Flute sonata in B minor (HWV 376) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Flute sonata in B minor (HWV 376) is thought to have been composed by George Frideric Handel

George Frideric Handel

George Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music...

, for flute and keyboard (harpsichord

Harpsichord

A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.In the narrow sense, "harpsichord" designates only the large wing-shaped instruments in which the strings are perpendicular to the keyboard...

). The date of composition of the work is unknown, but it was first published in 1730. Other catalogues of Handel's music have referred to the work as HG

Händel-Gesellschaft

Between 1858 and 1902, the Händel-Gesellschaft, or "German Handel Society," produced a collected 105-volume edition of the works of Georg Frideric Handel. Even though the collection was initiated by the society, many of the volumes were published by Friedrich Chrysander working alone...

xlviii,137; and HHA

Hallische Händel-Ausgabe

The Hallische Händel-Ausgabe is a multi-volume collection of the works of George Frideric Handel. It was first published in the 1950s: initially as an adjunct to the HG edition, but by 1958 as a collected edition in its own right...

iv/3,68.

The authenticity of the sonata is uncertain. Of the three "Halle" sonatas, it is the best candidate for not having being composed by Handel (although if it wasn't, it is an extremely good imitation of his style). It is referred to as "Halle Sonata No. 3", and is sometimes called "Hallenser Sonaten" (following Chrysander

Friedrich Chrysander

Karl Franz Friedrich Chrysander was a German music historian and critic, whose edition of the works of George Frideric Handel and authoritative writings on many other composers established him as a pioneer of 19th-century musicology.Born at Lübtheen, in Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Chrysander was the son...

's assumption that it was an early work). The Chrysander edition

XV Handel solo sonatas (Chrysander)

XV Solos for a German Flute, Hoboy, or Violin with a Thorough Bass for the Harpsichord or Bass Violin was published by Friedrich Chrysander in 1879. The 72 page volume contains sonatas, for various instruments, composed by George Frideric Handel. The words on the cover of the publication are:...

indicates that the work is for flute ("Traversa"), and published it as Sonata XVIII.

A typical performance of the work takes almost seven minutes.

Movements

The work consists of four movements

Movement (music)

A movement is a self-contained part of a musical composition or musical form. While individual or selected movements from a composition are sometimes performed separately, a performance of the complete work requires all the movements to be performed in succession...

Movement	Type	Key signature	Time signature	Bars	Notes
1	Adagio	B minor	4/4	21	Shows a typical Handelian relationship between the flute line and the bass—with imitations and overlapping phrases.
2	Allegro	B minor	4/4	58	Two sections (18 and 40 bars)—each with repeat markings. The first section concludes in F-sharp major, and the second section begins in D major. In cut-common time. A type of two-voice fugue with textural interchanges between voices.
3	Largo	?	3/4	17	A brief movement beginning in D major and ending in F-sharp major.
4	Allegro	B minor	3/8	67	Two sections (23 and 44 bars)—each with repeat markings. The first section concludes in F-sharp major, and the second section begins in D major. A spritely movement which begins like a Handelian opera aria.

(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.)

Movements

See also