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Another favorite we recorded. The instrumentation is Piano, Two Violins, and Cello. I am the pianist. I also produced this recording. Enjoy!
Program Notes:
Legend has it that Handel composed his Water Music as a gesture of reconciliation with the Elector of Hanover, the new English monarch, George I. Actually the king was quite fond of Handel and his music, and commissioned him to provide suitable music for a royal water pageant on the Thames River in 1717. In keeping with the outdoor venue, Handel made winds and trumpets predominant because of their greater carrying power al fresco. The rich string presence in the overture betrays its previous use in standard indoor performance (Handel, of course, borrowed heavily from his own earlier works).
No original autograph exists for this splendid masterwork. Various editions led to a complete solo harpsichord version in 1743 on which later, posthumous editions were based. A complete orchestral score was not printed until 1788, almost 30 years after Handel’s demise. Orchestration varies throughout the score; Handel makes selective colorific use of combinations of flutes, oboes, trumpets, bassoons, horns and strings. It was with the Water Music, incidentally, that Handel introduced the use of French horns to an English orchestra.
Water Music consists of three suites, the order of which is often determined by the arranger/conductor. The Suite in F major opens with a French Overture—a regal Largo followed by an energetic fugal Allegro. Movement 2, Adagio e staccato, features oboes weaving a long-breathed melody flowing over slow-moving chords played by the strings. Among the remaining movements, the well-known Air weds majesty to a catchy dotted rhythm. A particularly bouncy Bourrée passes all too quickly, giving way to a vigorous Hornpipe. The Suite concludes with a brilliant, horn-dominated untitled Allegro.
The Suite in G major has but two named movements, a Rigaudon (a lively 17th-century dance in duple meter, played second here) and a Menuet (played fourth). The remaining five sections, as short as half-a-minute, bear no title or tempo indication.
The shortest of the three suites is in D major. The highlights of the suite are two movements labeled respectively as Lentement (“slowly”) and Bourrée, both preceded by an opening section with no title.
Whether the three movements were played on one occasion or spread over three festive events in the summer of 1717, no one can say for sure. However spotty the history of this bracing instrumental collection from Handel, it has remained his most popular non-vocal work for almost three centuries. The combination of catchy tunes, bracing rhythms and an appealing overall title seems to have endowed it with a high degree of permanence.
Program Notes:
Legend has it that Handel composed his Water Music as a gesture of reconciliation with the Elector of Hanover, the new English monarch, George I. Actually the king was quite fond of Handel and his music, and commissioned him to provide suitable music for a royal water pageant on the Thames River in 1717. In keeping with the outdoor venue, Handel made winds and trumpets predominant because of their greater carrying power al fresco. The rich string presence in the overture betrays its previous use in standard indoor performance (Handel, of course, borrowed heavily from his own earlier works).
No original autograph exists for this splendid masterwork. Various editions led to a complete solo harpsichord version in 1743 on which later, posthumous editions were based. A complete orchestral score was not printed until 1788, almost 30 years after Handel’s demise. Orchestration varies throughout the score; Handel makes selective colorific use of combinations of flutes, oboes, trumpets, bassoons, horns and strings. It was with the Water Music, incidentally, that Handel introduced the use of French horns to an English orchestra.
Water Music consists of three suites, the order of which is often determined by the arranger/conductor. The Suite in F major opens with a French Overture—a regal Largo followed by an energetic fugal Allegro. Movement 2, Adagio e staccato, features oboes weaving a long-breathed melody flowing over slow-moving chords played by the strings. Among the remaining movements, the well-known Air weds majesty to a catchy dotted rhythm. A particularly bouncy Bourrée passes all too quickly, giving way to a vigorous Hornpipe. The Suite concludes with a brilliant, horn-dominated untitled Allegro.
The Suite in G major has but two named movements, a Rigaudon (a lively 17th-century dance in duple meter, played second here) and a Menuet (played fourth). The remaining five sections, as short as half-a-minute, bear no title or tempo indication.
The shortest of the three suites is in D major. The highlights of the suite are two movements labeled respectively as Lentement (“slowly”) and Bourrée, both preceded by an opening section with no title.
Whether the three movements were played on one occasion or spread over three festive events in the summer of 1717, no one can say for sure. However spotty the history of this bracing instrumental collection from Handel, it has remained his most popular non-vocal work for almost three centuries. The combination of catchy tunes, bracing rhythms and an appealing overall title seems to have endowed it with a high degree of permanence.
Category Music / Classical
Species Mouse
Size 120 x 120px
File Size 2.83 MB
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