Water Music
The Water Music is a collection of orchestral movements, often published as three suites, composed by George Frideric Handel. It premiered on 17 July 1717, in response to King George I's request for a concert on the River Thames.
Aure soavi e lieti (Handel)
Handel composed "Aure soavi e lieti" while a guest of the Francesco Maria Marescotti Ruspoli during his sojourn in Italy. The copyist's bill to Ruspoli for the score is dated 16 May 1707. However, Burrows has proposed that its first performance may have been in March of that year at the Palazzo Ruspoli in Cerveteri. According to Mainwaring, Handel had traveled to Italy in 1706 at the invitation of Ferdinando de' Medici. Other sources say Handel was invited by Gian Gastone de' Medici, whom Handel had met in 1703–1704 in Hamburg. De' Medici, who had a keen interest in opera, was trying to make Florence Italy's musical capital by attracting the leading talents of his day. In 1707 Handel arrived in Rome where for two years he was a guest of Ruspoli, who made him his "Kapellmeister". During this period Handel also composed the antiphon "Salve Regina" (HWV 241) which was performed in the Ruspoli Castle in Vignanello and the secular cantata "Diana Cacciatrice" (HWV 79) which was performed at the Palazzo Ruspoli in Cerveteri. His 1707 oratorios "La Resurrezione" (HWV 47) and "Il trionfo del tempo e del disinganno" (HWV 46a), both dedicated to Francesco Maria Marescotti Ruspoli, were performed in Rome at the palaces of the Ruspoli and Ottoboni families. Handel remained in Italy until 1710. Antonio Caldara succeeded him as "Kapellmeister" to the Ruspoli family in 1709.