Padre Antonio Soler (1729-1783)

Padre Antonio Soler was a Catalan composer and organist. After initial music instruction with his father, Antonio Soler entered the well-respected music school Escolanía in the Montserrat monastery. In 1752 he entered the order at El Escorial, a monastery near Madrid, and was appointed permanent organist, later earning the title of maestro de capilla (chapel master) in 1757. Soler was prolific and, along with his duties as priest and organist, wrote a number of compositions. We know from his writings that he slept little, often going to bed at midnight and rising for 4 a.m. mass. Soler's style is obviously influenced by Scarlatti, and he described himself as a disciple of the Italian composer. In 1766, Soler became the tutor to Prince Gabriel and wrote many of his keyboard sonatas for the Prince. Although he wrote a variety of works, Soler is best known for these sonatas, which are mostly two or three movement works in binary form. There are eight sonatas in four movements which seem to have been influenced by Haydn, evident through the use of Alberti bass (Haydn's works were brought to Spain by Boccherini in the 1770s.) While Soler maintained the Scarlatti tradition in his keyboard works in some ways, he is much more adventurous in his modulations, and there is a distinct Spanish style to his writing, which incorporates many dance rhythms of the time. It is known that Soler had access to an organ, harpsichord, and fortepiano, but it is not always clear which instrument specific works were written for. Most of the sonatas are written for at least a five-octave keyboard and some require 63 keys, which is a greater span than Mozart had access to on his fortepiano.