On this day · archive
Music travels down the Thames
July 17 carries bombing, air and rail disaster, sport, education, and coronation. In 1717, Handel’s Water Music premiered during King George I’s barge procession, placing orchestra and river inside the same public performance.
8
events in todayish file
1717
Handel’s Water Music premieres during King George I’s barge procession on the Thames.
Fifty musicians carried a new work onto the river, making movement, monarchy, and music part of one London evening.
King George I sailed down the River Thames with a barge of 50 musicians, where George Frideric Handel’s Water Music premiered. The event made the river part of the performance: route, audience, and orchestra all moving together.
A premiere usually suggests a stage and fixed seats. This one belongs to open air and water. The music had to carry across distance while London’s river supplied its own rhythm of boats, current, and passing view.
July 17 also records grievous violence and disaster, along with sport, education, and coronation. The 1717 entry gives the date a public work of culture whose first setting cannot be separated from its sound.
The full record
8 entries from the day’s archive, filed year by year with a note on what each one leaves behind.
At least 120 people are killed and 130 injured by a suicide bombing in Diyala Governorate, Iraq.
The Diyala suicide bombing killed at least 120 people and injured 130.
Violence
Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, a Boeing 777, crashes near the border of Ukraine and Russia after being shot down. All 298 people on board are killed.
The destruction of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 killed all 298 people aboard.
Violence
A French regional train on the Pau-Bayonne line crashes into a high-speed train near the town of Denguin, resulting in at least 25 injuries.
The rail collision near Denguin injured at least 25 people.
Disaster
TAM Airlines Flight 3054, an Airbus A320, crashes into a warehouse after landing too fast and missing the end of the São Paulo–Congonhas Airport runway, killing 199 people.
The runway overrun at São Paulo–Congonhas killed 199 people.
Disaster
Brazil win their fourth World Cup title, defeating Italy 3–2 on penalties.
Brazil’s penalty-shootout victory over Italy secured a fourth World Cup title.
Sports
Harvard School of Dental Medicine is established in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the first dental school in the U.S. that is affiliated with a university.
The Boston school became the first U.S. dental school affiliated with a university.
Education
King George I of Great Britain sails down the River Thames with a barge of 50 musicians, where George Frideric Handel's Water Music is premiered.
Handel’s Water Music premiered during the royal procession on the Thames.
Culture
Four year-old Henry IV is crowned as king of Germany in Aachen.
Four-year-old Henry IV was crowned king of Germany at Aachen.
Royalty