In composing the overture to Music for the Royal Fireworks, Handel most likely borrowed material from William Croft's overture in D Major to his ode With Noise of Cannon. The beginning Allegro section of Handel's overture greatly resembles Croft's ode in the trumpets' fanfare-like statements and the dotted rhythmic answers of the other instruments. Though Croft's piece was more than forty years old at the time, the circumstances of both works as occasional music, each written for civic and secular celebrations, show that Handel wanted to draw from a long musical tradition and looked to secular instead of sacred music as a model.

Works: Handel: Overture to Music for the Royal Fireworks, HWV 351.

Sources: Croft: Overture to With Noise of Cannon.

Index Classifications: 1700s

Contributed by: Mary Ellen Ryan