George Frideric Handel exhibition marking the tercentenary of the composer's birth calls them two men of the late eighteenth century "who have left us solid evidence of the means by which they indulged their enthusiasm". With his English oratorios, such as "Messiah" and "Solomon", the coronation anthems, and other works including "Water Music" and "Music for the Royal Fireworks", Handel became a national icon in Britain, and featured in the BBC series, "The Birth of British Music: Handel – The Conquering Hero". After his death, Handel's Italian operas fell into obscurity, except for selections such as the aria from "Serse", "Ombra mai fù".
Water Music (novel) an effort to find and explore the Niger River. The novel is loosely based on historical sources, including Mungo Park's 1799 book, "Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa". However, as Boyle admits in his foreword to "Water Music", he does not claim historical accuracy or even faithfulness to the contemporary accounts, whose reliability is doubtful anyway. Water Music (novel) Water Music is the first novel by T. C. Boyle, first published in 1981. It is a semi-fictional historical adventure novel that is set in the late 18th and early 19th century. The novel follows the parallel adventures and intertwining