Handel WATER MUSIC & ROYAL FIREWORKS

Today, these two royally decreed masterworks are among the most popular Baroque instrumental works performed and recorded. Grove’s Dictionary calls the Water Music splendidly inventive and sonorous and concludes that “the Music for the Royal Fireworks is still grander”; the Schwann Record Catalog lists more than 20 recordings of the two works.

Now, in one remarkably affordable volume, here are the full scores reprinted without alteration from the authoritative Deutsche Händelgesellschaft edition of 1886. Musicians, students, and musicologists can finally study and enjoy both scores with Handel’s final arrangements and orchestration untouched by modern rescoring or editing of any kind: Water Music incorporates at least two and probably three suites from around 1717 composed in different keys (F, D, and C) for different groups of instruments; Music for the Royal Fireworks (1749) specifies 18 brass instruments, a large woodwind (including double bassoon), three timpani, and a powerful string section.

Any musician or fan of the Baroque or Handel in particular will welcome this exciting, inexpensive playmg edition of two of the best-loved works of the period— today more popular than ever. Large, readable noteheads, ample margins, opaque paper and permanent binding make this a fundamental addition to every musician’s library and absolutely essential for the Handel devotee.

Unabridged Dover (1986) republication of the works “Water Music” and “Music for the Royal Fireworks” from Volume 47 of Georg Friedrich Händel’s Werke as originally published by the Deutsche Händelgesellschaft in Leipzig in 1886. Edited by Friedrich Chrysander. v + 86pp. 8 1/8 x 11 Paperbound.

ISBN 0-486-25070-9