Description
This Handel keyboard suite lasts about two and a half minutes and contains 841 notes. Within its short span, figures of contrasting character appear, setting dance-like energy against more restrained, lyrical passages. Rated at an intermediate level, it also serves well as material for learning the basic vocabulary of Baroque style. Composed around 1720, it condenses several contrasting sections within the suite genre, giving an intermediate player a compact way to internalize Baroque dance rhythms.
Baroque-era suites that string together a sequence of contrasting dances, such as allemandes and gigues, into a single work.
About the Composer
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)
George Frideric Handel was a Baroque composer born in Halle, Germany, who later became a naturalized British citizen. Celebrated for the oratorio Messiah and his Italian-style operas, he also composed many keyboard suites and sonatas. Often mentioned alongside his contemporary Bach, his music is marked by accessible melody and stately grandeur. This site includes 72 of his works, such as gavottes, concertos, and sonatinas.
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