George Frideric Handel's Greatest Composers

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George Frideric Handel is known as one of the greatest composers from the Baroque Era. One of his well-known compositions, composed in 1720, is "Air and Variations" or "The Harmonious Blacksmith" from Suite No. 5. An air refers to a song like composition while a variation is a movement within a larger work. This composition, also one of the first works for the harpsichord, has a rounded binary form. His work clearly demonstrates formal phrasing and movement. The structure consists of the opening theme, first phrase, variation one, and the second phrase. Handel uses a half cadence at the end of the opening theme while a perfect authentic cadence is used at the end of the first phrase. These two similar phrases create a parallel period as they

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