Lesson 76: Handel Sonata in A minor, HWV 362 — Larghetto

• Learn the opening Larghetto of Handel's A minor sonata.
• Apply affect-theory thinking to a piece — identify the rhetorical figures and let them shape the performance.
• Place ornamentation in the spaces Handel left for it — not crowded in, but distributed across the line.

• Lessons 61–63 — the HWV 360 arc (reference for high-Baroque Handel style).
• Lessons 26–27, 48 — ornamentation foundations.

• Affect theory.
• Rhetorical figures (passus duriusculus).
• Distributed ornamentation.

Affect is not mood. It is what the music argues for.

HWV 362 is the second of the four Handel recorder sonatas (after HWV 360, which took Lessons 61–63). Where HWV 360 is in G minor and grave, HWV 362 is in A minor and more lyric — the lament is softer, the ornament more elaborate. This lesson begins a three-lesson study of the work. Lesson 76 takes the opening Larghetto; Lesson 77 takes the Allegro; Lesson 78 takes the Adagio and Allegro that close the sonata.

The opening

The Larghetto begins with a long-held A descending stepwise through the A minor scale, then turning. The phrase is unmistakably a sigh in the Baroque rhetorical vocabulary — a passus duriusculus, the “hard step” figure that Baroque theorists associated with lament.

Affect theory — what the piece argues for

Baroque composers wrote with a vocabulary of rhetorical figures, each associated with a particular affect (a state of feeling, but more precise than that — an argument the music makes for the listener). The Larghetto's affect is lament: the descending tetrachord that opens the piece is the signature gesture, used by Purcell in Dido's lament, by Bach in cantata movements, by every composer who wanted to write grief.

What this means for performance:

• The descents are heavier than the ascents. Lean weight onto the falling notes.
• The dissonances are the heart. When the line reaches a dissonance against the implied harmony, slow slightly; do not rush past.
• The cadences are not endings. They are temporary settlings, after which the lament resumes. Resist the urge to close them off finally.

Where the ornaments go

HWV 362's Larghetto leaves abundant space for ornament. Suggested distribution:

• Port de voix — on every held long note that the line approaches by step from below.
• Trill — on the penultimate note of each cadence (mid-movement and final).
• Flattement — on the final note of each cadence after the trill resolves.
• Coulé — a slurred connecting note — between adjacent thirds in stepwise descent.

These are distributed across the movement — one ornament per gesture, never two stacked. Restraint is the Handelian style; if your performance feels crowded, fewer ornaments.

Drill — the cadence with ornament cluster

The final cadence of the Larghetto is the densest ornamental moment in the movement. Practise it isolated, with the trill and flattement together as a unit.

Practice plan

Sessions 1–2 — read the score, identify rhetorical figures

Before practising, mark every descending tetrachord, every dissonance, every cadence. Treat the score as text.

Sessions 3–4 — hardest-bar work, ornament drill

The four ornament types in isolation. Apply to the hardest two bars in the movement first.

Sessions 5–6 — the Larghetto at half tempo with ornaments

Slow practice with ornaments in their final positions. The line must still feel like a single arc.

Session 7 — the Larghetto at quarter = 50, end-to-end

One performance run, recorded. Listen for whether the lament reads, not just whether the notes are right.

Now play these

Handel: Sonata in A minor, HWV 362 — Larghetto

The piece of this lesson. Plus the third movement (Adagio), to be taken up in Lesson 78.

Handel: Sonata in C major, HWV 365 — Larghetto

The major-key companion. Same composer, same form, opposite affect. Useful contrast.

When the Larghetto plays at quarter = 50 with distributed ornamentation, audible rhetorical shape, and a recording in which the lament affect is unmistakable, move on to Lesson 77.