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George Frideric Handel (1685–1759)

Largo (Ombra mai fu), from Serse

The aria from Handel's opera Serse (1738), arranged for piano in G by D. Yanagimoto (Handel wrote it in F)

In Funeral and memorial music

In Easy pieces that sound hard

Level
3 of 5
Key signature
1 sharp
Time
3/4
Length
52 bars
Plays in
about 3 min

Practise it

Needs a MIDI keyboard and Chrome, Edge or Firefox on a computer, or Chrome on an Android phone or tablet.

The opening bars of Largo (Ombra mai fu), from Serse
The opening bars

Versions

Each easier version only leaves notes out, so every one is still the real piece. Print any of them free.

  • As written666 notes
  • Melody and a simpler left hand387 notes
  • Melody and left-hand roots199 notes
  • Right-hand melody147 notes

To practise it on paper: a practice chart for this piece, a week of steps from each hand alone to full tempo, with their speeds.

What it asks of you

  • Treble clef from G3 to G5, with ledger lines
  • Bass clef from C1 to B3, with ledger lines
  • Key signature: 1 sharp (G major or E minor)
  • Accidentals: sharps outside the key
  • Rhythm: quarter notes, half notes, whole notes, dotted half notes, eighth notes, dotted quarter notes, sixteenth notes, triplets, dotted eighth notes
  • Intervals: octaves, 7ths, 2nds (steps), 4ths, 6ths, 5ths
  • Chords: inverted triads, triads
  • Hands playing together, moving the hand to a new position, one hand moving while the other holds, hands in different rhythms

What stands between you and this piece

Clefsight compares the notes of this piece with what you already read.

Score from PDMX (CC0 1.0); the composition is public domain: George Frideric Handel died in 1759. Credits