Program Notes: Handel Music for the Royal Fireworks

GEORG PHILLIP TELEMANN 
Overture Suite in C major Wassermusik — Hamburger Ebb' und Fluth (Water Music — Hamburg Ebb and Flow) 
BORN: March 24, 1681, in Magdeburg, Germany 
DIED: June 25, 1767, in Hamburg, Germany 
WORK COMPOSED: c.1722 
WORLD PREMIERE: April 6, 1723, in Hamburg, Germany for the Centennial celebration of the Hamburg Admiralty.  

Even during his lifetime, Georg Phillip Telemann was considered one of the greatest composers of the early 18th century. His extraordinary output — which included 12 cantata cycles (more than a thousand cantatas all together), 30 operas, 46 Passions, a large number of oratorios and other church compositions, as well as hundreds of overtures, concertos and chamber works — solidified his formidable presence amongst his contemporaries. In many instances, Telemann’s music was viewed as a model of form and style, his compositions widely known by audiences and burgeoning musicians alike. Unlike Handel and J.S. Bach, Telemann was not known as a virtuoso, subsequently making his music more accessible to both performers and listeners. All three of these Baroque music titans nurtured meaningful professional and personal relationships with one another. Telemann and Handel maintained a rich correspondence throughout their lives, while Bach asked Telemann to be the godfather of his son, Carl Phillip Emmanuel (later a composer of significant influence in his own right).  

In 1721, Telemann was invited to work in Hamburg as music director of its five largest churches in addition to serving as Kantor of the Johanneum Lateinschule, a prestigious position that he held until his death. His first years there were plagued by his wife’s infidelity and her gambling debts, which amounted to a sum larger than Telemann’s annual income. Yet, with the support of his friends and numerous successful music and poetry publications, Telemann was saved from bankruptcy.  

In 1722, shortly after starting work in Hamburg, he was tasked with writing music for a celebration to commemorate the centennial of the Hamburg Admiralty. The Hamburg Admiralty was founded in 1623 to manage maritime affairs and protect Hamburg’s trade and shipping interests, especially given the challenges posed by North African pirates. The Port of Hamburg, which can trace its history back to the ninth century, was not only an economic engine, but a living symbol of the city’s connection to the wider world. It shaped the cityscape, the culture and the attitude towards the life of the Hanseatic people and made Hamburg a maritime metropolis that proudly called itself “The Gateway to the World.”  

Telemann produced two works for the Hamburg Admiralty celebration, which took place on April 6, 1723, and premiered them for an audience of the city’s most prominent merchants, sea captains and councilors: the Hamburger Admiralitätsmusik (Hamburg Admiralty Music), a secular oratorio for soloists, choir and orchestra, and Wassermusik — Hamburger Ebb' und Fluth (Water Music — Hamburg Ebb and Flow).  

To capture the admiralty’s significance in the overture suite, Telemann split the work into 10 movements that each reflect an aspect of Hamburg’s geographical location and use water deities to evoke the work’s nautical themes.  

The Ouverture starts slowly before the pace picks up to an energetic Allegro meant to represent the constant flow of water, with intricate woodwinds complementing vigorous strings that slow to mark the water calming and close on a perfect resolution chord. The sleeping Thetis represents the sea goddess mother of Achilles, with calm strings and soft dynamics, while the third movement, Thetis awakes, brings the energy back with a stately bourrée dance that rises in intensity. The amorous Neptune finds the sea god in love, the rich strings and solemn tempo bringing drama to the music, the theme passed between all the sections of the orchestra before it ends quietly.  

Playful naiads is a light-hearted fifth movement that pays tribute to water nymphs with call-and-response passages bouncing between the strings and woodwinds, while the bright-hued sixth movement, The flirting Triton, passes its highly decorated theme dramatically between the lower strings, the woodwinds and then to the upper strings, ultimately bringing the ensemble together. The stormy Aeolus looks to the blustery keeper of the winds, its driving strings meant to represent the wind’s movement and tempestuous nature. Its triumphant conclusion is immediately followed by The pleasant Zephir, inspired by the suite’s last deity, the God of the West Wind, with a buoyant melody carried throughout the gently rocking eighth movement. Tidal ebb and flow waxes musically on the tides of Hamburg with great musical flourishes and dramatic changes in dynamic. The celebratory finale, The merry sailing folk, turns the focus on Hamburg’s cheerful sailors with a joyous, instantly recognizable theme. 

GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL 
Concerto in D minor for Organ and Orchestra, Op. 7, No. 4 
BORN: February 23, 1685, in Halle (Saale), Germany  
DIED: April 14, 1759, in London, United Kingdom  
WORK COMPOSED: 1744 
WORLD PREMIERE: February 14, 1746, as an interlude during the premiere of An Occasional Oratorio. 

George Frideric Handel achieved lasting renown and influence well beyond the Baroque era. Although his popularity eclipsed that of J. S. Bach’s in their lifetime, the two composers each established themselves in musical history for largely different reasons. While Bach is best known for his intricate counterpoint and sacred music, Handel represents a truly unique international perspective within the 18th century and is known for his extraordinary operas and English oratorios. Imbued with the grace of Italian vocal writing, an easy fluency in German contrapuntal technique and an English choral tradition inherited from Henry Purcell, Handel wrote in more forms and with far more variety than any of his contemporaries.  

