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What event did Handel celebrate with Music for the Royal Fireworks?
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George Frideric Handel
George Frideric Handel, oil on canvas by Thomas Hudson, c. 1736; in the Foundling Museum, London.
George Frideric Handel composed Music for the Royal Fireworks to celebrate the end of the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748).1
Specifically, the work was commissioned by King George II to commemorate the signing of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748, which brought the conflict to a close. The music premiered in London on April 27, 1749, during an outdoor festival that featured a fireworks display.1