From WESTMINSTER ABBEY
(Daventry National Programme)

THE B.B.C. ORCHESTRA
(Section E)
(Led by MARIE WILSON )
Conducted by LESLIE WOODGATE
MARIE WILSON (Violin)
King George I had formed the habit of attending certain masquerades on the Thames which, as a feature of those days, were organised usually on a subscription basis, and expressed a wish that an aquatic concert might be planned on the same lines. There were initial difficulties with impresarios who saw no profit in it for themselves, but, finally, Baron Kilmanseck, Master of the King's Horse, put up the money. The concert was a great success, the river was crowded with barges, and afterwards there was a grand supper at Lord Ranelagh's house at Chelsea. The King had already expressed high approval of the music composed expressly for the occasion by the famous Handel, first composer of the King's music, and commanded it to be repeated once before and once after supper. Each performance took an hour, so that the King did not get back to St. James's till half-past four the next morning. This is an arrangement by Sir Hamilton Harty of some of the numbers from the complete Water Music.