The Sonata in C major (HWV 365), for recorder and basso continuo, was composed (probably before 1712) by George Frideric Handel. The work is also referred to as Opus 1 No. 7, and was first published in or shortly after 1726âÂÂin a collection of twelve sonatas titled âÂÂpurportedly in Amsterdam by Jeanne Roger, but now shown to have been a forgery by the London publisher John Walsh. Walsh republished this sonata in 1731 or 1732 under his own imprint in a similar collection, containing ten of the earlier sonatas and two new ones, with the new title Solos for a German Flute a Hoboy or Violin With a Thorough Bass for the Harpsichord or Bass Violin Compos'd by Mr. Handel. Other catalogues of Handel's music have referred to the work as HG xxvii, 15; and HHA iv/3,33.
The pseudo-Roger, Walsh, and the Chrysander (based upon pseudo-Roger and Walsh) editions indicate that the work is for recorder ("flauto"), and published it as Sonata VII, though the autograph manuscript is missing the title page. This autograph is a fair copy made most likely in 1712, but a reliable copyist's manuscript gives the instrumentation in Italian: , exactly as in Handel's complete autographs of the Sonatas in G minor, A minor, and F major.
The work consists of five movements:
<small>(Movements do not contain repeat markings unless indicated. The number of bars is taken from the Chrysander edition, and is the raw number in the manuscriptâÂÂnot including repeat markings.)</small>
Three of these movements are related to other works by Handel: