No. 2 in F major, HWV 427

Among the eight pieces, this is the only one without a prelude. Alongside HWV 431, its movement structure is that of a keyboard sonata rather than a suite, making it a published sonata work that predates Handel's first collection of 3-4 movement keyboard sonatas in Italy and England. Based on its vocal range, its composition is attributed to the Hamburg or Italian period, but the final movement was written during his stay at Cannons from 1717-18, and the opening Adagio is also a revised version for publication. Furthermore, the original fifth movement was deleted at the time of publication.

The opening movement features the upper voice elaborately weaving a melody over a continuously descending scale in the bass. Following the second cadence in the tonic key, modulations ensue, beginning with F minor. The movement concludes with a pause after stopping on a dominant seventh chord on E, followed by a cadence in A minor.

The second movement is an Allegro where the upper voice briskly runs in sixteenth notes, complementing the harmony with arpeggiated chords. The latter half begins with a repetition of the opening theme. Upon reaching the subdominant key, the theme is abandoned, and the upper voice maintains continuous motion until the end of the movement. Further modulations continue within incomplete repetitions of four-bar phrases, and without a clear break, the latter half of measure 27 sees a return to the tonic key, recalling the passage from the latter half of measure 7 in the first half of the movement.

The third movement is also richly ornamented, similar to the opening movement; however, while the latter's upper voice predominantly carries the main melody, in this Adagio, a motive characterized by fourth-leaps appears alternately in each voice.

The final movement is a Fugue. In this work, which effectively adopts the structure of a sonata da chiesa, the presence of a fugue as the final movement adheres to traditional movement ordering. This is a four-voice fugue, and the subject's modulations extend to keys related by a third (from m. 20, from m. 29). Towards the end, a stretto, which is considered less common in Handel compared to Bach, can also be observed.