Handel: Water Music, HWV 349 No.12, Alla Hornpipe

A “hornpipe” is both a simple wind instrument made partly from a animal horn, and an English country dance in 3/2 or 6/4 meter at a lively tempo that can shift between three beats per measure and two beats, as in this exercise. Handel's “Alla hornpipe” designation meant play it with that shifting meter as in the dance.