Handel’s Semele: a guide to the greatest recordings
Handel’s 1744 stage work sits somewhere between opera and oratorio, and shocked early audiences with its erotic sensuality.
Richard Wigmore seeks out the finest recorded versions.
After Handel had finally abandoned Italian opera, the successful 1743 Lent season seemed to point the way forwards: two sacred oratorios, Samson and Messiah, given on Wednesdays and Fridays at Covent Garden Theatre.
Handel duly repeated the formula for the 1744 season, though with a difference, pairing the sacred oratorio Joseph and his Brethren with the profane Semele: an English opera in all but name, based on a libretto by William Congreve that in turn derives from Ovid.
Richard Wigmore seeks out the finest recorded versions
Author summary: Handel's Semele guide.
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