Lesson 57: Major Work Study, Part 1 — First Movement

Play the complete first Adagio with a steady beat.
Keep the melody clear through the faster decorations.

Know where the line is going before you add an ornament.

Return to the sonata mapped in Lesson 53; its first Adagio starts with three silent bars for the continuo accompaniment.

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.

The sonata

I Adagio: Slow opening with faster decorations.
II Allegro: Fast repeating patterns in sixteenth notes.
III Adagio: Held notes that create tension in 3/2.
IV Giga: A closing dance in 12/8.

Play: Loeillet, Op.1 No.1 — first Adagio

Count the half-bar rest in bar 4, then enter; practise two bars at a time before joining the faster notes.

Practice plan

First: Read this entry, then the complete first movement.
Next: Practise the final cadence, bars 31–32; connect it to the preceding phrase.
Then: Record the complete Adagio and check that decorations never interrupt the line.

Now play these

Loeillet of Ghent: Sonata in A minor, Op.1 No.1 — complete solo part: Learn the complete first Adagio.
Loeillet of London: Sonata in F major, Op.3 No.3 — complete: Compare its opening Adagio.

When the complete first Adagio flows through its decorations without losing pulse, move on to Lesson 58.