George Frideric Handel - Recorder Sonata in B-flat major, HWV 377 (1712)

George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (born Georg Friedrich Händel 23 February 1685 (O.S.) [(N.S.) 5 March] – 14 April 1759) was a German, later British, baroque composer who spent the bulk of his career in London, becoming well known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, and organ concertos. Handel received important training in Halle and worked as a composer in Hamburg and Italy before settling in London in 1712; he became a naturalized British subject in 1727. He was strongly influenced both by the great composers of the Italian Baroque and by the middle-German polyphonic choral tradition.

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Recorder Sonata in B-flat major, HWV 377 (1712)

I: Corrente (0:00)
II: Adagio (2:10)
III: Allegro (3:24)

Marion Verbruggen, recorder
Jaap ter Linden, cello
Ton Koopman, harpsichord

Read Stanley Sadie's review on Gramophone
https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/h...

The work was first published as "Opus 1, No. 9" in 1730 in an unauthorised and "disgracefully botched" edition—in fact by John Walsh of London but with a forged title page claiming Jeanne Roger of Amsterdam as the publisher—in which it was transposed to B minor for flute from its original key of D minor, and with its third and fourth movements omitted.

Both the Walsh editions and the Chrysander edition indicate that the work is for flute ("Traversa"), and published it as Sonata IX.

The work is the most developed and expansive of all Handel's sonatas that can be said to be for the flute.

Details by Helen Hooker, recorder player, conductor and music educator:
There’s a theory that Handel may have used some of his recorder sonatas as exercises in basso continuo playing.

Between December 1725 and April 1726 Handel made fair copies of some exercises in figured bass and fugal composition - probably for teaching purposes. It’s thought perhaps they were made for Princess Anne, King George II’s daughter, a pupil of Handel’s who’s known to have been a fine harpsichordist and skilled continuo player. These exercises were made on the same paper as the fair copies of his recorder sonatas, as well as having similarities in calligraphy so maybe he wrote them out at the same time?

At this time the keyboard player would have created their part using the bassline, adding chords as indicated by the figures beneath the music. These numbers are a shorthand to tell the harpsichordist which chords to play above the bassline but it wasn’t uncommon for them to be quite infrequent and imprecise. The bass lines for the four sonatas (those in G minor, A minor, C major and F major) in Handel’s fair copies are unusually well figured (as well as being neatly written) and it’s been suggested they were perhaps used as additional teaching tool for use with the Princess, and maybe other pupils too.

Read more about the recorder sonatas here:
https://www.helenhooker.co.uk/blog/20....