to edit not only the sonatas that Samuel Rubio –responsible for the extant 120 sonatas known until now– did not reach to publish in his projected Volume VIII and just available in sparse editions, all foreign or out-of-print, but also a set of sonatas considered as missing and other new findings that Father Rubio did not reach to know. Finally, in this way, are all  the sonatas of Antonio Soler, the most important spanish composer of 18th century, available for keyboard players (harpsichord, organ, piano), musicologists, historians and music lovers, in an accurate and practical edition, preceded by an extensive critical study both in Spanish and English.
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La publicación en España de estas 20 Sonatas de Antonio Soler (1729-1783) constituye el punto final de un largo recorrido que ha permitido sacar a la luz no sólo las sonatas que Samuel Rubio –editor de las 120 sonatas conocidas hasta ahora– no llegó a publicar en su proyectado Volumen VIII, y que hasta ahora sólo era posible encontrar en ediciones dispersas, casi todas ellas extranjeras o ya descatalogadas, sino también un grupo de sonatas que se daban por desaparecidas, así como otros nuevos hallazgos que el padre Rubio ni siquiera llegó a conocer. Entre ellas están otras cinco sonatas de las que Soler dedicó al Infante don Gabriel en los últimos años de su vida. De esta forma se ponen finalmente a disposición de los intérpretes de tecla (tanto clave como órgano o piano), musicólogos, historiadores y aficionados, todas las sonatas de Antonio Soler, el más importante compositor español del siglo XVIII, en una edición rigurosa y práctica, precedida por un extenso estudio crítico en español y en inglés.

In Spain, documents containing organ stop combinations written by organists or organ builders between the 16th and 18th centuries are well known. However, correlate documents in Portugal are not so lavish, which adds importance to the manuscript entitled [Mappa de registar o] órgão from the ancient Monastery of Saint Benedict of Ave Maria in Oporto, currently preserved at the National Library of Portugal. In addition to these 18th century modos de registrar we have chosen a musical corpus containing original stop indications by Antonio Soler, José Lidón, José de Nebra, Ramon Carnicer and José Marques e Silva. This work proposes an approach to this repertoire, which composes our master’s recital program, in the perspective of the evolution of Iberian organ and contemporary instruments and in connection with these modos de registrar, illustrating an accurate musical practice and providing significant tools for the construction of a personal organ registration, historically, organologically and artistically based.

In the 18th century, the introduction of new musical genres such as the sonata, the quartet or the quintet - largely linked to the nascent Classicism -, will be the origin of a repertoire that will have famous and internationally renowned representatives in the Iberian Peninsula, including authors from Italy. And one of the composers who practiced both styles (religious and instrumental) is Antonio Soler (1729-1783), known as 'Padre Soler', due to his status as a Jerome monk. However, the biography of this musician has been - and continues to be in many texts - full of errors and inaccuracies that must be corrected as soon as possible, so that the image of the musician comes as close as possible to reality (incorporating for this the data of the most recent research on the musician and his time).

These are Soler's　unpublished keyboard works, which are included in the manuscript "Cary 703", the Morgan Library & Museum, New York (http://www.themorgan.org/music/manuscript/316355).

The editor numbered the sonatas. The numbering follows Enrique Igoa (No. 154 - 159), and Samuel Rubio (No. 1 - 153).

The Ms. Cary 703, purchased by the Morgan Library of New York, has revealed a few of unknown sonatas attributed to Domenico Scarlatti, as well as 29 unknown sonatas by Antonio Soler.  The edition of these sonatas prepared by Takanao Todoroki was uploaded in 2014 to Academia, and there has been ample time since then for three players to make recordings of these sonatas, either on compact disk or on video, making available the first complete world recordings of all 29 sonatas in October 2020. 

Five people from four countries on three continents (Asia, Europe, America) have been involved in this totally unplanned but exciting project: the editor of the sonatas Takanao Todoroki (Fukuoka, Kyushu Island, Japan); the Spanish harpsichordist Diego Ares, who recorded the first CD (Basel, Switzerland); the writer of this paper, Enrique Igoa (Madrid, Spain); and the two US harpsichordists who recorded the videos, Rebecca Pechefsky (Brooklyn, New York) and Ryan Layne Whitney (Seattle, Washington). In this way, Soler’s music has traveled a long way from the western Pacific, through central and southern Europe, to the other side of the Atlantic, jumping in turn from the east to the west coast of the United States.