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Rating: «Every Englishman believes that Händel now holds an important position in heaven. If that's the case, le bon Dieu should feel in front of him like Louis XIII before Richelieu.»
(George Bernard Shaw)
The two works I am examining were written by the Baroque composer Georg Friedrich Händel to be performed outdoors. The Maestro composed the "Water Music" for a party held on the Thames in 1717 (hence the name "Music on the Water"), the orchestra was placed on a boat that followed the royal vessel (these musical river trips were done multiple times over the years). Meanwhile, the "Music for the Royal Fireworks" was composed in 1749 to celebrate the conclusion of the war of succession (Austrian/English clearly in favor of the latter). The orchestra in this case was placed in a park in London, where a sumptuous wooden façade of a castle had been specially constructed. During the evening there were firework displays (hence the title of this second work).
After this brief historical introduction, let's move on to the music.
The "Water Music - Suite No. 1 in F Major, HWV 348" is a baroque suite in the form of a dance based on a single key (in this case F Major). The entire work is composed of three suites of pieces; besides HWV 348, there are the Suite No. 2 in D Major (HWV 349) and the Suite No. 3 in G Major (HWV 350). I also remind you that the composition, as we know it today, was compiled about thirty years after Händel's death, so we do not know exactly how the Maestro had arranged the sequence of the various pieces.
The instrumentation includes all the main baroque music instruments except for the harpsichord, for obvious reasons, it could not be transported on the boats.
"The Suite HWV 348" consists of ten movements (in the version I am referring to, they become nine: the "Allegro" and the "Andante" are combined into a single track).
From the opening, one notices the baroque grandeur of the composition, musical ornaments of great charm, almost making it possible to glimpse the boats parading on the Thames. The second movement, with its serene and calm progression, seems to describe a day of bucolic bliss.
The third movement ("Allegro") is a splendid back-and-forth between the winds and the strings, highlighting one of the characteristics of the Maestro's music, namely the spatiality of sound. The fourth movement ("Andante") is also a dialogue between instruments, but here the sound is more sensual, another Handelian peculiarity. The fifth movement is of great cantability. Thus, we arrive at the delightful and soothing harmony of the "Aria." The "Minuet" recalls noble dances with a decidedly energetic and determined rhythm. With the "Bourrée," the Maestro instead takes us in a single leap directly to a popular dance; the movement is playful and frenetic (with the theme repeating three times but with different use of instrumentation). The "Hornpipe" is also an entertaining dance inspired by folk music. However, with the last movement, Händel leads us back to the grand balls of the great courts, thus concluding the magnificent "Suite No. 1." The already mentioned "Suite No. 2" and "No. 3" are also of very high level.
Another suite of great significance is the "Music for the Royal Fireworks in D Major, HWV 351." I begin by examining the first version, which was performed outdoors in Green Park, London, on April 27, 1749. The orchestral ensemble is imposing, the wind section includes: 24 oboes, 12 bassoons, a contrabassoon, 9 trumpets, 9 French horns, and the massive percussion section: 3 timpani and various drums, all supported by typically baroque continuo chords.
The "Ouverture" immediately introduces us to the sparkling bursts of fireworks described through the thunderous sound of the percussion, but after three seconds, here comes the theme introduced by the winds, Händel's airy power is overwhelming, and even the great Ludovico van* an admirer of the Baroque Maestro, knew it well. This first movement is of great impact with the airs intertwining in a lively and cheerful play dictated by the brilliant chromaticism of the brass. The second brief movement "Bourée" is a festive dance (as occurred in the "Water Music"). "La Paix" is instead a moment of serene dance, of tranquility and anticipation, ready to (re)explode with all its momentum in the following dance movement "La Réjouissance." The suite ends with two strong impact "Minuets", fitting to crown the sumptuous royalty of this composition that makes us enter the court of George II directly on the red carpet.
The substantial differences of the second version are the addition of strings, at the expense of a less rich ensemble of winds and percussion, thus reducing the sound volume; nevertheless, this too is an absolute jewel.
Among the reference versions, I highly recommend the readings by Trevor Pinnock with his The English Concert (also note that the version of the "Water Music" conducted by him is arranged and performed also with the harpsichord)
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* For the more distracted, I am obviously referring to Beethoven.
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