The BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Elim Chan will perform the Overture from Handel’s Music for the Royal Fireworks on the First Night of the 2024 BBC Proms. But what is the Music for the Royal Fireworks?
What is Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks?
Music for the Royal Fireworks was the second of Baroque composer George Frideric Handel’s great works composed specifically for outdoor occasions, the first being his famous Water Music.
When was the Royal Fireworks Music first performed?
The work was commissioned by George II in 1749 to celebrate the Treaty of Aix-la -Chapelle which ended the eight-year War of Austrian Succession. Its official premiere took place in London’s Green Park.
Did the Music for the Royal Fireworks accompany a fireworks display?
Somewhat surprisingly, Handel’s grandiose music, conceived for huge instrumental forces, made relatively little impact at its premiere. This was partly because the planned accompanying ostentatious fireworks display ultimately proved to be something of a damp squib.
Fortunately, the work had received a far more enthusiastic response a week earlier when an audience of 12,000 attended its first public rehearsal in Vauxhall Gardens.
What is the work's structure?
Music for the Royal Fireworks is a suite in five movements. Handel opens the work with a rousing Overture in the French Style that alternates slow and fast sections.
Following this come a delightful Bourrée and two elegant Menuets.
These frame two appropriately named movements, ‘La Paix’ (Peace), a slow pastoral Largo with characteristically gentle Sicilian rhythms, and ‘La Réjouissance’ (Rejoicing), a marvellously upbeat fanfare-like character piece.
What instruments feature in Music for the Royal Fireworks?
King George II specified that the piece should be played by a military band without stringed instruments. Handel duly scored the music for nine trumpets, nine horns, 24 oboes, 12 bassoons, one contrabassoon, one serpent, six kettledrums, and two side drums.
But he later added strings for the first indoor performance.
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What was the Austrian Succession War?
As so often seemed to be the case with conflicts in this period, the issue was a complex one.
The War of the Austrian Succession began in 1740 when Charles VI died in October 1740, leaving his Habsburg territories in a fragile state. Despite his efforts to ensure that everything would pass on to his daughter Maria Theresa with as little dispute as possible, Austria’s neighbours started to lick their lips and see how they could turn the succession to their advantage.
In December, Prussia invaded Silesia, sparking a conflict that soon saw them join in an alliance with France (who had their eyes on the Austrian Netherlands), Bavaria, Spain, Sweden and Saxony. Coming out in support of Austria, meanwhile, were Russia, the United Provinces and, especially, Britain – as he was also the Elector of Hanover, George II was understandably keen to keep his home patch out of Prussian paws.
Though Prussia and Austria made peace in 1742, Austria and Britain continued to wage war against the French, with matters inevitably spreading to French and British colonial territories. The following six years of conflict saw, among other things, George II himself briefly lead the British army, becoming the last British monarch to take to the battlefield in person.
Eventually, in 1748, peace came with some unconvincing territorial bargaining at the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, but it was an uneasy one – by 1756, they were all at it again in the Seven Years War.