Water Music, Suite No. 2 in D, HWV 349
5 recordings · 13 min
In the Hall
- I. AllegroMarine Chamber Orchestra of the United States Marine Band; Major Michelle Rakers, conductor · 29 January 20172:05
The Allegro opens Handel’s Water Music Suite No. 2 in D, HWV 349. Trumpets begin with a fanfare and the horns follow over a running bass, and the two groups play separately until the whole orchestra takes up one tune.
Listening notes · joins
- Opening, trumpets and horns
The trumpets play first. Oboes and strings follow with quick semiquavers, and then the horns enter, with bassoon and bass running beneath them. While one group plays, Handel keeps the others silent.
- Closing tutti
In the closing passage, trumpets, horns, oboes, second violins and violas play a dotted tune together. First violins play semiquavers around it, and the bass keeps moving.
- Closing Adagio for strings
After the brass finish, Handel adds a short Adagio for strings and continuo, with rests in all the wind parts. It consists of six slow chords. The first violins play A♯ and D♯.
Joins
- Rests after the horn fanfare
The horns finish their fanfare over moving bassoon and bass. Rests follow, and then the orchestra returns with short D major chords and rising figures. Trumpets and horns now play the same phrase as the oboes and strings.
- Trumpets lead the next phrase
The short chordal exchange ends with another rest. The trumpets lead the next phrase, and the oboes and violins reply with D major arpeggios while the bass rests. The horns then take over, with bassoon and continuo moving beneath them.
- Exchanges shorten to one bar each
In bars 22–28 the horns finish their phrase over running bass quavers. Trumpets, oboes and upper strings follow with a short turning figure, and the figure passes straight back to the horns and bass. The exchanges between the two groups shorten to one bar each, and the Allegro pulse continues through each change of group.
- The trumpet phrase returns
The trumpet-led passage returns in D major in bars 29–36, repeating the pattern of bars 15–22. Oboes and violins again play arpeggios while the bass rests, then the horns enter over bassoon and continuo. The quick string figures come between these entries in the same order as before.
- Horns, then the whole orchestra
In bars 35–38 (Hallische Händel-Ausgabe), the horns play above the running bassoon and continuo while the trumpets, oboes and strings rest. The full orchestra then enters with the dotted D major tune. First violins add semiquavers, and the bass continues its running line beneath the brass.
- From D major tutti to string Adagio
The D major tutti ends with short chords separated by rests. Handel marks the remaining passage for strings and continuo Adagio, with six chords spread across three bars. Trumpets, horns and oboes are silent. The first violins introduce A♯ and D♯ into the slow-moving harmony.
- II. Alla hornpipeMarine Chamber Orchestra of the United States Marine Band; Major Michelle Rakers, conductor · 29 January 20173:49
The Alla hornpipe is from Handel’s Water Music, Suite No. 2 in D, HWV 349. Oboes and strings play the hornpipe tune, and the trumpets and horns then take it up in turn; the brass rest through the middle section and return in D major.
Listening notes · joins
- Opening, oboes and strings
The hornpipe is in 3/2, with oboes and strings playing the tune. Trumpets and horns rest for ten bars. When they enter, each pair plays alone, the trumpets first and then the horns.
- Repeat of the first section
The first section is repeated, from the oboe-and-string tune to the final D major chord. The brass again play their own separate passages.
- Royal barge on the Thames, 1717
On 17 July 1717 about fifty musicians played beside George I’s barge on the Thames. The king liked Handel’s music so much that he asked for it to be played three times. Supper in Chelsea began at one in the morning.
- Middle section without brass
The middle section, bars 40–74, is scored for oboes, bassoon and strings. Trumpets and horns rest for all thirty-five bars. The violins play running figures beneath and around the wind tune.
- Da capo return
At the Da capo the D major hornpipe returns from the beginning. The oboes and strings play first, and the two brass pairs follow in turn. The opening section is played once and stops at the mark Fine.
Joins
- D major cadence and return to bar 1
The full orchestra reaches a held D major chord, with D in the bass, and the repeat sign follows the cadence. The repeat returns to the opening tune for oboes and strings. Trumpets and horns rest again for ten bars, then make their separate entries in the same order as before.
- Middle section without brass
The repeated first section closes on D major. Trumpets and horns stop after the double bar, and oboes and strings play a new phrase above the bassoon and continuo. The first violins soon add running quavers. The brass staves stay empty through the whole middle section.
- Strings alone before the da capo
Oboes and bassoon stop. Violins continue the running figures above a sustained bass, with viola and second violin filling in the harmony. After these eight bars for strings and continuo comes the written da capo, and the orchestra returns to D major and the opening tune.
- Da capo brings back D major
The strings finish the middle section and the da capo returns to the opening D major tune. Oboes and bassoon rejoin the strings, and the trumpets and horns follow later. The opening section is played again and stops at its D major cadence, where the score is marked Fine.
- III. LentementMarine Chamber Orchestra of the United States Marine Band; Major Michelle Rakers, conductor · 29 January 20172:16
In the slow dance of the D major Water Music suite, trumpets and horns hold long notes beneath the oboes and violins. The brass rest during a middle strain, and then the opening returns.
