HANDEL: Water Music / Music for the Royal Fireworks
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George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) Water Music Music for the Royal Fireworks George Frideric Handel was born in Halle in 1685, the son of an elderly and...
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)
Water Music Music for the Royal Fireworks
George Frideric Handel was born in Halle in 1685,
the son of an elderly and distinguished barber-surgeon
by his second wife, the daughter of a Lutheran pastor.
He showed an early interest in music, an activity not
altogether encouraged by his father, whose patron, the
Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels, intervened in the boy's
favour. His father died in 1697 but Handel's general
and musical education continued, allowing him, five
years later, to matriculate at the University of Halle,
and to accept, a month afterwards, the position of
organist at the Calvinist cathedral. The following year
he abandoned his studies and his native town in order
to embark on a career as a musician.
Handel's first employment was in the city of
Hamburg. There he worked at the opera, at first as a
rank-and-file second violinist and then as
harpsichordist and composer, establishing his first
connection with England by giving lessons to the son
of the English Resident. In Hamburg he was
associated with Johann Mattheson, a musician his
senior by four years, who was, rightly or wrongly, to
claim a share in Handel's education as a composer.
From Hamburg Handel travelled in 1706 to Italy, at
the invitation of Prince Ferdinando de' Medici, heir to
the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. He was to remain there
until 1710, spending time in Florence, in Venice, and
in Rome, absorbing more fully the Italian style that he
had already attempted in opera in Hamburg, and
impressing audiences with his ability as an organist
and harpsichord-player.
It was through his acquaintance with Baron
Kielmansegge, Master of Horse to the Elector of
Hanover, whom he met in Venice, and perhaps
through an earlier meeting with the Elector's brother,
Prince Ernst August, that Handel found himself
offered the position of Kapellmeister in Hanover, an
appointment followed, according to prior agreement,
by immediate leave of absence for twelve months.
In moving north Handel seems to have had
London in mind as a possibly rich field for musical
speculation. England was under the rule of Queen
Anne, the second of the daughters of the exiled
Catholic King James II. The last of the Stuarts was to
be succeeded after her death in 1714 by the Elector of
Hanover, who ascended the English throne as King
George I. On his first visit to London Handel had
remained for eight months, seeing to the mounting
early in 1711 of his new Italian opera Rinaldo, with a
libretto based on an outline sketch by Aaron Hill. He
then returned to Hanover, but after fifteen months he
was back once more in London, with leave from the
Elector to stay for a reasonable length of time. Handel
in the event settled in England for the rest of his life,
whether with or without the approval of his patron is
not clear. He was, however, to enjoy royal patronage
after the accession of George I.
In London Handel was concerned to a
considerable extent with the Italian opera, a risky
venture that was to undergo various changes of
fortune during the following decades. Later in his
career he was to turn to English oratorio, a form that,
in his hands, had all the musical advantages of Italian
opera without the disadvantage of a foreign language,
lavish production costs or liability to native criticism
on the grounds of improbability or incomprehensibility.
Handel wrote music for other occasions,
for the church and for the pleasure gardens, and
enjoyed immense popularity and esteem, his preeminence
serving to eclipse lesser talents. He died in
1759.
The Water Music and the Music for the Royal
Fireworks mark two chronological extremes of
Handel's career in London. The first was written in
his earlier years in England, presumably by 1717, to
entertain a royal party sailing up the Thames, while
the second was commissioned to celebrate the Peace
of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1749. Both occasions called for
outdoor music, a form in which Handel was to
demonstrate particular skill during the years that he
provided music for the gardens at Vauxhall. Popular
legend has it that he had offended the Elector of
Hanover by his prolonged absence without leave in
London and that a reconciliation was brought about
through the Water Music, composed to accompany
the new King's journey by barge from Whitehall to
Chelsea, to entertain the court during supper and to
escort the royal party back again down the Thames.
