The Baroque sonatas we hear about are generally those written for violin, or perhaps, flute, oboe, or cello. Though we know they exist, Baroque recorder sonatas are often left unmentioned. Still, the recorder was an important instrument throughout the Baroque era, both in an out of chamber music. Among a collection of others, composers like George Frideric Handel and Georg Philipp Telemann successfully used the recorder as the chosen instrument for their sonatas.
The recorder experienced exciting times during the Baroque Era. In the late seventeenth century, changes were made to the design of the recorder including a separation into three pieces (it was originally one or two), more accurate boring, a more pronounced taper, and a fully
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43). Opus 1, which was first published in 1722, contains twelve solo sonatas (Hunt, 1977. p. 69). Four of these sonatas were composed for treble recorder, identified as “Flauto,” and they generally were accompanied by harpsichord (cembalo). The sonatas in Opus 1 included No. 2 in g minor, No. 4 in a minor, No. 7 in C Major, and No. 11 in F Major (Best, 1977, p. 437). Two additional sonatas were composed in Bb Major and d minor (Best, 1977, p. 437). Though it was often questionable what instruments sonatas were actually written for, the range of Handel’s solo sonata help connect them to the recorder, though most of them were clearly labeled anyway (Hunt, 1977, p. …show more content…
The sonata also has four movements following the slow-fast-slow-fast pattern: Largo, Allegro, Largo Vivace. One notable aspect of this sonata is its canonical style. The continuo frequently echoes the melodic ideas of the recorder. Rowland-Jones also mentions that Telemann, likely because he was a talented recorder player himself, employed notes in the higher register of the recorder. This can be seen throughout Telemann’s composition, but specifically in measure 24 of the first movement and measure 21 of the second movement when the recorder part climbs to an