Which term describes a return to the original key and main motif, a defining stylistic feature associated with Domenico Scarlatti's music?

Which term describes a return to the original key and main motif, a defining stylistic feature associated with Domenico Scarlatti's music?

• A. Harpsichord sonatas
• B. Double return
• C. Binary form
• D. Modulation

Answer: (B)

The guiding idea is a return to the opening tonal center and the main musical idea, and this return is distinctive in Scarlatti’s keyboard works. In his sonatas, after a lively first idea in the home key, the music often moves through a contrasting area in a new key, then comes back to restate the original motif in the home key—sometimes more than once. This double reappearance of the opening figure in the tonic creates a strong sense of unity and homecoming, a signature feeling in Scarlatti’s style. It’s not simply moving to another key (modulation) or describing a broad structural form (binary form); the emphasis is on reintroducing the primary theme in the original key, often with slight variation, to bookend the tonal journey. The other terms either refer to broad forms or to instrument or tonal procedures that don’t capture this particular pattern of returning home with the main idea.

The guiding idea is a return to the opening tonal center and the main musical idea, and this return is distinctive in Scarlatti’s keyboard works. In his sonatas, after a lively first idea in the home key, the music often moves through a contrasting area in a new key, then comes back to restate the original motif in the home key—sometimes more than once. This double reappearance of the opening figure in the tonic creates a strong sense of unity and homecoming, a signature feeling in Scarlatti’s style. It’s not simply moving to another key (modulation) or describing a broad structural form (binary form); the emphasis is on reintroducing the primary theme in the original key, often with slight variation, to bookend the tonal journey. The other terms either refer to broad forms or to instrument or tonal procedures that don’t capture this particular pattern of returning home with the main idea.