Floating Down the River Thames With Handel’s Water Music

Episode 102

Handel’s Water Music was composed around 1717 and first performed at the request of George I, who asked for a concert on the River Thames. The king watched gleefully from the royal barge with various dukes and duchesses as the 50 musicians played nearby.

In fact, the king enjoyed the music so much, he asked the musicians to play the suites three times.

The music is jam-packed with catchy tunes, each movement based on a dance style. There’s actually no set order for the suites to be performed, but it’s generally agreed that the first is in F major, the second is in D, and the third is in G.

It’s Suite No. 1 that is the most popular. In eleven sections, it begins with a beautiful French-style Ouverture, continues through a jaunty ‘Bourée’, a stately ‘Minuet’ and ends with the grand ‘Alla Hornpipe’.

This music is often paired in performance with Handel’s Music for the Royal Fireworks, written for George II. Handel was adept at writing for the outdoors, choosing instrumentation that would fill the air, including bassoons, horns, and trumpets.