Handel: Water Music (Complete)

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Description of Handel: Water Music (Complete)

Most of the pieces which make up the Water Music were written for royal water parties on the Thames. Outdoor serenades in general and aquatic serenades in particular were popular in the 18th century. George I, who liked to have water parties on the river, was often attended by a second barge with musicians to provide the entertainment. Spenser's "silver Thames," was one of the main highways in London, and certainly more quiet and pleasant than the streets. Boats were for hire on much the same basis as present-day taxis, and the private barges were luxuriously outfitted. The release from everyday constraints and cares which many feel when on the water, and the unique enhancement of sound provided by its reflection over the water, also must have added to the festive setting for Handel's noble melodies and joyous dances.

The Water Music contains some of Handel's richest orchestral scoring, and requires unusual virtuosity from the brass and woodwind players. Wind instruments were of course ideal for outdoor performance, and Handel, as a practical 18th century musician, made full use of them. In fact, he was evidently using French Horns for the first time in this score. Opportunities for lovely contrasts in tone color are provided by directions for some of the pieces to be played three times, each time with a different orchestration. In the Baroque tradition, phrasing and articulation, dynamics and ornamentation were left to the performers, and it was understood that melodies and harmonic structure would be embellished freely. The edition used in this recording was made by Gerard Schwarz.

Throughout the Water Music, one finds the qualities, and their alchemy, which make Handel's music immediately recognizable to the listener: the simplicity that speaks directly from the heart, the nobility and at times even grandeur, the fundamental joy that is never far away, the sense of inexhaustible energy, the warmth that pervades what was called in the 18th century "the open and manly style of Handel," and the melody which flows through every mood and form. As Newman Flower wrote, "He caught the moods of the world and set them to song." A citizen of the world in his musical and cultural background as well as in his outlook, a composer Beethoven and Haydn admired as perhaps no other, Handel was, as Herbert Weinstock put it, "one of the most majestic, tender, and human voices ever lifted in praise of life, of love, of beauty and of the art of music."

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