Notes on the interpretation of a Larghetto by Handel

Laura Rónai

doi:10.1590/SciELOPreprints.15369

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Laura Rónai Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0083-5791

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1590/SciELOPreprints.15369

Keywords:

baroque music, ornamentation, Handel, historically oriented performance, flute

Abstract

This text presents the English translation of the article entitled Notas sobre a interpretação de um Larghetto de Handel [“Notes on the interpretation of a Larghetto by Handel”], written by Laura Rónai and originally published in Per Musi, Belo Horizonte, vol. 42, 2025. The
original article is available in open access under DOI: https://doi.org/10.35699/2317-6377.2025.50959, eISSN 2317-6377. It discusses interpretative aspects of Baroque music through the lens of Historically Oriented Performance, using as a case study the Larghetto
from the Sonata in E minor for flute and basso continuo, HWV 379, by George Frideric Handel. The translation was carried out by the author herself, a professor at the Villa-Lobos Institute of the Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro (UNIRIO), with the aim of
expanding the international readership of the work and making it accessible to musicians, researchers, and performers who do not read Portuguese. The English version remains faithful to the content, structure, and academic tone of the original text, while incorporating
minor stylistic adjustments to accommodate the rhetorical conventions of English-language scholarly writing. By opting for a self-translation, the author ensures the preservation of her intended meaning and the alignment between musical concepts and their expression. The
translation also seeks to foster international dialogue on Baroque performance practices and to support musicians interested in historical ornamentation and stylistic awareness.

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Author Biography

Laura Rónai, Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

She is Flute Chair at UNIRIO and a faculty member of the PROEMUS program. She directs the UNIRIO Baroque Orchestra (OBU) and coordinates the social project Orquestra que Transforma in the city of Tanguá. She organized seven editions of UNIRIO’s Early Music Week, in partnership with the Centre de musique baroque de Versailles. With OBU, she also staged two Baroque operas in collaboration with the Opera Workshop directed by Carol McDavit. She has contributed to the journals Pattapio, Fanfare, Flute Talk, Sonograma, Early Music America, and Goldberg, and is the editor of the journal Conversa das Antigas, launched in 2021. Her book In Search of a Lost World is regarded as one of the most important volumes on the flute published in Brazil and is forthcoming in English from Lexington Books. She currently writes for the OSESP Magazine and prepares program notes for the same orchestra.