In his article, Miguel Ángel Marín has revisited and taken a fresh look at the most innovative research into the composer’s life and work carried out in recent years. Although his main focus is the composer’s keyboard sonatas, Marín very convincingly addresses some of the key issues concerning Scarlatti’s life and work, providing new answers to a number of old questions which for decades have remained unsolved. In Marín’s own words, “In spite of the almost impenetrable walls that fate has raised around the figure of Domenico Scarlatti, research over the last few decades has made significant progress on various fronts, whether uncovering previously unknown sources or putting forward new interpretations of existing material”.

Bach’s Cantata, BWV 61 and Handel’s oratorio Semele are the subject of essays written by Gianluca Capuano and Pierre Degott, respectively. Both set out to examine in depth and to unravel from a pedagogical point of view the musical and historical significance of the works concerned, as well as the religious, political and social context in which they were created, and to trace their evolution up to the present day. José Máximo Leza proposes a new perspective on the timeless myth of Don Juan in an article that traces the stage history of the character up to his incarnation in the operatic masterpiece of Mozart and Da Ponte, offering an attractive and original analysis of Don Giovanni.

This issue’s featured musician is James Tyler, who is interviewed by Žak Ozmo. Tyler was one of the great pioneers of early music in the 1960s and ’70s; his work is linked to such major innovative groups as the Early Music Consort of London, Musica Reservata, English Concert, the Academy of St. Martin-in-the Fields, the Consort of Musicke and the London Early Music Group. Tyler is also one of the world’s leading scholars in the field of early guitar and mandolin performance. We hope you enjoy this, our last issue of 2007 and wish you all a very Happy New Year!