Lesson 43: Baroque Adagio Movement and Ornamentation

• Shape Handel’s Andante with a steady pulse.
• Try an ornament without disrupting the pulse or harmony.

Let the line stay audible.

Build on your earlier ornaments: play Handel’s plain opening, then compare one decorated version without changing the beat.

Source: Björn Sothmann (2008), after Chrysander (1879), CC BY-SA 3.0; down P4 for soprano, alto restores G minor. Continuo and phrase slurs omitted.

Play: Handel, HWV 360 — Andante, bars 1–8

The printed excerpt is down a fourth, in D minor.

Your alto reading restores the original G minor.

Diminution — filling in

This added example decorates bars 1–4 with a run, turn and written-out trill; learn one bar at a time.

Choose by ear

Record both versions; keep the melody clear and, when accompaniment is available, check that added notes fit it.

Now play these

Loeillet of Ghent: Sonata in A minor, Op. 1 No. 1 — complete solo part

Two complete Adagios; preserve their suspensions when adding ornaments.

Telemann: Sonata in D minor, TWV 41:d4 (complete recorder part)

Complete Affettuoso and Grave; preserve the written ornaments before adding your own.

Vivaldi: RV 443 — complete Largo (advanced)

An authentic slow movement — experiment with the phrases.

When the plain and decorated four-bar openings keep the same beat and clear melody, move on to Lesson 44.