Serse

The nearest Handel came to writing a comic opera, Serse (1738) was only performed five times and ranks as one of his worst commercial failures. Though the title role refers to the Persian king Xerxes I, the libretto is largely fictional, revolving around the rivalry between Xerxes and his brother Arsamene for the love of Romilda, and the competition between Romilda and her unscrupulous sister Atalanta for the hand of Arsamene. Serse may be comic in its underlying dramatic situations (and genuinely buffo servant Elviro), but Handel generally avoids writing obviously amusing music, leaving the humour to arise from the drama itself. He responds to the exaggerated sentimentality of Serse’s amorous address to a tree in the opening scene with a straight face, writing an exquisitely poised aria (“Ombra mai fù”) whose wistful charm is so convincing that it’s become one of Handel’s best-loved melodies (often entitled “Handel’s Largo”, though the tempo is actually larghetto). The opera is much less rigid in structure than usual for Handel, with flexible dramatic scenes using lots of short arias which often avoid the ubiquitous da capo form (which ends with a literal repeat of the opening: ABA). Handel’s outstanding music is always responsive to the inner emotions of the engagingly human characters, treading a sure path between comedy and tragedy.