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The Water Music is a collection of orchestral movements, often considered as three suites, composed by George Frideric Handel. It premiered in the summer of 1717 when King George I requested a concert on the River Thames. The concert was performed by 50 musicians that joined King George I on his barge. King George I was said to have loved it so much that he ordered Handel to play the suites three times on the trip. It has been suggested that Suite_de_Danses be merged into this article or section. ...
George Frideric Handel, 1733 George Frideric Handel (23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-born British Baroque composer who was a leading composer of concerti grossi, operas and oratorios. ...
// Events January 4 — The Netherlands, Britain & France sign Triple Alliance February 26-March 6 What is now the northeastern United States was paralyzed by a series of blizzards that buried the region. ...
George I (Georg Ludwig) (28 May 1660 – 11 June 1727) was Elector of Hanover from 23 January 1698, and King of Great Britain and King of Ireland from 1 August 1714, until his death. ...
The Thames (pronounced //) is a river flowing through southern England, and one of the major waterways in England. ...
Music and Instrumentation
All the instruments in the Baroque orchestra were brought onto the King's boat, except the harpsichord since it was impossible to bring an instrument of such size onto the barge. Adoration, by Peter Paul Rubens. ...
Harpsichord in the Flemish style A harpsichord is any of a family of European keyboard instruments, including the large instrument currently called a harpsichord, but also the smaller virginals, the muselar virginals and the spinet. ...
The instruments include: Two horns, two oboes, one bassoon and the strings. The horn (popularly known also as the French horn) is a brass instrument decended from the natural horn that consists of tubing wrapped into a coiled form. ...
Modern Oboe The Oboe is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. ...
The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that plays in the tenor range and below. ...
A string instrument (or stringed instrument) is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. ...
The "Water Music" opens with a French overture and includes minuets, bourrées and hornpipes. It is divided into three suites: The French overture is a musical form widely used in the Baroque period. ...
A minuet, sometimes spelt menuet, is a dance for two persons, usually in 3/4 time. ...
The bourree was a dance common in Auvergne and Biscay in Spain in the 17th century, danced in quick double time, somewhat resembling the gavotte. ...
The term hornpipe refers to one of several dance forms played and danced in Britain and elsewhere from the late 17th century until the present day. ...
In music, a suite is an organized set of instrumental or orchestral pieces normally performed at a single sitting. ...
- Suite in F major, HWV 348
- Suite in D major, HWV 349
- Suite in G major, HWV 350
However, there is good evidence for the somewhat different arrangement found in Friedrich Chrysander's edition of Handel's complete works (Georg Friedrich Händels Werke, Vol. 47, published in 1886), where the "suites" in D and G have their movements mingled together. This sequence derives from Samuel Arnold's first edition of the complete score in 1788 and the manuscript copies dating from Handel's lifetime.
The music in each of the suites has no set order today. When the suite was played for the King, slow, often soft music was played when the King's boat and the orchestra's boat were close together, while louder, brisk passages were played when the boats drifted apart.
The "Music for the Royal Fireworks" is often paired with the "Water Music," in part or in whole, on recordings. Together, these works constitute some of Handel's most famous music for what we would now consider the orchestra. The Fireworks Music (also known as Music for the Royal Fireworks) was composed by George Frideric Handel in 1749 under contract of George II of Great Britain for the celebration fireworks occasion in Londons Green Park on 27 April 1749. ...
This article does not cite any references or sources. ...
Legends The legend follows that Handel composed the Water Music to regain the favour of King George I. This story was first related by Handel's early biographer John Mainwaring; although this explanation may have some foundation in fact, the tale as told by Mainwaring has been doubted by some Handel scholars.
Popular Culture and the Media Many portions of the Water Music have become familiar. Between 1959 and 1988 a "Water Music" movement was used for the ident of Anglia Television. The D major movement in 3/2 meter subtitled "Alla Hornpipe" is particularly notable and has been used frequently for television and radio commercials, including commercials for the privatisation of the UK water companies in the late 1980's. The "Air" and "Bourrée" from the F major "suite" have also become popular with audiences, with the latter being the theme music to the popular cooking show The Frugal Gourmet. Year 1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
A television ident visually identifies the network or station presenting a television programme. ...
This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...
The Frugal Gourmet was a cooking show that aired on PBS from 1988 to 1997. ...
External links International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP) is an internet-based project to create a virtual library of musical scores which are in the public domain. ...
Recording - Trevor Pinnock and the English Concert (1983), in Handel: Orchestral Works. Archiv 463-094-2. (Arranges the movements in the same order as Chrysander's edition mentioned above.)
- MP3 Creative Commons Recording of Water Music from Magnatune
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