Menuet in D major (Aylesford Pieces)

Background

George Frideric Handel (1685–1759) was born in Halle, in Germany, and spent most of his working life in London, writing operas, oratorios such as Messiah, and a good deal of harpsichord music. This minuet belongs to a group of short keyboard pieces known as the Aylesford Pieces, a name that comes from a library rather than from Handel himself.

Charles Jennens, the wealthy music lover who put together the words of Messiah, built up the largest collection of manuscript copies of Handel's music made by anyone in the composer's lifetime. After Jennens died in 1773 it passed to the Earls of Aylesford, and it stayed with the family until most of it was sold at auction in 1918; much of it is now in the Henry Watson Music Library in Manchester. The keyboard pieces among these copies were first printed in the twentieth century by Schott, and this arrangement follows a Schott edition from around 1930. Because the music survives only in copies, nobody knows exactly when Handel wrote it.

The minuet itself was the favourite court dance of Handel's day: three beats to the bar, small graceful steps and a clear pulse for the dancers.

How to practise it

This is the complete minuet in D major, 28 bars long. The first half (bars 1 to 12) ends in A major; the second half (bars 13 to 28) finds its way home to D. The right hand plays two or three notes at a time with the tune on top, while the left hand walks underneath, one note per beat.

Start with the left hand, the easier part, which gives you the harmony and the steady pulse.

Then take the right hand, but at first play only the top notes, so you know the tune by ear. Add the lower notes once it is secure.

The tricky spots are bars where one note is held while another moves above it in the same hand. In bars 3, 5, 7 and 11 a lower note lasts two or three beats under a moving top line, so keep that finger resting on its key until the count is finished. Bars 5 and 6 add a little written-out trill (E, D, E, D) over a held A: hold the A with the thumb, alternate fingers 3 and 4 lightly on D and E, and use 2 for the C sharp.

Finally, put the hands together in four-bar sections at 60 beats a minute, and raise the speed through 72 and 84 to the full 96.

Listen for a singing top line, with the lower notes of each chord softer. Give the first beat of each bar a gentle lean, and let the end of each half sound settled.

Handel's other Aylesford piece in the library, the Air in B-flat major, makes a good partner.