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The short answer
Sonatina in B-flat major, HWV 585 is a sonatina by George Frideric Handel from the Baroque era. PlayPiano puts it at Level 5, an estimate.
- sonatina
- Baroque
- Key of B-flat major
- joyful
Also known as Handel, Sonatina in B flat HWV 585.
History
This small Sonatina has a different source history from many of Handel's manuscript-only keyboard pieces. Terence Best includes it among works surviving in the composer's own handwriting: his contents identify HWV 585 as No. 14, and his preface's autograph exceptions do not include it. That is historical source evidence, not proof of the digital file's lineage.
Sources
What to listen for
Upper rests leave the lower line active
The lower leaping figures begin before decorative upper replies. Hear their movement through the upper gaps.
An inner strand briefly thickens the dialogue
A staff-transferred inner voice joins the overlapping lines. Listen within the texture without making it an extra serial phrase.
Higher replies gather toward the cadence
Ornaments and shorter running figures meet more active lower movement. Hear their separate routes toward the close.
A descent reaches held B-flat sound
The upper descent and lower settling figures arrive at a long sonority. Listen to their convergence before release.
How to practise it
Keep the moving upper answer light above changing lower note lengths.
- Count the opening silence, then connect the five moving eighths to C.
- Practise the first lower gesture alone, then combine while retaining the rest.
How hard is it
Concise keyboard writing requires clear phrase direction, even coordination and differentiated articulation through contrasting musical gestures.
About this piece
- Collection
- Sonata journeys
- Licence
- Public Domain
- Source
- mutopiaproject.org
More by George Frideric Handel
- Sarabande in D minor: source piano editionLevel 4, estimatedWith Maestro
- Passacaille, Suite No. 7, HWV 432Level 7, estimatedWith Maestro
