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Lesson 76: Handel Sonata in A minor, HWV 362 — Larghetto

  • Learn the opening Larghetto of Handel's A minor sonata.
  • Apply affect-theory thinking to a piece — identify the rhetorical figures and let them shape the performance.

Affect is not mood. It is what the music argues for.

Where HWV 360 is grave, HWV 362 in A minor is more lyric — the lament softer, the ornament more elaborate. This lesson takes the opening Larghetto.

The opening

A held A climbs stepwise, then turns and sinks — the descent is a Baroque sigh, the passus duriusculus figure associated with lament.

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Affect theory — what the piece argues for

The Larghetto's affect is lament — the descending tetrachord is the signature gesture of Baroque grief. For performance:

  • Descents heavier than ascents — lean weight onto the falling notes.
  • Dissonances are the heart — slow slightly; do not rush past.
  • Cadences are not endings — temporary settlings, after which the lament resumes.

Where the ornaments go

  • Port de voix — on held long notes approached by step from below.
  • Trill — on the penultimate note of each cadence.
  • Flattement — on the final note of each cadence after the trill resolves.
  • Coulé — between adjacent thirds in stepwise descent.

One ornament per gesture, never two stacked; if it feels crowded, use fewer.

Drill — the cadence with ornament cluster

Practise the final cadence isolated, with the trill and flattement together as a unit.

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The cadence: trill on the penultimate F, flattement optional on the final E.

Practice plan

Sessions 1–2 — read the score, identify rhetorical figures
Mark every descending tetrachord, dissonance, and cadence.
Sessions 3–4 — hardest-bar work, ornament drill
The four ornament types in isolation, hardest two bars first.
Sessions 5–6 — half tempo with ornaments
The line must still feel like a single arc.
Session 7 — quarter = 50, end-to-end
One recorded run; listen for whether the lament reads.

Now play these

Handel: Sonata in A minor, HWV 362 — Larghetto
The piece of this lesson.
Handel: Sonata in C major, HWV 365 — Larghetto
The major-key companion — opposite affect.

When the lament affect is unmistakable in a recording at quarter = 50, move on to Lesson 77.