Tuesday 1 August 2023
Tune of the Day: Adagio by Handel
from Violin Sonata in G minor
This short Adagio is the third movement of Georg Frideric Handel's Violin Sonata in G minor, HWV 364a, composed around 1722-24. Early editions indicate that the work is for oboe, even though it contains notes beyond the range of the oboe. Handel's original manuscript states that the sonata would be suitable “per la Viola da Gamba” (a Baroque-era instrument resembling a cello), suggesting that the change of instrument was probably sanctioned by the publishers, Walsh and Chrysander.