Listening notes · joins
- Lentement, brass sustained notes
Lentement means slowly. Oboes and violins play a tune in three beats, and beneath it trumpets and horns take turns holding long notes. The bass moves steadily, with figures that tell the continuo player which chords to supply.
- Second strain, woodwind and strings
The second strain begins with oboes and bassoon, and the strings join their phrase. Trumpets and horns rest for fifteen bars. Woodwind and strings play the dance without the long brass notes.
- Da capo return of the first strain
Da capo brings back the opening strain, with the brass holding long notes. The final D major chord carries a fermata, and the mark Fine ends the movement there.
Joins
- Fermata and repeat of the first strain
The first strain ends on a D major chord, with a fermata over every part. The repeat sign takes the players back to the upbeat. Oboes, strings and bass play the same tune again, and the trumpets and horns hold their long notes.
- Woodwinds after the D major fermata
The repeated strain ends on its D major fermata. Oboes and bassoon begin the next phrase while the strings rest, and the strings then join them. Trumpets and horns have no notes in this fifteen-bar strain, and the woodwinds play the opening alone.
- Da capo, return of the brass
The second strain closes with oboes, strings and bass together. At the Da capo the orchestra goes back to the first upbeat and the D major opening, and the trumpets and horns play again. The first strain is repeated as far as the fermata chord, where the Fine ends the dance.
- IV. BourréeMarine Chamber Orchestra of the United States Marine Band; Major Michelle Rakers, conductor · 29 January 20171:16
The Bourrée, fourth movement of the Water Music Suite No. 2 in D, HWV 349, is a twelve-bar dance in D major made of a short strain and a longer second strain, each repeated. Michelle Rakers and the Marine Chamber Orchestra play the whole dance three times.
Listening notes · joins
- Form: upbeat and two strains
The dance opens on a single upbeat. A four-bar phrase is played and repeated, followed by an eight-bar phrase, also repeated. The tune moves in quick, even notes over a steady bass line.
- The bourrée, a French dance
A bourrée is a French folk dance of quick, skipping steps, associated in particular with the Auvergne, where the dancers sometimes wear wooden clogs. Handel’s Water Music places French dances beside English ones, and the programme note for this concert calls the hornpipe “Purcellian”. The Bourrée is one of the French dances.
- Suspension before the final cadence
The dance begins its third complete pass. At the end of the longer strain, an upper note is held over the bass and then falls a step, the 4–3 suspension figured beneath the stave in bars 11–12. The harmony then resolves to D major.
Joins
- D major cadence, then the upbeat
A 4–3 suspension delays the last cadence of the eight-bar strain. The bass reaches D and the upper parts hold the D major chord. The upbeat then starts the dance again, with no linking passage between the two rounds.
- Third pass through the Bourrée
The second pass closes on the same D major chord. The upbeat brings back the opening, and the short and long strains are played a final time. Both keep their repeats, and the bass returns to D at the final cadence.
- V. MinuetMarine Chamber Orchestra of the United States Marine Band; Major Michelle Rakers, conductor · 29 January 20173:15
The Marine Chamber Orchestra ends its Water Music programme with this twenty-four-bar minuet in D major from Suite No. 2, HWV 349. The orchestra plays both strains with their repeats and then plays the whole minuet again.
Listening notes · joins
- Opening on repeated F♯
The melody begins by repeating F♯, three crotchets in a bar. Below it, the bass steps through D major. The upper parts have short runs and dotted rhythms over a steady three-beat pulse.
- Second strain, brass resting
The second strain begins with the brass resting. Oboes and strings play three bars on their own before trumpets and horns join them. The bass moves without a break as the brass enter.
- Arnold’s full score, London, 1788
In London in 1788, seventy-one years after the royal river party, Samuel Arnold published Water Music in full score. The D major minuet comes last in his edition. Beneath its final chord is the word Finis.
- Return of the minuet
The orchestra returns to the beginning and plays the two strains once each, without repeats. The repeated F♯s come back, and the longer second strain closes on a D major chord.
- Royal barge party, 17 July 1717
On 17 July 1717 George I travelled up the Thames to Chelsea, with fifty players on a barge beside his. Friedrich Bonet, the Prussian resident, reported to Berlin that neither the Prince nor the Princess of Wales took part. In November the king, who had quarrelled with his son, ejected him from the palace.
Joins
- Moving bass beneath held chords
The upper parts hold D major while the bass outlines the chord in crotchets, D–F♯–A. After the repeat of the first strain, Handel begins the longer second strain with oboes, strings and bass. Trumpets and horns rest for three bars, then rejoin.
- The D major dance returns
The sixteen-bar strain ends on a held D major chord with D in the bass. The orchestra goes back to the opening repeated F♯ notes and the three-beat bass. On this final pass each strain is played once.
- From the first strain to the second
The first strain ends with the upper parts holding D major over the moving bass. The second strain follows directly, without a repeat of the first. In its first three bars the trumpets and horns rest. The full scoring then returns, and the bass reaches D at the close.