Classical Music | Clarinet Music

Recorded on 02/08/2008, uploaded on 08/24/2010

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Transcription of George Frideric Handel's Violin Sonata in F major, op. 1, no. 12

The twelve sonatas of Handel’s opus 1 were composed between 1711 and 1726. They were published in 1732 by John Walsh with the title Solos for a German Flute a Hoboy or Violin with a Thorough Bass for the Harpsichord or Bass Violin Compos'd by Mr. Handel. Later in 1872, Friedrich Chrysander republished the works and appended three of Handel’s other sonatas not included in Walsh’s edition. Though missing from the title, the collection also contains sonatas for recorder as well.

The Sonata in F major is the twelfth (and last sonata of Walsh’s edition) of Handel’s opus 1. Modern scholars, however, question whether it was really composed by Handel and it is often labeled as “spurious.”

It is in four movements arranged according to the sonata di chiesa (slow-fast-slow-fast) form. The first movement is a largo, beginning with a sustained melody that quickly unfolds into graceful sixteenth-note figurations. The energetic allegro second movement opens with a simple melody of eight measures. A contrasting middle section follows and the opening theme returns at the close of the movement. Another largo movement comes next, though of an entirely different character. It is set in the mournful key of D minor and a weighty 3/2 meter. The final movement, back in the tonic key of F major, is a lively gigue.   Joseph DuBose