Concert

Handel | "Fireworks and Water Music"

Saison

2026/2027

An exceptional concert, winner of the Edison Award.

Blazing trumpets, driving strings, majestic winds, and sometimes accompanied by orchestral fireworks: in 2004, Hervé Niquet received the Edison Award for this program, which has been touring ever since, winning over new audiences every season.

Distribution

Le Concert Spirituel Orchestra
Hervé Niquet Conductor

Program

Marc-Antoine Charpentier
Marches for the Trumpets
Prelude from the Te Deum H. 146

George Frideric Handel
Water Music
Suite No. 1 in F Major, HWV 348
Suite No. 2 in D Major, HWV 349

Intermission

Arcangelo Corelli
Concerto Grosso, Op. 6, No. 8 "Christmas Concerto" (Created for Christmas Eve)

George Frideric Handel
Water Music
Suite No. 3 in G Major, HWV 350

Music for the Royal Fireworks HWV 351
Overture, Bourrée, La Paix, La Réjouissance, Minuet I & II

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Production

Le Concert Spirituel

Duration

1h20

with intermission

Photo credit

Le Concert Spirituel at the 2017 Berlioz Festival © Festival Berlioz // Carousel photos: © Jean-Marc Delaye

Additional information

Depending on the venue, a fireworks display may accompany the program.

"After nearly fifty years of musicological, organological, and scientific research, the various parameters available to us for performing the Baroque repertoire have become increasingly precise. So why not place more trust in the results of this research? The one hundred (!!!) musicians gathered for the suites of Water Music and Fireworks by Handel, on the occasion of Le Concert Spirituel's 15th anniversary, wanted to put into practice, without any compromise, what they knew of these ancient techniques, each in their own specialty." Hervé Niquet

Hervé Niquet and Le Concert Spirituel present the flagship program of their repertoire. Toured worldwide and performed in the most prestigious venues, this exceptional production, winner of anEdison Award, is an opportunity for the ensemble to continue exploring every facet and nuance of two of the most illustrious works in the Baroque repertoire: Water Music & Music for the Royal Fireworks by Handel.
At the forefront of the latest organological research on string and wind instruments, Le Concert Spirituel has acquired its highly recognizable sound, dynamism, and vivid, shimmering colors—notably through the use of equal-tension, unspun gut strings. They have successfully recaptured the full power and richness of period instruments to bring the magic of royal celebrations back to life in the purest Baroque tradition.

This program was recorded and released on the Glossa label >> Water Music & Fireworks (First historical version)

To discover anecdotes about this recording, listen to the September 15, 2023, episode of Lionel Esparza’s “Disques de légende” on France Musique >> podcast