Händel, Georg Friedrich : Suite Adagio HWV 427
Work Overview
Genre:suite
Total Playing Time:1 min 20 sec
Copyright:Public Domain
Commentary (1)
Author : Ooi, Kazurou
Last Updated: July 15, 2024
[Open]
Author : Ooi, Kazurou
With so many ornaments and an Adagio tempo, the outline of the piece can become obscured, making it difficult to know how to shape it. For pieces of this type, removing all ornaments and playing only the soprano line at a much faster tempo can reveal the piece's contour clearly.
From the beginning, a phrase concludes with A-E-F-D-D-C#-D, up to the D on the first beat of measure 4. From there, another phrase concludes with C-B-A-E-D-A-B-C, starting from the third beat.
This second phrase features a shocking, somewhat forced modulation to A minor in measure 5, then moves to D minor, and while there are inspirations from many keys thereafter, it settles on the dominant of F major in measure 9.
From that point, the tension builds with an ascending sequence: C-F-F-E, D-G-G-F, and finally concludes on the dominant of the original D minor with E-D-C-B-A-G-F-E-A-E-F-B-A-G-A-A.
By extracting only the soprano line and playing it at a fast tempo in this manner, the skeletal structure of the piece becomes clear. Using this as a reference, determine the peak points, resting sections, and cadences, and then apply dynamics accordingly.