The story, given early currency, is now generally
discounted, since no overt reconciliation with King
George seems to have been necessary. It is clear,
however, from a number of contemporary accounts,
that Baron Kielmansegge, whose wife, known as The
Elephant, was the King's half-sister, paid for a band
of fifty musicians to play music newly commissioned
from Handel to entertain the King during an evening
party on the Thames on 17th July, 1717. Precisely
how much of the music performed was by Handel and
how much of it is now preserved in the three suites
known as the Water Music is not clear. It is reasonable
to suppose that the collection represents much of the
music played in 1717, although the order of
performance is unknown. Of the three suites arranged
by later editors the first has been described as a horn
suite, because of the prominence of those instruments,
while the second is distinguished by its use of the
trumpets, with the third generally suggesting the
indoor music to accompany the royal supper.
The Thames water-party of 1717 was successful
enough. The Royal Fireworks of 1749, however, may
have achieved musical distinction but were a
pyrotechnic disaster. The fireworks display was
planned for an April evening in 1749 in Green Park,
to celebrate the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle that had
ended the War of the Austrian Succession in the
previous year, confirming the Empress Maria
Theresia on the throne of Austria. Handel, although at
first reluctant, was able to offer a public rehearsal of
his Royal Fireworks Music at Vauxhall Gardens, a
commercial venture in which he had been involved
since 1732. A hundred musicians were involved,
playing to an audience of more than twelve thousand.
Aweek later the music was performed in Green Park,
a prelude to the event and a possible accompaniment
to the King's prior inspection of the elaborate
'machine' that was the centre-piece of the display.
The fireworks themselves were disappointing and
during the evening the pavilion to the right of the
main structure caught fire.
The Royal Fireworks Music had already
succeeded admirably at Vauxhall. Handel was to add
string parts to the original score, which had, by royal
command, been limited to a massive band of wind
instruments, and to present the work as part of a
charity programme given towards the end of May in
aid of Thomas Coram's Foundling Hospital, which
was to benefit even more considerably from the
oratorio Messiah. The five sections of the work open
with an overture in the usual French style, followed
by a Bourree and two pieces suggesting the Peace and
the consequent Rejoicing. The suite ends with two
minuets.
Keith Anderson
Water Music: Suite No. 1 in F major, HWV 348 (more info)
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I. Overture: Largo - Allegro - II. Adagio e staccato - 5:07
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I. Overture. II. Adagio e staccato - 5:07
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III. Allegro. IV. Andante - 6:53
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III. Allegro - IV. Andante - Allegro - 6:53
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V. Allegro - 3:42
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V. Passepied - 3:42
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VI. Air - 2:29
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VI. Air - 2:29
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VII. Menuet - 2:11
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VII. Menuet - 2:11
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VIII. Bourree - 2:11
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VIII. Bourree - 2:11
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IX. Hornpipe - 2:41
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IX. Hornpipe - 2:41
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X. Allegro - 4:09
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X. Allegro - 4:09
Water Music: Suite No. 2 in D major, HWV 349 (more info)
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I. Overture - 2:07
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I. Allegro - 2:07
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II. Alla Hornpipe - 2:59
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II. Alla Hornpipe - 2:59
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III. Sarabande - 1:52
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III. Menuet - 1:52
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IV. Lentement - 2:05
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IV. Rigaudon - 2:05
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V. Bourree - 1:25
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V. Lentement - 1:25
Water Music: Suite No. 3 in G major, HWV 350 (more info)
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I. Sarabande - 2:59
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I. Sarabande - 2:59
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II. Rigaudon I and II - 2:38
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II. Rigaudon I and II - 2:38
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III. Menuet I and II - 3:34
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III. Menuet I and II - 3:34
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IV. Bourree I and II - 1:41
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IV. Gigue I and II - 1:41
Music for the Royal Fireworks, HWV 351 (more info)
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I. Overture - 7:17
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I. Overture - 7:17
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II. Bourree - 3:05
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II. Bourree - 3:05
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III. La paix - 3:23
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III. La paix - 3:23
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IV. La rejouissance - 3:05
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IV. La rejouissance - 3:05
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V. Minuet I - Minuet II - 3:17
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V. Menuet I - Menuet II - 3:17