Georg Friedrich Händel: Water & Fire - Water Music & the Music for the Royal Fireworks Collegium 1704 & Václav Luks

• George Frideric Handel (1685 - 1759): Music for the Royal Fireworks, HWV 351:
• 1 Handel: Music for the Royal Fireworks, HWV 351: Ouverture 07:14
• 2 Handel: Music for the Royal Fireworks, HWV 351: Bourrée 01:49
• 3 Handel: Music for the Royal Fireworks, HWV 351: La Paix 03:14
• 4 Handel: Music for the Royal Fireworks, HWV 351: La Réjouissance 03:49
• 5 Handel: Music for the Royal Fireworks, HWV 351: Minuet I & II 03:13
• Water Music Suite, HWV 348:
• 6 Handel: Water Music Suite, HWV 348: Overture 03:08
• 7 Handel: Water Music Suite, HWV 348: Adagio e staccato 01:57
• 8 Handel: Water Music Suite, HWV 348: [Allegro] 02:19
• 9 Handel: Water Music Suite, HWV 348: Andante 02:02
• 10 Handel: Water Music Suite, HWV 348: [Allegro da capo] 02:21
• 11 Handel: Water Music Suite, HWV 348: Allegro 02:51
• 12 Handel: Water Music Suite, HWV 348: Air 02:51
• 13 Handel: Water Music Suite, HWV 348: Minuet 02:36
• 14 Handel: Water Music Suite, HWV 348: Bourrée 02:00
• 15 Handel: Water Music Suite, HWV 348: Hornpipe 02:36
• Water Music Suite, HWV 349:
• 16 Handel: Water Music Suite, HWV 349: [Andante] 03:29
• 17 Handel: Water Music Suite, HWV 349: {Allegro] 01:57
• Water Music Suite, HWV 350:
• 18 Handel: Water Music Suite, HWV 350: [Alla hornpipe] 03:56
• Water Music Suite, HWV 351:
• 19 Handel: Water Music Suite, HWV 351: [Sarabande] 02:33
• Water Music Suite, HWV 349:
• 20 Handel: Water Music Suite, HWV 349: Rigaudon I & II 02:37
• 21 Handel: Water Music Suite, HWV 349: Lentement 01:50
• Water Music Suite, HWV 350:
• 22 Handel: Water Music Suite, HWV 350: Bourrée 01:09
• 23 Handel: Water Music Suite, HWV 350: Minuet I & II 02:21
• Water Music Suite, HWV 349:
• 24 Handel: Water Music Suite, HWV 349: [Country Dance I & II] 01:33
• 25 Handel: Water Music Suite, HWV 349: [Trumpet Minuet] 02:33
• Total Runtime 01:07:58

Info for Georg Friedrich Händel: Water & Fire - Water Music & the Music for the Royal Fireworks

Handel's "Water Music" was performed for the frst time in 1717 at a royal celebration with a grand parade of boats on the Thames and the patron, King George I, was so enthusiastic that the young Handel had to repeat it several times.

It is rousing, catchy, graceful and jubilant at the same time - a triumphant success to this day. The popular "Music for the Royal Fireworks" was composed for the freworks display in London's Green Park on April 27, 1749, with which King George II celebrated the end of the War of the Austrian Succession and the Peace of Aachen. The suite was conceived for a gigantic wind ensemble - originally for an outdoor performance. Immediately after the frst performance, Handel produced a version for string orchestra with wind instruments. It was in this version that it began its triumphal march through the concert halls of the world. W. A. Mozart described the music to the royal freworks as a "spectacle of English pride and joy".

The Collegium 1704 under its conductor Vaclav Luks has made a name for itself for its detailed and subtle interpretations and its great joy in playing. These attributes also come to the fore in the Collegium's new album and allow Handel's "Water & Fire" to shine in royal splendor.

Collegium 1704
Václav Luks, conductor

Václav Luks
studied at the Pilsen Conservatoire, the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, and crowned his training with the specialised study of early music at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Switzerland in the studios of Jörg-Andreas Bötticher and Jesper Christensen in the fields of historical keyboard instruments and historical performance practice. During his studies in Basel and in the years that followed, he gave concerts all over Europe and overseas as the principal horn player of the Akademie für Alte Musik in Berlin.

After returning from abroad in 2005, he transformed the chamber ensemble Collegium 1704, which he had already established during his studies, into a baroque orchestra, and he founded the vocal ensemble Collegium Vocale 1704.

Under his leadership, the ensembles perform at prestigious festivals and at renowned concert halls. Their recordings have earned both public success and critical acclaim, including awards such as Trophées, Diapason d’Or, and Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik.

In addition to his intensive work with Collegium 1704, Václav Luks also collaborates with other distinguished ensembles including the Netherlands Bach Society, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Camerata Salzburg, the Akademie für Alte Musik in Berlin, La Cetra Barockorchester Basel, and the Dresdner Kammerchor. At a benefit concert for the restoration of the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris, Václav Luks conducted the Orchestre nationale de France. The French radio station France Musique devoted five episodes of the programme Grands interpretes de la musique classique to Václav Luks in 2021. In May 2021, he conducted Collegium 1704 in the opening concert of the international festival Prague Spring.

He has worked with internationally renowned soloists including Karina Gauvin, Vivica Genaux, Ann Hallenberg, Martina Janková, Philippe Jaroussky, Magdalena Kožená, Bejun Mehta, Sarah Mingardo, Adam Plachetka, and Andreas Schöll.

Václav Luks has collaborated on operatic and theatrical performances with such stage directors as Willi Decker, Ondřej Havelka, Ursel Herrmann, Jiří Heřman, Louise Moaty, J. A. Pitínský, and David Radok. Under his direction, Collegium 1704 recorded the music for Petr Václav’s documentary Zpověď zapomenutého (Confession of the Vanished) and for his feature film Il Boemo about the life of Josef Mysliveček. In this case, Václav Luks also served as chief music advisor.

His activities have played an important part in the revival of interest in the works of Czech composers such as Jan Dismas Zelenka and Josef Mysliveček, and in strengthening Czech-German cultural links through rediscovery of the two countries’ shared musical heritage.

In June 2022, he received the Order of Arts and Letters (Ordre des Arts et des Lettres) from Ambassador Alexis Duterteur at a ceremony at the French Embassy in Prague. The Order is awarded by the French Minister of Culture for significant merits in the field of art and literature.

Booklet for Georg Friedrich Händel: Water & Fire - Water Music & the Music for the Royal Fireworks