Known as an exceptional performer, Handel essentially invented the solo organ concerto for his own use at performances of his oratorios. These organ interludes became quite popular and were advertised features of his oratorio concerts. Six organ concertos, cataloged as Opus 7, were published after Handel’s death in 1761. A complete autographed score does not exist and it is unlikely that Handel compiled the collection himself. We can assume, however, that the Concerto No. 4 was the “new organ concerto” advertised for the premiere of Handel’s Occasional Oratorio in 1746.  

The Fourth Concerto is written in four movements. It starts with a noble elegiac Adagio, with passages alternating between divided cellos, bassoons and the solo organ. It is followed by an energetic and majestic Allegro that is a clever transformation of an Air by Telemann. The third movement is slow and unscored, simply marked Organo ad libitum. This would have been completely improvised by Handel at the performance. It is common for contemporary performers to insert Handelian works into this movement. Starting immediately, a fleeting yet dramatic arrangement of Handel’s Concerto Grosso Op. 3, No. 6, serves as the finale.  

JOHANN ADOLF HASSE 
Sinfonia in G minor, Op. 5, No. 6 
BORN: [Baptized] March 25, 1699, in Bergedorf near Hamburg, Holy Roman Empire 
DIED: December 16, 1783, in Venice, Republic of Venice 
WORK COMPOSED: 1740 
WORLD PREMIERE: 1740 

Johann Adolf Hasse was known as a composer of operas, particularly opera seria. Dedicated to the work of librettist and friend Pietro Metastasio, and heavily influenced by the preferences of his wife and soprano Faustina Bordoni, Hasse gained immense popularity for his operatic output. Although he was born near Hamburg and served as the Kapellmeister at the Dresden court, Hasse became a champion of Italian musical style. So much so that Italians gave him the nickname il caro Sassone (“the dear Saxon”).  

The sinfonia, or symphony as it would come to be known, had humble beginnings as a relatively short instrumental work in the 17th century that served as an introduction, interlude or postlude to larger works like operas, oratorios or cantatas. By the early 18th century, as the form evolved, it was often represented in three contrasting parts: fast—slow—fast. Part of his Opus 5, which included six different sinfonias in various keys, Hasse’s Sinfonia in G minor followed this form while challenging established expectations. 

The first movement, marked Allegro, embodies the Sturm und Drang (storm and stress) style, which conveys intense emotions and dramatic action. The subsequent second movement, marked Andante, provides a welcome respite before the last movement’s fiery Allegro. This piece is a prime example of Hasse’s ability to create emotionally compelling and structurally refined music, placing him as a key figure in the transition from Baroque to Classical styles.  

GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL 
Music for the Royal Fireworks, HWV 351 
WORK COMPOSED: 1749 
WORLD PREMIERE: April 27, 1749, for the Royal fireworks display in London’s Green Park. 

By the mid-18th century, Handel was the preeminent composer of Great Britain. Having composed both Water Music for King George I in 1717 and Zadok the Priest for the coronation of King George II in 1727, Handel was no stranger to the royal family and court. When the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle was signed in October of 1748, it marked an end to the War of the Austrian Succession and inspired the most spectacular and widespread fireworks celebration Europe had ever seen. George II, the last British monarch to lead his troops into war, imported the Chevalier Servandoni to design the fireworks display and commissioned the 64-year-old Handel to compose music for the event.  

Although Handel originally intended to write music for a full orchestra with strings, winds and percussion, the king, who personally oversaw the preparation of the event, wanted a large ensemble of only “warlike instruments,” limiting the score to winds and percussion. The scope of both the fireworks display and the music was massive. The “fireworks machine,” which took five months to construct, measured 114 feet high and 410 feet wide and contained over 10,000 rockets. By comparison, Handel planned for an ensemble with at least 24 oboes, nine horns, nine trumpets, three sets of timpani, 12 bassoons, a contrabassoon and a serpent (a distant ancestor of the tuba). On April 21, six days before the official event, against Handel’s wishes, a rehearsal was planned in Vauxhall Gardens and made open to the public. An estimated 12,000 people attended, which created a traffic jam that shut down the London Bridge for over three hours.  

The official performance took place on April 26 in Green Park. The fireworks display was a disaster. The weather was rainy, causing many misfires, and in the middle of the show, the right pavilion caught fire. A stray rocket flew into the audience and ignited a woman’s clothes while two soldiers were badly burned, a third was blinded and a fourth lost a hand. Politician and writer Horace Walpole said the display “by no means answered the expense, the length of preparation and the expectation that been raised.”  

Fortunately, the spectacle of the evening was not lost, thanks to Handel’s music. The brilliant and lengthy Overture, which forms the bulk of the suite, created a massive sound, with the winds tripled rather than doubled. Beginning with the characteristic pompous dotted rhythms of the French overture, Handel chose to break custom by then writing an allegro in the style of the Italian concerto grosso rather than the customary fugue. The overture is followed by a series of smaller movements, with those capturing the spirit of the celebration located at the heart of the work: La paix (peace), represented by the gentle lilt of the siciliana, and La réjouissance (rejoicing), which returns to the spirit of the initial fanfares.  

Handel was prompted to re-score the suite for full orchestra the following month for a charitable performance at the Foundling Hospital. It is this lush orchestration, with added strings, that is usually performed in the concert hall, including our own on this night.  

All notes by Christopher T.F. Hanson © 2025