TheFlute sonata in B minor (HWV 367b) is a work for flute andbasso continuo, however the sonata was originally composed (c. 1712) byGeorge Frideric Handel as aRecorder sonata in D minor (HWV 367a). Other catalogues of Handel's music have referred to the work asHG xxvii, 32; andHHA iv/3,42.[1]
The work was first published as "Opus 1, No. 9" in 1730 in an unauthorised and "disgracefully botched" edition—in fact byJohn Walsh ofLondon but with a forged title page claiming Jeanne Roger ofAmsterdam as the publisher—in which it was transposed to B minor for flute from its original key of D minor, and with its third and fourth movements omitted.[2]
Both theWalsh editions and theChrysander edition indicate that the work is for flute ("Traversa"), and published it asSonata IX.
The work is the most developed and expansive of all Handel's sonatas that can be said to be for the flute. A typical performance of the work takes about fourteen and a half minutes.
For details about the movements in the sonata, see themovements section of theRecorder sonata in D minor (HWV 367a).
