The Sonata in Late-Eighteenth-Century Spain Blasco de Nebra's "Seis Sonatas para Calve y Fuerte Piano" (1780)

Bryan Stevens, University of North Texas

While the study of the Classical era sonata has typically focused on the music of Austro- Germanic composers-and overwhelmingly that of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven-its influence outside that locality has received significantly less attention. This is particularly true of Spanish music, the study of which has concentrated on early Italian composers working in Spain and their students; however, little to no work has been done on Spanish composers of the late-eighteenth century in regard to their particular use of sonata form. The present paper begins to address this lacuna through an examination of Seis Sonatas para Calve y Fuerte Piano by the Sevillan composer Manuel Blasco de Nebra (Madrid, 1780). Blasco de Nebra's Seis Sonatas shows three clear musical influences: first, from the keyboard music of Scarlatti, who gave lessons to Blasco de Nebra's father; second, from features typical of Spanish music; and third and most significant to this study, sonata form. To begin to place these works in the larger study of sonata form, this paper employs methodology from Sonata Theory: the general formal features (internal norms) of all twelve movements are analyzed, and the relationship between these norms and those of Sonata Theory are compared. This study aims to demonstrate the influence of the 'Austro-Germanic' sonata form on Blasco de Nebra's compositions, to show how Blasco de Nebra assimilates sonata form into his own 'Spanish' style, and finally to serve as a starting point for further analysis of late-eighteenth century Spanish music, which has hitherto been neglected.