Oboe sonata in C minor (HWV 366) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Oboe sonata in C minor (HWV 366) was composed (circa 1711-12) by George Frideric Handel

George Frideric Handel

George Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music...

for oboe and keyboard (harpsichord

Harpsichord

A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.In the narrow sense, "harpsichord" designates only the large wing-shaped instruments in which the strings are perpendicular to the keyboard...

). The work is also referred to as Opus 1 No. 8, and was first published in 1732 by Walsh

John Walsh (printer)

John Walsh was an English music publisher of Irish descent, established off the Strand, London, by c. 1690. He was appointed musical instrument-maker-in-ordinary to the king in 1692....

. Other catalogues of Handel's music have referred to the work as HG

Händel-Gesellschaft

Between 1858 and 1902, the Händel-Gesellschaft, or "German Handel Society," produced a collected 105-volume edition of the works of Georg Frideric Handel. Even though the collection was initiated by the society, many of the volumes were published by Friedrich Chrysander working alone...

xxvii,29; and HHA

Hallische Händel-Ausgabe

The Hallische Händel-Ausgabe is a multi-volume collection of the works of George Frideric Handel. It was first published in the 1950s: initially as an adjunct to the HG edition, but by 1958 as a collected edition in its own right...

iv/18,32.

Both the Walsh edition

Handel solo sonatas (Walsh)

Solos for a German Flute a Hoboy or Violin with a Thorough Bass for the Harpsichord or Bass Violin Compos'd by Mr. Handel was published by John Walsh in 1732. It contains a set of twelve sonatas, for various instruments, composed by George Frideric Handel...

and the Chrysander edition

XV Handel solo sonatas (Chrysander)

XV Solos for a German Flute, Hoboy, or Violin with a Thorough Bass for the Harpsichord or Bass Violin was published by Friedrich Chrysander in 1879. The 72 page volume contains sonatas, for various instruments, composed by George Frideric Handel. The words on the cover of the publication are:...

indicate that the work is for oboe (Hoboy), and published it as Sonata VIII.

A typical performance of the work takes about six and a half minutes.

Movements

The work consists of four movements

Movement (music)

A movement is a self-contained part of a musical composition or musical form. While individual or selected movements from a composition are sometimes performed separately, a performance of the complete work requires all the movements to be performed in succession...

Movement	Type	Key signature	Time signature	Bars	Notes
1	Largo	C minor	4/4	18	The key signature only has two flats (with the A flat needed to establish the key of C minor being written-in as accidentals). The tempo of Largo is not written (but is stylistically assumed in performance). Concludes with a G major chord. The movement is also used in the flute sonata in E minor (HWV 375) Flute sonata in E minor (HWV 375) The Flute sonata in E minor is thought to have been composed by George Frideric Handel, for flute and keyboard . The date of composition of the work is unknown, but it was first published in 1730... .
2	Allegro	C minor	4/4	45	Has a fugal beginning. The movement is also used in the flute sonata in E minor (HWV 375).
3	Adagio	E flat major	3/2	30	Concludes with a G major chord.
4	Allegro	C minor	4/4	20	Two sections (8 and 12 bars)—each with repeat markings. The movement begins G major. In Bourrée Bourrée The bourrée is a dance of French origin common in Auvergne and Biscay in Spain in the 17th century. It is danced in quick double time, somewhat resembling the gavotte. The main difference between the two is the anacrusis, or upbeat; a bourrée starts on the last beat of a bar, creating a... style.

(Movements do not contain repeat markings unless indicated. The number of bars is taken from the Chrysander edition, and is the raw number in the manuscript—not including repeat markings.)

Movements

See also