Making a Splash with Handel's Water Music
Hornpipe

Brass and strings playing tag on a barge

When you listen to the Hornpipe from my Water Music, the easiest way to follow along is to keep your ears on the lively game of call-and-response between the strings and the brass. I actually wrote two closely related versions of this piece in triple metre, one in F major with horns and the famous Alla Hornpipe in D major where bright trumpets join in. In both of them, the strings step forward first to introduce the jaunty main tune, while the woodwinds and low strings help give the rhythm its energetic bounce. Wait for the moment when the brass players jump in to answer the strings with bold, fanfare-like blasts that could easily wake up a sleepy oarsman on the River Thames.

Borrowing a dance from the locals

You might wonder why a German composer writing for an excursion on the water decided to call this movement a Hornpipe. I named it after the traditional English hornpipe, a lively country dance that everyone in London already knew for its spirited, foot-tapping character. Even though nobody could safely do much vigorous dancing on a crowded barge, I built the music around the brisk running figures and off-beat endings that give that dance its unmistakable swing. Calling the piece Hornpipe—or Alla Hornpipe, meaning in the style of a hornpipe—let my listeners know straight away to expect something cheerful and full of life.

A musical sandwich on the water

To keep all that lively energy organized, I cast the Hornpipe in what we call ternary da capo form, which is really just a three-part musical sandwich. Instead of writing a long, complicated journey, I begin with a bold main section, move into a lighter middle part for contrast, and then tell the musicians to go right back to the beginning. It is a wonderful layout for an outdoor concert because your ears get a pleasant surprise in the middle before welcoming back a tune that already feels like an old friend. In the next few paragraphs, I will walk you through each of the three sections one by one so you know exactly what to listen for.

Section 1: Strings start the party, brass brings the megaphone

In this opening section, we jump straight into a brisk triple metre in a bright major key—F major in my first suite, or D major in the second. I let the strings kick things off on their own with a proud, springing melody that ends its phrases with a playful little rhythmic hiccup. Just when you think the violins are having all the fun, the brass players burst in to repeat the idea like a royal herald making sure the people on the riverbank heard it too. Before the section wraps up, the whole band comes together in a joyful rush of quick notes that leaves everyone breathless and smiling.

Section 2: Giving the brass players a moment to catch their breath

When the middle section arrives, I tell the brass players to lower their instruments and take a well-earned rest. With only the strings and woodwinds playing, the texture becomes much lighter and more intimate, as if the party has briefly moved from the open deck into a cosy cabin. I also shift the music into the relative minor key—D minor or B minor, depending on which suite you are hearing—which trades the bright sunshine for a slightly more thoughtful, graceful mood. The brisk running figures keep the dance moving right along without a pause, leading us up to a suspenseful stop that begs for the main tune to return.

Section 3: Back to the top, because once is never enough

At the end of that quieter middle part, I wrote the words da capo on the score, which is simply the Italian way of telling the orchestra to head right back to the very beginning. We leap straight back into the bright home major key, and the strings launch into that jaunty opening melody as if they never left. After spending a minute in the gentler minor-key middle section, hearing the horns or trumpets roar back to life with their fanfare answers feels twice as exciting. It brings our three-part dance to a grand, ringing finish that makes it easy to understand why King George I wanted to hear the whole concert three times in one night.

Your turn to step aboard

Now that you know how the piece is put together, I invite you to press play and experience the Hornpipe for yourself. Let the music carry you out onto the water, and see if you can spot the trade-offs between the strings and the brass as they happen. Keep an ear out as well for that lighter middle section in the minor key before the full band comes roaring back at the end. I hope listening to my Hornpipe brings you just as much joy today as I had writing it for that summer evening on the river!