Water Music
G. F. Handel
Background

Composed during the Baroque Era 1600 – 1750

The suite was a common form/structure that
composers used at this time.

A suite was a collection of dances

Each individual dance was usually in two parts
binary form AB or in three parts Ternary form ABA
Standard dances in a suite

Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, Gigue and
sometimes the Minuet, Gavotte and Boureé
Water Music

This particular suite uses five movements
1.
2.
3.
Allegro
Hornpipe
Minuet
Lentement
4.
5.
Boureé
Contemporary of Handel

J.S. Bach would be a composer that you might know
as a contemporary of Handel that composed music
in the Baroque Era.

Tonight Listen on youtube to the first movement of
the Cello Suite No. 1 as an example of Baroque
composing.
Junior Cert

For the JC you only have to study two movements
from the Water Music Suite.

The Hornpipe and the Minuet.

Lets listen to both of them today and get a flavor for
the basic musical features of these movements
Musical Features?

How does Water Music use the following elements
of music in your opinion?

Melody

Rhythm

Texture

Harmony

Structure/form
Hornpipe

This movement is broken into two main different
Sections with the form being ABA

The first A is called the statement then the B is called
an episode while the A is then repeated
The A section (The
Statement)

A strong and confident opening melody that has 5 bars in
total.

There is a strong sense of rhythm with leaps and steps
ascending up to the climax of the phrase.

In bars 6 -11 there is a descending melody on violins and
oboes.

In bar 11 the trumpets play the opening melody again but it is
now only 4 bars long. French horns then play the melody
again but are answered by strings, oboe and trumpets.

Then at bar 22 to 27 we get the strings again playing at a much
higher register while the oboe play a countermelody
Countermelody

All music is about texture, whether it’s a monk
singing on his own in a church, Alex turner singing
with the Arctic Monkeys or Handel’s water music
they all share the element of texture in common.

We have three words to describe texture in music or
in other words we have three types of musical
texture.

Monophonic, Homophonic or Polyphonic.

Let’s listen to understand.
MONOPHONIC

EASIEST TO UNDERSTAND – MONO
MEANING ONE. ONE SOUND! SO IF THERE
IS EVER ONE MELODY/SINGER WITHOUT
ACCOMPANIMENT THEN IT IS
MONOPHONIC. LIKE A PRIEST SINGING
ALLELUIA IN THE CHURCH WITHOUT
ACCOMPANIMENT THEN THAT IS
MONOPHONIC
HOMOPHONIC

BASICALLY IT IS ANY MUSIC THAT HAS A
MELODY AND ACCOMPANIMENT.

MOST OF THE SONGS WE SING IN CLASS
HAVE A HOMOPHONIC TEXTURE – BECAUSE
THERE IS ONE MELODY THAT EVERYONE
SINGS AND IT IS ACCOMPANIED BY
CHORDS AND CHORDS ONLY. THE PRIEST
HAD NO ACCOMPANIMENT THAT IS THE
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MONO AND
HOMOPHONIC.
Polyphonic

Polyphonic is probably the most difficult to interpret,
this texture is when you have more than one melody.
You could have accompaniment too, but there might
be two or more independent melodies – an example
of this would be when we sing cannon or rounds in
class they are polyphonic because there is more than
one important melody. Sometimes when you have
two melodies they second one is referred to as a
countermelody.