Lesson 53: A Complete Short Baroque Sonata

Prepare the four movement openings in order.
Set a new speed and mood between movements.

Let the silence between movements lead into the next character.

Use these slow and fast entries to plan Loeillet’s sonata before studying it closely in Lessons 57–60.

The complete sonata is transposed down a perfect fourth to E minor.

Your alto staff keeps the original A minor and pitches.

Published: Jean Baptiste Loeillet of Ghent, Op. 1 No. 1; Hans-Thomas Müller-Schmidt (2018), CC BY-SA 4.0. Solo line down P4; native alto restores A minor. Continuo and phrase slurs omitted; beaming normalised.

Play: Loeillet, Op.1 No.1 — four entries

Learn one entry at a time, then play all four in order with a pause to hear the next beat before starting.

The Giga repeat is written out here; the linked sonata uses a selected AABB performance route.

Practice plan

First: Read the entries; find each beat pattern and a place to breathe.
Next: Practise the hardest two bars in each entry, then join its phrases.
Then: Record the four entries in order; save the complete sonata for Lessons 57–60.

Now play these

Loeillet of Ghent: Sonata in A minor, Op.1 No.1 — complete solo part: The complete four-movement part.
Pepusch: Sonata Op.1 No.1 — complete: Contrast four complete movements and their segno return.
Loeillet of London: Sonata in C major, Op.3 No.1 — complete: Hear its Allegro return to Fine.

When all four entries keep a steady beat and their slow-fast contrasts are clear, move on to Lesson 54.