Water Music of the suites has no set order today. The first performance of the "Water Music" suites is recorded in "The Daily Courant", the first British daily newspaper. At about 8 p.m. on Wednesday, 17 July 1717, King George I and several aristocrats boarded a royal barge at Whitehall Palace, for an excursion up the Thames toward Chelsea. The rising tide propelled the barge upstream without rowing. Another barge, provided by the City of London, contained about 50 musicians who performed Handel's music. Many other Londoners also took to the river to hear the concert. According to "The Courant", "the whole
Water Music up with electric lights off the coast of the Magic Kingdom. A performance of "Water Music" plays a major role in the movie "The Madness of King George", in which King George III exhibits very erratic and inappropriate behavior at a concert, yelling at the orchestra to play louder (and eventually taking the place of the harpsichordist, playing very badly), culminating in a physical altercation with the Prince of Wales, leading to the Prince of Wales asking to be named Regent. There are many recordings. The "Music for the Royal Fireworks" (1749), composed 32 years later for another outdoor performance