Semele

There have been love triangles since ancient times: Jupiter, the father of the gods, loves the mortal Princess Semele of Thebes and carries her off to his heavenly palace before her marriage to Prince Athamas, which has been arranged by her father. Semele is delighted about this, as she has always striven for higher things. Jupiter's wife Juno, on the other hand, is less delighted, and she devises a plan to thwart the affair: Juno worms her way into Semele's confidence and awakens the desire for immortality in her. She would gain this, says Juno, if Jupiter were to show himself to her in his true form. However, she does not reveal that no mortal can bear this sight. Semele is taken in by this, and when Jupiter, blinded by love, swears to fulfil her every desire, she makes her fatal choice. The guardian of the marriage has beaten her rival, but from Semele's ashes another threat to marital bliss arises in the form of her son, Bacchus…

If George Frideric Handel had not known the French singer Elisabeth Duparc, he might never have written "Semele". Like an 18th century Marlene Dietrich, she seemed made for the roles of haughty, distant beauties, and it was for her that the composer and impresario wrote the part of Semele in 1743. At that time, Handel had already said farewell to the opera stage and turned to oratorio which was becoming increasingly popular in England at the time. The plot is based on the Semele myth from Ovid's »Metamorphoses« and had already been set as a libretto by William Congreve in 1707, who hoped that it would continue the tradition of the works of Henry Purcell. Handel's composition clearly blends the oratorio form with that of Italian opera, and yet the composer only ever performed his work in concert form during his lifetime. It was only in 1925 that the first fully staged production took place. For the Gärtnerplatztheater the internationally renowned baroque specialist Karoline Gruber presents the work in a new and exciting form!

Programmheft SEMELE Leseprobe