It would be interesting to trace the influences acting on the youth Handel at the time when he wrote these sonatas.  Most probably they were Johann Philipp Krieger’s[11] sonatas for violins and bass; N.A.  Strungk’s sonatas published at Dresden in 1691; and more especially Agostino Steffani’s “Sonate da Camera” for two violins, alto, and bass, published in 1683.  An opera by the last-named, which appeared at Hanover in 1699, has an “Air de Ballet,” which contains the first notes of “Let the bright Seraphim”; besides, it is known that Handel culled ideas and “conveyed” notes from works of other composers; also, that he turned them to the best account.

In the same year in which Corelli published his Op. 1 (1683), Domenico Scarlatti, the famous harpsichord player, was probably born; in the history of development his name is the principal one of importance between Corelli and Emanuel Bach.  In the matter of technique he rendered signal service, but, for the moment, we are concerned with his contribution towards development.  Scarlatti does not seem to have ever considered the sonata in the sense of a work consisting of several contrasting movements; all of his are of only one movement.  The title “sonata” as applied to his pieces is, therefore, misleading.  Whether the term was actually used by the composer himself seems doubtful.  The first thirty of the sixty Scarlatti sonatas published by Breitkopf & Haertel appeared during the lifetime of the composer at Madrid.  They are dedicated to John the Just, King of Portugal, and are merely entitled

     Essercizi per Gravicembalo.

In editions of the eighteenth century the composer’s pieces are styled Lessons or Suites.  However, twelve published by J. Johnson, London, are described on the title-page as Sonatas modernas.

From the earliest days of instrumental music dance tunes were divided into two sections.  The process of evolution is interesting.  In the earliest specimens, such as the Branle given in the Orchesographie of Thoinot Arbeau, we find both sections in the same key, and there is only one theme.  The movement towards the dominant note in this Branle may be regarded as a latent modulation.  In time the first section was developed, and the latent modulation became real; then, after certain intermediate stages, the custom was established of passing from the principal to the dominant key (or, in a minor piece, to the relative major or dominant minor), in which the first section closed.  But in Corelli,[12] and even in Scarlatti,[13] we find, occasionally, a return to an earlier stage (i.e. a first section ending in the same key in which it commenced).  In most of his pieces Scarlatti modulates to the dominant; in minor, to the relative major.  Some exceptions deserve mention.  In the Breitkopf & Haertel collection, No. 26, in A major, passes to the minor key of the dominant; and No. 11, in C minor, modulates to the minor key of the dominant, but the section closes in the major key of the dominant.