Handel: Trio Sonata in B-flat (HWV 388)

Описание: 0:00 I. Andante
2:30 II. Allegro
5:22 III. Larghetto
8:20 IV. Allegro

This trio sonata by Handel says that it's for violins and continuo in some sources, other say oboes or flutes. A copy was made at some point by Johann Joachim Quantz, who played the flute, recorder, and oboe so it is reasonable to think that he played it on one of those instruments. It does not fit on the alto/treble recorder without transposing, so I decided to play it on a pair of soprano recorders, hopefully not too squeakily. The figuration in the fast movements is decidedly not oboe-like writing, though it is playable and it works on recorder, it is just not very idiomatic and seems more like string writing to me. The sonata is in the usual Baroque four movement form: slow-fast-slow-fast, though unlike some other composers there are no repeats indicated so the opportunity to ornament is limited, though there really are enough notes to play already!

The painting is called "The Child Handel" and is obviously a work of the artist's imagination as Handel had been dead for 134 years when it was painted, and he was 74 at the time, so about 200 years had passed since he might have looked anything like the painting. But it is a fanciful painting from the Victorian era and quite nicely executed.