Lesson 63: Handel Sonata in G minor, HWV 360 — Adagio and Presto

Learn the Adagio (movement III) and Presto (movement IV) of HWV 360.
Play the complete four-movement sonata end-to-end, with intentional rests between movements.
Hear the cyclic affect that ties the four movements together — the Larghetto's descending tetrachord returns transformed in the Presto.

Lessons 61–62 — HWV 360 movements I and II.
Lesson 48 — ornamentation practice.

Cyclic affect across movements.
Triple-meter Presto articulation.
Whole-sonata assembly.

A sonata that begins in lament must close in motion. Handel always does.

Lessons 61 and 62 took the first two movements of HWV 360 — the Larghetto's gravity and the Andante's brilliance. This lesson finishes the sonata: the Adagio is the brief, suspended third movement, and the Presto is the propulsive triple-meter finale that turns the opening lament into motion. With this lesson, the complete sonata sits in your hands.

Lessons 61 and 62 took the first two movements of HWV 360 (reading on your alto staff in C minor, the original-pitch reading of Handel's G minor) — the Larghetto's gravity and the Andante's brilliance. This lesson finishes the sonata: the Adagio is the brief, suspended third movement, and the Presto is the propulsive triple-meter finale that turns the opening lament into motion.

Movement III — Adagio

The Adagio is the shortest movement — eleven bars in some editions, a single sweep. Its function is harmonic: it modulates from the relative major back to the minor for the finale. It must not sound like a movement; it must sound like a doorway.

Two things to watch:

Tempo: slower than the Larghetto, but not interminable. Quarter = 48 to 52.
Ornament: add a port de voix on the held Bb at the opening, a trill on the final cadence's penultimate note, and a flattement on the resolution. Nothing else — the movement is too short for more.

Movement IV — Presto

Triple meter, fast. The Presto is the answer to the Larghetto: where the first movement sighed down a tetrachord (D–C–B-flat–A–G), the Presto runs that same descent up and through the bar at speed. The cyclic relationship is the architecture of the whole sonata.

The articulation

The standard Baroque articulation for fast triple-meter is to slur the first two of each group of three and tongue the third — the same gigue pattern from Lesson 59. Apply it across the whole Presto. If you double-tongue from Lesson 41, use it on the sixteenth-note passages only; the eighth-note motion should stay single-tongued for clarity.

Drill — the cyclic descent

The descending tetrachord that opens the Larghetto and runs through the Presto. Hear them as the same gesture transformed by tempo and metre.

The Larghetto opening — the descending tetrachord at slow tempo (review from Lesson 61).

The Presto restating the same five notes — descending tetrachord, but now in triple meter at speed. The transformation is the point.

The complete sonata, end-to-end

With four movements learned across three lessons, the final task is assembly. The rests between movements matter:

Larghetto → Andante: Twelve beats. The transition from gravity to motion needs space.
Andante → Adagio: Eight beats. The Andante's brilliance must not bleed into the Adagio's stillness.
Adagio → Presto: Four beats. The Adagio is already a transition; the Presto must follow quickly.

Record the complete run. Listen back twice, the way Lesson 60 trained you to. Build a three-item fix list. Run again next week.

Now play these

Handel: Sonata in G minor, HWV 360 (Andante — library reference): The second movement remains the only one fully in the library; the rest you assemble from your score and the previous three lessons.
Handel: Sonata in B-flat major, HWV 377 (Allegro): The relative-major sister sonata. Compare the Presto of HWV 360 with this Allegro — same composer, same period, different affect.
Handel: Sonata in C major, HWV 365 (Larghetto): A C major slow movement in the same Handelian style. Useful comparison piece for the slow-movement work in this and the next arc.

When the complete HWV 360 plays end-to-end, in a single sitting, with intentional rests between movements and an audible cyclic relationship between the opening Larghetto and the closing Presto, move on to Lesson 64.