Semele (opera)
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Semele is an opera by John Eccles. The libretto was by William Congreve, drawing on the Greek myth of Semele. The opera was written in 1707, but was never performed in Eccles' lifetime; in fact, the work was not performed until the late twentieth century.
Eccles' work should not be confused with the 1744 secular oratorio Semele by George Frederick Handel, also based upon Congreve's libretto.
The first full recording was produced in 2003 by Anthony Rooley with the Florida State University Opera.
External links
- Synopsis (http://info.royaloperahouse.org/Synopses/index.cfm?ccs=77&cs=657) from the Royal Opera House
- Libretto of Semele (http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~rbear/congreve1.html) hosted by the University of Oregon
- "Dramatic Themes in John Eccles’s 1707 Setting of William Congreve’s Semele" (http://garnet.acns.fsu.edu/~rtk1218/Semele/Semele.pdf) by Robert Kelley (PDF)
- Synopsis and history of Semele (http://www.juilliard.edu/update/journal/149journal_story.asp) from the Juilliard School