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Lesson 59: Major Work Study, Part 3 — The Fast Movements

  • Learn movements II (Allegro) and IV (Giga) of Loeillet's D minor sonata.
  • Choose an articulation pattern for each movement — what is tongued, what is slurred — and apply it consistently.

Fast Baroque is light. If it is heavy, it is too fast.

The two fast movements sit on opposite sides of the Adagio: the Allegro answers the Largo with Italian energy, the Giga closes the sonata with dance. Both rely on clean articulation and even finger motion, so this lesson takes them as a pair.

Movement II — Allegro

Keep the eighths and the sixteenths in the same pulse — the sixteenths must not rush.

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Articulation choice for the Allegro

Tongue the running eighths with alternating syllables (du-gu or tu-ru); double-tongue the sixteenths. Pick one pattern across the whole movement and stick to it.

Hardest bar — the sixteenth sequence

Bar 2 climbs a full octave in two beats. Practise it slow, with the metronome on the sixteenth.

Movement IV — Giga

The Giga is the lightest movement. If it sounds heavy, the tempo is too slow or the breath pressure too high.

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Articulation choice for the Giga

Slur the first two eighths of each group of three, tongue the third — the standard Baroque gigue articulation. Mark the slurs in your score; do not improvise them.

Practice plan — ten days, both movements

Days 1–2 — map each fast movement
Half tempo; mark the hardest two bars in each.
Days 3–5 — hardest-bar drill
One marked bar per session, metronome on the smallest subdivision.
Days 6–7 — chunks, each movement
Each movement as one chunk, at practice tempo.
Days 8–9 — each movement at target tempo
Quarter = 110 for the Allegro; dotted quarter = 65 for the Giga.
Day 10 — both, with a rest between
Allegro, one minute's rest, Giga.

Now play these

Loeillet: Sonata in D minor — Movements II and IV
The pieces of this lesson.
Telemann: Sonata in C minor, TWV 41:C2 — Allegro movements
Same articulation patterns — transfer the procedure.

When both fast movements play end-to-end at their target tempi with a consistent articulation pattern and the marked-up hardest bars hold up at speed, move on to Lesson 60.