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“Sonates pour
un Traversiere un Violon ou
Hautbois Con Basso Continuo”
- this was the title under
which Jeanne Roger in
Amsterdam published for the
first time, probably in
1722, all those solo sonatas
by Handel which have come
down to us as presumably
authentic and with
approximate certainty as
regards the form in which
the music appears. Ten years
later John Walsh in London
reprinted this edition with
some alterations. But for
six complete sonatas and a
few fragments, Handel's
autographs are lost, and the
two printed editions, which
were presumably prepared
without the composer's
authority, not to speak of
his collaboration, remain
the only source of more than
half of all the sonatas. But
this source, unfortunately,
is by no means as clear as
we might wish, owing to the
necessary doubts regarding
the text, the instrument
stated and even the
authenticity of some of the
works, and the ony clue it
gives us as to when these
sonatas were composed is the
fact that 1722 is the last
possible date. Thus some of
the sonatas might well date
from a much earlier period,
from Hamburg, from Handel's
years as a Court Conductor
in Hanover or from his first
years in London. At any
rate, most of these works
are completely in the high
baroque tradition of
relatively easy music for
playing, whose effectiveness
lies in the melodic idea
rather than in its skillful
treatment, in moderate,
“medium” emotions rather
than in differentiation and
abundance of the musical
diction, a type of music for
which there was a demand
that could hardly be met at
the beginning of the
eighteenth century, when the
cultivation of music in the
home by the middle classes
flourished on an
unparallelled scale. And
Handel's works are indebted
in no small measure to this
association for their
peculiar, simple charm,
which is an unusual and most
amiable characteristic of
the creator of the most
magnificent operas and
oratorios of his age.
Another feature of this
music's social associations
is the possibility of
changing the solo instrument
at random, which imparts to
each work a wide variety of
possible uses and
adaptations. Very few of the
solo sonatas with continuo
have been written
unmistakeably for the violin
or unmistakeably for the
flute; some have no
indication at all of the
instrument for which they
were intended, while others
are intended for one
instrument according to the
printed edition and for
another according to the
manuscript. The Fifth Sonata
on our record, for instance,
appears in Handel's
autograph in the key of D
minor, evidently intended
for the recorder; in the
printed editions, on the
other hand, it has been
transposed, and is expressly
published for the
“Traversa”. Four other
sonatas are expressly
intended for the “Flauto”,
that is the recorder,
according to Roger and
Walsh; the third work in our
record is missing in the
printed editions, having
come down to us only in
Handel's autograph.
The Sonata in A minor is in
the normal four-movement
form of the baroque ‘Sonata
da Chiesa‘, which Handel
used for most of his solo
sonatas. The solemn opening
Larghetto is followed by an
Allegro ni Allemande style,
a brief, melodious Adagio
and a cheerful Finale full
of discreet craftsmanship in
the form of little canonic
sections. The slow movements
lead into the following
Allegro movements by means
of imperfect cadences on the
dominant, thus helping to
establish cyclical form.
The Sonata in C major, one
of Handel's most beautiful
sonatas, extends the usual
sequence of movements by the
addition of a final 3/8
Minuet (originally a very
early "Gigue” for
harpsichord, then used again
as a “Leçon“ for
harpsichord, in the Third
Harpsichord Suite, in the
Overture to “Il pastor
fido”, the Concerto grosso
Op. 3 No. 6 and the Organ
Concerto Op. 7 No. 4 - one
of the best examples of
Handel's economical mode of
working and art of
arrangement). The music of
this sonata also has a new
depth of expression,
particularly in the
melodiously flowing, broadly
conceived first movement.
The Sonata in B flat major,
an entirely gay, relaxed
work, follows the form of
the Italian Concerto. Handel
has also used its three
movements on many different
occasions.
In the Sonata in G minor,
the two quick movements are
more closely connected to
one another than usual, as a
result of thematic
relationship. At the same
time, however, they are
differentiated as two
extremely contrasted dance
types: a slow, highly
stylized and skillfully
worked-out Courante and a
Gavotte that is completely
true to style-simple and
vivacious.
The Sonata in D minor is the
most exacting of all the six
works, both technically and
intellectually. It also
departs completely from the
usual tradition in its form,
for it has five movements -
a rapturous Largo, a robust,
folkdance-like Hornpipe, a
Furioso full of virtuoso
writing, a solemn Adagio and
an earnest final Fugato. The
Hornpipe is heard again in
the Water Music, which would
suggest that the Sonata too
was composed around 1717.
Finally the Sonata in F
major has become the best
known of all-as the Organ
Concerto Op. 4 No. 5, into
which it has been
incorporated in its
entirety, extended only by
orchestral ‘ritornelli’. In
the clearly defined
character of its individual
movements, the noble melodic
style of its first movement
and the irresistible
vitality of its final Gigue,
it provides one of the
finest monuments to Handel's
greatness as a composer also
of sonatas.
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