Our musician of the week is George Frederick Handel from the Baroque Period. His most famous work is the Hallelujah chorus from Messiah, which Christians today still sing around Christmas to celebrate the birth of Jesus. We also watched a Baroque dance to Water Music, which Handel wrote to be played for King George I of Great Britain as he and other aristocrats were enjoying a “cruise” down the Thames River and other peasants watched from the shore. Lastly, we watched musicians play Music for the Royal Fireworks, using Baroque instruments like the shawm (ancestor of the oboe), Baroque trumpet (no valves), and Baroque horn (ancestor of the French Horn).
