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.
Semele (Handel)
Handel's last Italian opera, "Deidamia", was performed in 1741. After this time, he concentrated on oratorio and musical dramas with English texts. Many of these, including "Semele", were premiered at the Covent Garden Theatre, beginning with "Alexander's Feast" in 1736 and finishing with "The Triumph of Time and Truth" in 1757. As a result, in the early 1740s, oratorios at the Covent Garden Theatre were George Frideric Handel's chief activity. While most works had sacred or religious texts, two stand out for being secular: "Hercules" and "Semele".