“In July 1717, King George I of England was feeling heat from an opposing political faction gathering around his son, the Prince of Wales,” reports Tom Huizenga on Monday (7/17) at National Public Radio. “The King must have thought: ‘How can I turn the spotlight back on me?’ What about a boating party along the Thames? With an orchestra! The King’s boating blowout gave birth to a smash hit—Water Music, composed by George Frideric Handel for his majesty’s royal ride up the Thames. ‘This was a new thing,’ says conductor Nicholas McGegan, ‘to have quite such elegant and organized music in a barge towing behind the royal one, where the King sat with his two mistresses and watched the world go by.’ McGegan is marking the 300th anniversary of Water Music by conducting the piece at a dry dock in Hull, England later this week.… ‘Handel … takes stuff from France, Germany, Italy and mixes it all up. It’s very much pan-European music,’ [says McGegan]…. Handel … also had to throw something very English into the mix. He came up with the ‘Alla Hornpipe,’ a variation on a dance that became Water Music’s signature tune.”
Posted July 20, 2017
