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- Handel - The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba
- Handel - Xerxes - Largo (Ombra Mai Fù)
Music for the Royal Fireworks
The Music for the Royal Fireworks (HWV 351) is a wind band suite composed by George Frideric Handel in 1749 under contract of George II of Great Britain for the fireworks in London's Green Park on 27 April 1749. It was to celebrate the end of the War of the Austrian Succession and the signing of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748.
The performing musicians were in a specially-constructed building that had been designed by Servandoni, a theatre designer. The music provided a background for the royal fireworks that were designed by Thomas Desguliers, son of the cleric and scientist John Theophilus Desaguliers. However, the display was not as successful as the music itself: the enormous wooden building caught fire after the collapse of a bas relief of George II. However, the music had been performed publicly six days earlier, on 21 April 1749 when there was a full rehearsal of the music at Vauxhall Gardens. Over twelve thousand people, each paying 2/6, rushed for it, causing a three-hour traffic jam of carriages after the main route to the area south of the river was closed due to the collapse of the central arch of newly-built London Bridge.
When published, Handel wished to present the work as an overture, but the Crown had it given the title "Music for the Royal Fireworks" as propaganda in favour of an otherwise unpopular Treaty and monarch.
Music and instrumentation
Music for the Royal Fireworks opens with a French overture and includes a bourrée and two minuets.
The work is in five movements:
1. Ouverture: Adagio, Allegro, Lentement, Allegro
2. Bourrée
3. La Paix: Largo alla siciliana
4. La Réjouissance: Allegro
5. Menuets I and II
Recordings
There are many recordings. Handel's "Water Music" is often paired with the "Music for the Royal Fireworks" as both were written for outdoor performance. Together, these works constitute Handel's most famous music for what we would now consider the orchestra. Older recordings tend to use arrangements of Handel's score for the modern orchestra, for example the arrangements by Hamilton Harty and Leopold Stokowski. More recent recordings tend to use more historically informed performance methods appropriate for baroque music and often use authentic instruments.
This music was performed for the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II on June 1, 2002, at the Buckingham Palace gardens, complete with fireworks of course.
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Music for the Royal Fireworks.
