About the work
„Semele“ is a musical drama by George Frideric Handel with a libretto by William Congreve, revised by Newburgh Hamilton, based on Book III of Ovid's „Metamorphoses“. Handel himself described it as a work „after the manner of an oratorio“; it premiered on 10 February 1744 at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, in London, in concert form.
Plot
Jupiter seduces the Theban princess Semele, prompting the jealous Juno to scheme against her: she persuades Semele to demand that Jupiter reveal himself to her in his true divine form. The apparition burns Semele to death; her unborn son Bacchus is saved and later granted divine immortality.
Cultural significance
Initially divisive with London audiences in 1744, „Semele“ was rediscovered in the 19th century and fully established in the 20th, receiving its first staged performance in Cambridge in 1925; today, with arias such as „Where'er you walk“, it is a repertoire staple regularly produced as an opera.