The Sonata in D minor ( HWV 367a) was composed, circa 1709–15, by

George Frideric Handel George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque music, Baroque composer well known for his opera#Baroque era, operas, oratorios, anthems, concerto grosso, concerti grossi, ...

for recorder and

basso continuo Basso continuo parts, almost universal in the Baroque era (1600–1750), provided the harmonic structure of the music by supplying a bassline and a chord progression. The phrase is often shortened to continuo, and the instrumentalists playing th ...

. The work is also referred to as ''Opus 1 No. 9a''. Another catalogue of Handel's music refers to the work as HHA iv/18,19,45 (there is no HG designation for the work). The autograph manuscript of the sonata is written on Italian paper, which was acquired by Handel during his travels in Italy between the end of 1706 and the end of 1709. Although he continued to use this paper until 1715, it is most likely that the autograph was written in about 1712. Handel's handwriting in this manuscript (and the one for the B major recorder sonata) is much less careful than in the fair copies he made at about the same time as the four sonatas in

G minor G minor is a minor scale based on G, consisting of the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F. Its key signature has two flats. Its relative major is B-flat major and its parallel major is G major. According to Paolo Pietropaolo, it is the cont ...

A minor A minor is a minor scale based on A, with the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Its key signature has no flats and no sharps. Its relative major is C major and its parallel major is A major. The A natural minor scale is: : Changes ...

C major C major (or the key of C) is a major scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. C major is one of the most common keys used in music. Its key signature has no flats or sharps. Its relative minor is A minor and ...

, and

F major F major (or the key of F) is a major scale based on F, with the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. Its key signature has one flat. Its relative minor is D minor and its parallel minor is F minor F minor is a minor scale based on F, consis ...

. The sonata was published by

Walsh Walsh may refer to: People and fictional characters * Walsh (surname), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname Places * Fort Walsh, one of the first posts of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police * Walsh, Ontario, Norfolk ...

circa 1730, in an "incredibly botched" edition purporting to be from the Amsterdam publisher Jean Roger, arranged by an unknown hand as a flute sonata in B minor (HWV 367b), shorn of its third and fourth movements and designated "op. 1, no. 9". The Walsh firm reissued it in the same form and under their own imprint in 1731 or 1732. Although the Handel autograph manuscript does not indicate an instrumentation, the key and range are consistent with the recorder, and both an earlier autograph of the sixth movement and a contemporary non-autograph manuscript of the entire sonata are headed "Sonata a Flauto e Cembalo".David Lasocki and Walter Bergmann, "Critical Report", in G. F. Handel, ''The Complete Sonatas for Treble (Alto) Recorder and Basso Continuo'' / ''Die gesamten Sonaten für Altblockflöte und Basso Continuo'', edited by David Lasocki and Walter Bergmann, 67–79 (London: Faber Music Limited; New York:

G. Schirmer, Inc. G. Schirmer, Inc. is an American classical music publishing company based in New York City, founded in 1861. The oldest active music publisher in the United States, Schirmer publishes sheet music for sale and rental, and represents some well-know ...

; Australia & Canada:

Boosey & Hawkes Boosey & Hawkes is a British music publisher purported to be the largest specialist classical music publisher in the world. Until 2003, it was also a major manufacturer of brass, string and woodwind musical instruments. Formed in 1930 throu ...

; Kassel: Bärenreiter-Verlag; Tokyo: Zen-On Music Co. Ltd., 1979): 69. Both the Walsh edition and the Chrysander edition indicate that the work is for ''traversa'' (the Italian word customarily used in the 18th century for the transverse flute), and published it as ''Sonata IX'' (in B minor). Movements 1 to 5 of the work were published as the " Fitzwilliam Sonata No. III" edited by

Thurston Dart Robert Thurston ("Bob") Dart (3 September 1921 – 6 March 1971), was an English musicologist, conductor and keyboard player. Along with Nigel Fortune, Oliver Neighbour and Stanley Sadie he was one of Britain's leading musicologists of the post- ...

. A typical performance of the work takes about fourteen-and-a-half minutes.

Movements

The work consists of seven

movements Movement may refer to: Common uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Motion, commonly referred to as movement Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * "Movement" (short story), a short story by Nancy Fu ...

: (Movements do not contain repeat markings unless indicated. The number of bars is taken from the Chrysander edition, and is the raw number in the manuscript—not including repeat markings.)

References

{{Authority control Recorder sonatas by George Frideric Handel 1726 compositions Compositions in D minor

Movements

See also

References