1717day.year
King George I of Great Britain sails down the River Thames with a barge of 50 musicians, where George Frideric Handel's Water Music is premiered.
In 1717, King George I travelled down the Thames in a musical barge to debut Handel’s Water Music.
On July 17, 1717, King George I of Great Britain commissioned a floating concert aboard a royal barge on the River Thames. A fifty-piece ensemble performed George Frideric Handel’s newly composed Water Music for the monarch and his guests. The event was both a display of royal pageantry and a promotional spectacle for the composer. It helped establish Handel’s reputation in London and inspired a lifelong engagement between the king and the arts. Water Music remains one of Handel’s most celebrated orchestral works and a landmark in Baroque music history.
1717
George I of Great Britain
River Thames
George Frideric Handel
Water Music