Antonio Soler

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Antonio Soler Life

He was a Catalan composer and organist.
In 1736 Soler entered the choir school at Montserrat.

Soler's schoolmates about 1746 included Pedro Serra who became a leading wind instrument virtuoso and later joined Soler at El Escorial.

About 1750 Soler became maestro de capilla at Lérida, and in 1752 he was ordained subdeacon.

He then joined the Escorial community of Jeronymite monks, taking the habit on 25 September 1752, completing his fist eight-voice villancico by 1752, and professing on September 1753.

The Escorial head of the order notes Soler's mastery of Latin, his skill as organist and composer, his flawless conduct, and his unending love of music.

His fellow monks gave Soler's father a pension in 1754.
For the ceremony of 29 September 1753 he composed a Veni Creator.
He succeeded the maestro de capilla there in 1757.

During the reign of Ferdinand VI and Maria Bárbara (d 1758) the royal family spent each autumn in El Escorial with its musical entourage.
At the monastery, and during the rest of the year in Madrid, Soler studied with José de Nebra and Domenico Scarlatti.

Before 1761 he heard the best Church music in Madrid, conducted by Corselli, Mir y Llussá and Ripa.

These three, with Nebra, Conforto, and Casallas, combined to write the grand recommendations printed at the start of Soler's 272-page masterpiece, Llave de la modulación (1762).

In this 'key to modulation and musical antiquities', Soler showed how to move from any major or minor key to any of the other 24 within mere moments.

His principles are still known to this day to be valid.

But there very modernity and daring caused the Llave de la modulación to be reviewed critically two years later by another maestro de capilla, Antonio Roel del Río of Mondoñedo Cathedral.

For the honour of his Escorial colleagues who had helped to pay for the printing of Llave de la modulación, Soler felt obliged to reply in a 67-page Satisfacción a los reparos precisos (1765), notable for the number of authorities he had in his defence: Morales, Palestrina, Gesualdo, Christopher Simpson, Valls, Elías, Domenico Scarlatti, etc.

In 1765 Soler was accused by someone of unknown identity, in Diálogo crítico reflexivo, of misunderstanding the canons of Alonso Lobo and making other mistakes.

Soler replied with Carta a un amigo (1766).

That same year the Catalan maestro Bruguera y Morreras attacked the Llave de la modulación in a Carta apologética published at Barcelona.

Soler was defended in José Vila's Respuesta y dictamen (Cervera, 1766), and this ended the whole deal.

By 1765 Soler had composed four books of keyboard sonatas, but from reading the letters of him it can be seen he took his Llave de la modulación and some other planned works more seriously.

MIDI FILE - from Sonata in G for harpsichord: Rondo (3'51'')

On 27 June of that year he began an interchange of letters (in Italiano) with Padre Martini. of himself.

During the royal visits he was keyboard instructor to the talented Prince Gabriel, thanks to whose interest Soler composed not only numerous sonatas, but also his six string quintets with organ and his six concerti for two organs.

According to Soler's necrology, his desire to please Gabriel led him to construct a small, square stringed keyboard instrument ("afinador" or "templante") to show the difference between the smaller and larger semitones and tones.

In 1771 Soler's love of mathematics inspired a book, dedicated to Charles III, giving conversion values for Castilian and Catalan currency.

Soler was also an authority on organ construction: in 1776 he was asked to draw up specifications for a new large organ to be installed at Málaga Cathedral, and two years later he published a defence of the new organ built for Seviglia Cathedral by José Casas, who also had the contract for Escorial organs.

Antonio Francisco Javier José Soler died in El Escorial, 20 December 1783.

- MIDI FILE - Sonata in B for keyboard (6'48'')

Antonio Soler Works

But he was by no means a writer of keyboard music exclusively.

Writing many sonatas as Scarlatti, he strayed far from his teacher's single-movement and two-movement sonatas, later preferring three or four movements (with each movement in the same key).

Soler sometimes had different sections of a single movement in different tempi.

Compared with Scarlatti, a higher proportion of Soler's sonatas are in moderate and a smaller proportion in quick tempi.

Scarlatti loved acciaccaturas; Soler rarely wrote them, possibly because he more favoured the pianoforte, on which they do not sound as good as on the harpsichord.

Scarlatti did not like Alberti basses; Soler used them, especially in his later sonatas of three and four movements.

Soler's phrases usually consist of irregular length and repeated motifs.

Their similarities include a virtuoso technique, syncopations that run riot, a fondness for ostinato, and a frequent use of Iberian dance rhythms, like the bolero, the polo, and the jota.

Soler escaped entirely from Scarlatti's influence in his six concerti for two organs.
These were said by Soler to have been written to please Prince Gabriel.

Except for the second, which includes a gigue between the opening and concluding minuet, they are two-movement works, designed for performance by Soler and his royal pupil in the small palace built on Escorial grounds in 1768-1772 for Gabriel's private concerts.

Soler can not be classified as a Great composer, but he is one of the best native Española composers.