Lesson 62: Handel Sonata in G minor, HWV 360 — Andante

• Learn the Andante (second movement) of HWV 360 end-to-end.
• Sustain double-tongued passages without losing the contrapuntal line.

The Andante is the test. If you can play this clean at tempo, you can play most of the Baroque recorder canon.

The Andante is the most technically demanding movement of HWV 360: continuous sixteenth-note motion, frequent register changes, and a contrapuntal weave between recorder and continuo.

The opening figure

A sixteenth-note sequence that climbs through the G minor scale and turns — a figure Handel uses across the movement.

A sixteenth-note sequence that climbs through the C minor scale (on your alto staff, the original-pitch reading) and turns — a figure Handel uses across the movement.

Method — the technical work

1. Half tempo first — read the sixteenths as eighths.
2. Double-tongue from the start.
3. Two-bar units — master each phrase before connecting.
4. Find the harmony — identify the chord on each downbeat to place breaths and shape contour.
5. Raise tempo 5 BPM at a time.

Drill — the trickiest figure

A turn around a held note, recurring across the movement — practise it as an isolated unit.

Now play these

Handel: Sonata in G minor, HWV 360 (Andante)

The full movement — this is the lesson.

Handel: Sonata in D minor, HWV 367a (Vivace)

Similar challenges in another Handel sonata.

Telemann: Sonata in C minor (complete)

Another minor-key sonata at the same level.

When the Andante is at performance tempo, clean and audibly contrapuntal, move on to Lesson 63, which takes the closing two movements of the sonata.