Netherlands Chamber Orchestra and conductor Ton Koopman play the Water Music, Suite No. 2, by Handel.

In the summer of 1717 George Frideric Handel composed music to keep the King of England entertained on his boat trip down the River Thames. We now call that music Handel’s “Water Music,” and the ...

Let me tell you something about Handel’s Water Music, which you’ve likely heard at least in part, even if you don’t know it—probably the posh “Alla Hornpipe” movement from the second suite, the ...

Friedrich Chrysander ran a pickle factory on the side. But for years he lived on little more than rolls and water, and his wife sold flowers in the Hamburg market, to scrape together enough money to ...