After a stay in England, George Frideric Handel returned to Germany in 1710 and became court composer for the Elector of Hanover, George Ludwig, who would later become King George I of Great Britain and Ireland.
Late in 1712, Handel asked George for permission to return to England and overstayed his visit while receiving a severance from Queen Anne of England, the last of the House of Stuart.
After the passing of Queen Anne, Handel composed "Water Music," in an effort to regain the favor of the Elector of Hanover (now King George I), his former employer. It premiered in the summer of 1717 when King George I requested a concert on the River Thames. Handel hired 50 musicians playing on a barge, (rented by Handel), close to the royal barge from which the King listened with some close friends (including the Duchess of of Bolton, the Duchess of Newcastle, the Countess of Godolphin, Madam Kilmarnock, and the Earl of Orkney). George I was said to have loved it so much that he ordered the exhausted musicians to play the suites three times on the trip.
Handel also created the well-known Music for the Royal Fireworks in 1749 to celebrate the end of the War of Austrian Succession (1740-1748).
As a composer Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky was greatly influenced by the prevailing sentiment of nationalism among top Russian composers. From 1876 to 1890 Tchaikovsky was supported by a wealthy patron, which allowed him the opportunity to produce a great deal of work, especially operas. He was a supreme master of orchestral color and used traditional Russian material, although it is shrouded in Western art music tradition. His 1812 overture, composed in 1880, is a graphic musical description of the forced retreat of Napoleon's armies from Moscow.