Notes on the interpretation of a Larghetto by Handel
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35699/2317-6377.2025.58726Keywords:
Baroque music, Ornamentation, Handel, Historically Informed Performance, FluteAbstract
This article discusses the historically informed interpretation of baroque music, addressing the execution of slow movements of the Italian type, which must usually be ornamented by the performer. To support her arguments, the author uses the help of a practical example taken from the flutistic repertoire: the Larghetto of the Sonata in E minor for flute and basso continuo, op.1 no 1a, HWV 379, by George Frideric Handel. For this Larghetto, articulation, dynamics and tempo options are suggested, and musical justifications for such choices are presented, based on treatises of the time and secondary sources and using G. Ph. Telemann's Methodical Sonatas as inspiration. At the end of the article, a score is offered containing the original flute and basso continuo parts of the movement in question, plus suggestions for ornamentation and interpretation. By comparing the original part and the proposed version, the practical result of the theoretical discussion proposed by the article can be appreciated.
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