George Frideric Handel was born in 1685 in Halle, Germany and died in 1759 in London, England. In Handel’s time, today’s Germany was part of the Holy Roman Empire.

Handel had been living in London for seven years when he was asked By King George I to provide music for a performance that would take place on a barge. It is rumoured that in 1717, when the performance took place, King George was feeling pressured by his impatient and ambitious heir, the future King George II.

King George I decided a big splash was just the thing to remind his subjects that he was alive and well. People lined the banks of the river Thames to watch the event and it is said that King George enjoyed the music so much, he asked for it to be repeated three times.

The music performed that day, was music drawn from three suites that are known as Water Music.

Handel was provided with an orchestra of 50 musicians and the music was mainly a collection of short dance movements, a popular musical form at that time. Allegro (da capo) is the third movement of Water Music Suite in F Major, the first suite of three.