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Semele (Eccles)
''Semele'' is an opera by John Eccles, written in about 1706 with a libretto by William Congreve drawing on the ''Semele'' myth from Ovid's ''Metamorphoses''. It forms part of the English opera tradition of Blow's ''Venus and Adonis'', but was never staged due to changes in popular taste at the time. Indeed, the opera remained unperformed until the mid twentieth century, eclipsed by George Frideric Handel's 1744 secular oratorio of the same name, based on the same libretto. Roles Argument In his introductory 'argument', Congreve briefly summarises the plot, explains why he has modified some of Ovid's story, and then goes on to explain for the audience's benefit the concept of musical recitative: Synopsis Act I Semele is about to be married against her will to Prince Athamus, though she loves the god Jupiter. Jupiter's thunder interrupts the ceremony, and Athamus finds himself left alone with Ino, Semele's sister. Ino is professing her love for Athamus when Cadmus ente ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Eccles (composer)
John Eccles (1668 – 12 January 1735) was an English composer. Born in London, eldest son of professional musician Solomon Eccles and brother of fellow composer Henry Eccles, John Eccles was appointed to the King's Private Music in 1694, and in 1700 became Master of the King's Musick. Also in 1700 he finished second in a competition to write music for William Congreve's masque '' The Judgement of Paris'' ( John Weldon won). Eccles was very active as a composer for the theatre, and from the 1690s wrote a large amount of incidental music including music for Congreve's ''Love for Love'', John Dryden's ''The Spanish Friar'' and William Shakespeare's '' Macbeth''. Jointly with Henry Purcell he wrote incidental music for Thomas d'Urfey's ''Don Quixote''. He became a composer to Drury Lane theatre in 1693 and when some of the actors broke off to form their own company at Lincoln's Inn Fields in 1695, he composed music for them as well including for John Dennis's '' Rinaldo and A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |