This article was updated in November 2024.
When we ran our World’s Favourite Festival vote [2014], we held a competition in which voters had to choose one composer’s music to listen to while they were stranded on a desert island. We were overwhelmed with your responses, but one which really made us chuckle came from a reader in Cardiff. She voted for Handel, stating, “He makes me jiggier than Beyonce's twerky parts and more heartrendingly soul-stricken than the lovechild of Mahler and Damien Rice.”
A worthy competition winner, we hope you'll agree!
This set our minds racing and, with thanks for this suggestion, we offer Handel’s best twerky bits in tribute.
Il delirio amoroso - the opening sonata:
Concerto grosso Op.6 no. 11
Music for the Royal Fireworks: Bourrée
Giulio Cesare: “Non disperar” - featuring actual twerking in Handel at Glyndebourne!
[video no longer available - boo!]
Water Music Suite no. 3: Minuet & Gigues at the Proms
Acis and Galatea: “Oh, ruddier than the cherry”
Solomon: “The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba”
Semele: Sinfonia Act II
What's your favourite 'twerky' Handel?
