River Thames
The Water Music composed by George Frideric Handel premiered on 17 July 1717, when King George I requested a concert on the River Thames. The concert was performed for King George I on his barge and he is said to have enjoyed it so much that he ordered the 50 exhausted musicians to play the suites three times on the trip.
Air (music)
By the 18th century, composers wrote airs for instrumental ensembles without voice. These were song-like, lyrical pieces, often movements in a larger composition. Johann Sebastian Bach composed two of the best known airs: the second movement of his "Suite No. 3 in D major", BWV 1068, which August Wilhelmj arranged for violin and piano as "Air on the G String"; and the theme of his "Goldberg Variations", BWV 988, the Air present also in Partitas BWV 825–830 harpsichord. The fifth movement of George Frideric Handel's "Suite in F Major", HWV 348, part of Handel's "Water Music" collection, is another frequently performed air.