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 (July 17, 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 the exhausted musicians to play the suites three times on the trip.
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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. The instruments include: Two horns, two oboes, one bassoon and the strings. The "Water Music" opens with a French overture and includes minuets, bourrées and hornpipes. It is divided into three suites:
- 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.
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.
External links
- Score (E-book) of Water Music (ed. Friedrich Chrysander, Leipzig 1886)
- Encarta
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
