There is a story that George Frideric Handel's
magnificent Water Music was originally intended as a
peace offering to King George I. In 1710, prior to his
ascension to the British throne, the then Elector of
Hanover had given the rather vagabond composer a
generous position at his court; but Handel never
actually fulfilled his duties. After the Elector
relocated to London, the composer was more than a
little reluctant to face his old master. As the story
goes, it was not until 1717, when Handel ...(+)
There is a story that George Frideric Handel's
magnificent Water Music was originally intended as a
peace offering to King George I. In 1710, prior to his
ascension to the British throne, the then Elector of
Hanover had given the rather vagabond composer a
generous position at his court; but Handel never
actually fulfilled his duties. After the Elector
relocated to London, the composer was more than a
little reluctant to face his old master. As the story
goes, it was not until 1717, when Handel seized the
opportunity to provide some musical entertainment for
the King's now-famous barge party on the River Thames,
that the composer was restored in the royal eye; George
I was completely enamored with the Water Music (asking
for the hour-long work to be repeated three times and
not returning to the palace until the wee hours) and
all past transgressions were immediately forgotten.
There was indeed a grand party on the Thames on July
17, 1717, during which some of Handel's music (possibly
but not definitely the Water Music) was played, but the
rest of the story is likely highly fictionalized.
It appears that Handel drew upon three already-composed
suites of instrumental music, each scored for slightly
different instrumental forces, when putting together
the Water Music; the Water Music Suite No. 1 in F
major, HWV 348, scored for a pair of oboes, bassoon,
two horns, two violins, and basso continuo, is the
largest of the three, comprising ten more-or-less
separate pieces.
The Overture that begins the first Water Music Suite is
in two large sections. The stately and eminently
restrained exuberance of the first and slower section,
built entirely out of a single ornamented pick-up
gesture, finally boils over into the vivacious,
partially fugato, allegro portion of the piece. There
are two printed endings for the Overture: one ending in
a full and rich cadence to tonic, the other climaxing
on a dramatic half cadence.
Next up is an Adagio e staccato (the heading is
apparently Handel's), and then a large three-part
movement that moves from an "allegro" (not Handel's
heading) built on a regal, fanfare-like, repeated-note
motive in triple meter, to a Corelli-derived Andate in
D minor and then back to the allegro "da capo." If we
count this Allegro-Andante-Allegro as a single
movement, there are really only nine pieces in the
Suite.
A delightful minuet (sometimes called simply Andante or
Moderato) precedes the famous Air, which is marked by
Handel to be played three times. Another minuet and
trio, this time starting off with a robust horn duet,
follows.
The Bourrée, like the Air, is to be played three
times; on the second time around the two oboes take the
place of the two violin sections, and on the third the
two contingents join forces.
After a Hornpipe, Handel finishes the Suite with a
substantial fast movement (not titled, but written in
ordinary Baroque allegro style) not in F major, but
rather in its relative minor, perhaps in an effort to
make more seamless the transition between this Suite
and the following one in D major (HWV 349).
Source: AllMusic
(https://www.allmusic.com/composition/water-music-suite
-no-1-for-orchestra-in-f-major-hwv-348-mc0002368487).
Although originally created for Large orchestra, I
created this arrangement of Water Music Suite in F
Major (HWV 348 No. 1) for Small Orchestra (Flutes,
Oboes, Bb Clarinets, Bassoon, Contrabassoon, Bb
Trumpets, French Horns, Trombones, F Tubas, Timpani,
Violins, Violas, Cellos & Bass).
SHEET MUSIC