Imeneo (Hymen, HWV 41) is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel. The Italian-language libretto was adapted from Silvio Stampiglia's Imeneo. Handel had begun composition in September 1738, but did not complete the score until 1740. The opera received its first performance at the Lincoln's Inn Fields in London on 22 November 1740, and received another performance on 13 December. Handel then revised the score, and this revised versi...
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Imeneo (Hymen, HWV 41) is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel. The Italian-language libretto was adapted from Silvio Stampiglia's Imeneo. Handel had begun composition in September 1738, but did not complete the score until 1740. The opera received its first performance at the Lincoln's Inn Fields in London on 22 November 1740, and received another performance on 13 December. Handel then revised the score, and this revised version received concert performances in Dublin, on 24 and 31 March 1742. The first modern production was in Halle on 13 March 1960. The work was soon after performed in Birmingham in 1961, under the direction of Anthony Lewis. Lewis also led the first London revival of the opera since Handel's time, in 1972 at the Royal Academy of Music. Lewis has prepared a performing edition of the opera.
The opera opens with Tirinto's lamentation of his lost love, Rosmene, to barbaric pirates. Another girl has been abducted, Clomiri. Together he grieves with...
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