Lesson 58: Major Work Study, Part 2 — The Slow Movement

Learn the Adagio (movement III) of Loeillet's D minor sonata.
Add tasteful French Baroque ornamentation — ports de voix, mordents, flattements — without overcrowding the line.
Plan breath points so the long suspensions speak without strain.

Lesson 57 — the Loeillet Largo (movement I of the same sonata).
Lesson 26–27 — grace notes and trills.
Lesson 54 — flattement.

Distributed ornamentation.
Breath planning across long phrases.
Suspension and resolution.

A slow movement is not a long movement played slowly. It is a different piece.

The third movement of the D minor sonata is the heaviest. It is in D minor, like the Largo, but the harmonic weight sits differently — the Largo leans on the first beat, the Adagio leans on the second. The melodic gesture is also different: where the Largo descends, the Adagio climbs and then suspends. The long notes are dissonances waiting to resolve, and they need ornament to feel alive while they sit.

The opening

Read the first four bars at quarter = 55. The opening note F is held, then descends to E and D, then climbs back. The second phrase suspends on the dominant. Already the affect is different from the Largo — deeper, more reflective.

Where the ornaments go

The Adagio is the place to apply the ornamentation procedures from Lessons 26–27 and 48. Four ornaments belong in this movement:

Port de voix — an appoggiatura from the note below, on the long suspended Fs and Es.
Mordent — on the cadential leading-tone (xC resolving to D), once per cadence.
Trill — the final cadence's penultimate note, always.
Flattement — on the closing long note D, after the trill has resolved.

The rule: one ornament per gesture, not per note. A note can take a port de voix or a mordent, not both. If a phrase already has a trill, do not add a flattement to the previous note — let the trill be the colour of the cadence.

Drill — the cadence with full ornamentation

The closing cadence of the Adagio is the densest ornamental moment in the movement. Practise it isolated, slowly, ornaments and all, before integrating it back into the run-through.

Trill on the penultimate xC; the final D takes a flattement after the trill resolves.

Breath planning

The Adagio's phrases are long. Mark breath points before practising the movement at tempo — one breath every two bars, at the end of a slurred group, never mid-suspension. The phrasing in the score (slurs) tells you where breaths cannot go; the rest is your judgement.

Practice plan — one week

Sessions 1–2 — ornament drill in isolation: Practise the four ornaments above as separate gestures, applied to a held note. Stop when each ornament feels reliable.
Sessions 3–4 — ornaments applied to the Adagio: Play the Adagio at half tempo with the ornaments in place. Tempo comes after the ornaments feel natural.
Session 5 — the Adagio at tempo, end-to-end: One run at quarter = 55 with ornaments; record. Listen back. The ornaments should sound like the line, not like decorations on top of it.

Now play these

Loeillet: Sonata in D minor — Movement III (Adagio): The piece of this lesson. Apply the ornaments and breath plan above.
Handel: Sonata in A minor, HWV 362 — slow movements: A second Baroque slow movement in the same style. Compare Handel's denser ornament density with Loeillet's restraint.

When the Adagio plays end-to-end at quarter = 55 with four ornaments placed and a breath plan that lets every suspension resolve, move on to Lesson 59.