Berenice, HWV 38: Overture

Berenice opened in London in 1737 and lasted four performances. Almost nothing of it is played today except the overture, and within the overture it is really the Minuet that survived — a broad, unhurried tune that has been arranged for organ, for strings, for brass and for wind band, and that turns up regularly at weddings and funerals under the plain title "Minuet from Berenice".

The wider context is worth knowing: 1737 was a bad year. Handel's opera company was failing against a rival house, Italian opera was losing its London audience, and he suffered what contemporaries described as a paralytic disorder affecting his right arm. Within a few years he had largely abandoned opera for oratorio in English, which is the decision that produced Messiah.

When buying: catalogues list this variously under Berenice, "Minuet" and "Overture", and the arrangement may cover the whole overture or the minuet alone. Check the length before assuming which you are getting.