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Sonatina in B-flat Major

George Frideric Handel (1685–1759) · sheet music

  • Key B-flat major
  • Time 4/4
  • Levels 7
  • Passages 1

Your turn · both hands

 

 

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George Frideric Handel, German-British baroque (1685–1759). The reading release has 1 passage from this piece at level 7; the reader above opens on the easiest, bars 11–14 for both hands together.

Practice the hard bars →

The hardest stretch is bars 11–14 at level 7.

Your practice path

Learn it the way teachers do: each hand on its own, then together, then the hard bars. Each step is a real graded passage of Sonatina in B-flat Major.

  1. Hands together · bars 11–14 level 7

How to play Sonatina in B-flat Major

  1. Tempo:The edition gives no tempo marking, so choose a lively pace at which the eighth notes are crisp and even in both hands.
  2. Right hand:The right hand opens with a falling eighth-note figure after a short rest; start each figure cleanly off the rest and let it lead toward the next downbeat.
  3. Left hand:The left hand is a second melody, not an accompaniment: it walks in eighth notes and imitates the right hand, so practice it alone and shape it.
  4. Hands together:Both hands often move in eighths at once; practice slowly and listen that the two lines stay level, then work on the places where one hand rests while the other continues.
  5. Dynamics:Baroque keyboard music relies on touch more than on swells, so create variety with articulation, for example slightly detached quarter notes and connected eighth-note runs.
  6. Fingering:Plan thumb crossings for the scale passages and use the same fingering each time a sequence repeats a step higher.
  7. Practice:Learn the sequences as patterns: play the first unit, then move it up a step, so the hand knows each repetition before you read it.
  8. Reading:With two flats in the key signature, say B-flat and E-flat aloud before starting, and watch for the E-naturals that point toward F major.

Common mistakes

  • Forgetting the flats so B and E come out natural. Fix: Say B-flat and E-flat before you start and pencil a reminder near the first few Bs and Es.
  • Treating the left hand as background so the imitation disappears. Fix: Practice the left hand alone as a melody, then keep its shape when the right hand joins.
  • Rushing the sixteenth-note run near the end. Fix: Count the run in sixteenths with a metronome and keep it inside the same steady beat.

Structure: continuous two-part movement

The piece runs without repeats. The opening idea is answered between the hands and leads to a cadence in F major, the dominant; a series of rising sequences then leads back to B-flat major, and a short run brings the final cadence.

A · Opening to the dominant (B-flat major to F major)
The right hand's falling eighth-note figure is answered by a walking left hand; octave leaps and E-naturals steer the music to F major.
B · Sequences and return (B-flat major)
Short patterns repeat a step higher each time in both hands, a quick sixteenth-note run descends, and the music settles back into B-flat major for the closing chord.

About Sonatina in B-flat Major

The Sonatina in B-flat major, HWV 585, is one of George Frideric Handel's shortest keyboard pieces, a single movement for two voices. The Mutopia Project dates it to 1721–22.

Its earliest edition on IMSLP is in the second volume of Friedrich Chrysander's complete Handel edition for the Deutsche Händelgesellschaft in Leipzig, listed there as 1858 (Mutopia, which republishes it, gives 1859). It also appears in the modern Hallische Händel-Ausgabe, edited by Terence Best in 1970.

For a learner it offers Baroque keyboard writing in miniature: two independent lines that imitate each other, short sequences that climb or fall step by step, and a move to the dominant key before the music works its way home.

  • IMSLP lists arrangements of this Sonatina for oboe and harpsichord, and for two guitars.
  • The first collected edition came out more than ninety years after Handel's death in 1759.
  • HWV stands for Händel-Werke-Verzeichnis, the standard catalogue of Handel's works.

Why the first passage is level 7

That passage is level 7 rather than 6 because it runs fast figuration.

Two voices move mostly in eighth notes by step and short leap, with two flats in the signature; read each hand's direction and look for the patterns that repeat a step higher.

Questions about Sonatina in B-flat Major

How hard is Sonatina in B-flat Major to play?
Its passages grade from level 7 on Real Sight Reader's ten-level reading scale, so the full piece is intermediate to advanced reading. The hardest stretch is bars 11–14 at level 7.
Is there an easy part of Sonatina in B-flat Major for beginners?
Its easiest passage is level 7, so it suits a reader past the beginner stage. Start with bars 11–14 for both hands together, the level-7 passage in the reader at the top of this page; it is level 7 because it runs fast figuration.
What key and time signature is Sonatina in B-flat Major in?
Sonatina in B-flat Major is in B-flat major, 2 flats. The engraving on this page is in 4/4 time.
Who composed Sonatina in B-flat Major?
George Frideric Handel, German-British baroque (1685–1759). The Sonatina in B-flat major, HWV 585, is one of George Frideric Handel's shortest keyboard pieces, a single movement for two voices.
Can I practice Sonatina in B-flat Major online for free?
Yes. The reader on this page plays any of the one graded passage from Sonatina in B-flat Major in your browser, with an on-screen keyboard or a MIDI keyboard, and marks every note as you play. No signup.
What is HWV 585?
HWV is the Händel-Werke-Verzeichnis, the standard catalogue of Handel's works; HWV 585 is this Sonatina in B-flat major.
Did Handel write the Sonatina for piano?
It is keyboard music from Handel's time, published among his keyboard works rather than for a specific instrument; today it is often played on the piano.
Is Handel's Sonatina in B-flat in the public domain?
Yes. Handel died in 1759, and free editions are available on IMSLP and from the Mutopia Project.

Every passage, easiest first

The reading release grades one passage of this piece. Open any of them in the reader:

Level 7
bars 11–14 both hands

More pieces to sight-read

Score: public-domain engraving from the corpus (mutopia), graded by the piano-reading-v2-20261023-identity-audit reading release.

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