Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
"The Water Music is a collection of orchestral movements, often published as three suites, composed by George Frideric Handel. It premiered on 17 July 1717, in response to King George I's request for a concert on the River Thames." [Wikipedia] "By advertising his enthusiasm, George probably did more to promote Handel’s success than by his relatively modest financial support. In 1717 he was directly responsible for one of the most durable of all the composer’s works. The Daily Courant reported that on 17 July George had enjoyed a river outing, travelling from Whitehall upriver to Chelsea in an open barge, accompanied by a second barge in which fifty instrumentalists ‘of all sorts’ played ‘the finest Symphonies, compos’d express for this Occasion by Mr Handel; which his Majesty liked so well, that he caus’d it to be plaid over three times in going and returning’.13 This became known as the Water Music." [Blanning: George I, Kindle, p. 42]