Lesson 62: Handel Sonata in G minor, HWV 360 — Andante

Learn the Andante (second movement) of HWV 360 end-to-end.
Sustain double-tongued passages without losing the contrapuntal line.

Lesson 61 — HWV 360 Larghetto.
Lesson 41 — double tonguing.

HWV 360 Andante.
Contrapuntal recorder writing.
Two-bar phrase units.

The Andante is the test. If you can play this clean at tempo, you can play most of the Baroque recorder canon.

The Andante is the most technically demanding movement of HWV 360. Continuous sixteenth-note motion, frequent register changes, and a contrapuntal weave between recorder and continuo — if a recital piece reveals what you can really do, this is that piece. The previous lesson set up the sonata; this one asks for the heart of it.

The opening figure

An ascending sixteenth-note sequence that climbs through the G minor scale and then turns. It is the kind of figure Handel uses across the movement.

An ascending sixteenth-note sequence that climbs through the C minor scale (on your alto staff — the original-pitch reading of Handel's G minor) and then turns. It is the kind of figure Handel uses across the movement.

Method — the technical work

Slow practice at half tempo. Sixteen sixteenths at half tempo are eight quarters. Read them as eighths if it helps.
Double-tongue from the start. Single tonguing this at tempo is a losing battle.
Two-bar units. The movement breaks naturally into two-bar phrases. Master each phrase before connecting them.
Find the harmony. The recorder line implies a chord progression. Identifying the chord on each downbeat helps you breathe in the right places and shape the contour.
Bring tempo up by 5 BPM at a time. Patience here pays.

Drill — the trickiest figure

A pattern that recurs at multiple speeds and transpositions across the movement: a turn around a held note. Practise this as an isolated unit.

Now play these

Handel: Sonata in G minor, HWV 360 (Andante): The full movement. This is the lesson.
Handel: Sonata in D minor, HWV 367a (Vivace): Companion-tempo movement in another Handel sonata. Similar challenges.
Telemann: Sonata in C minor (complete): Another major minor-key sonata. Different composer, same level.

When the Andante is at performance tempo, clean and audibly contrapuntal, move on to Lesson 63, which takes the closing two movements of the sonata.