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Serse

Opera by George Frideric Handel

Also known as Xerxes · Serse, HWV 40 · HWV 40 · Xerxes, HWV 40 · Handel's Serse · Handel's Xerxes

Instance of: dramatico-musical work

Overview

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · Read full article · Text CC BY-SA 4.0

Serse is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel. It was first performed in London on 15 April 1738. The Italian libretto was adapted by an unknown hand from that by Silvio Stampiglia (1664–1725) for an earlier opera of the same name by Giovanni Bononcini in 1694. Stampiglia's libretto was itself based on one by Nicolò Minato (ca.1627–1698) that was set by Francesco Cavalli in 1654. The opera is set in Persia about 470 BC and is very loosely based upon Xerxes I of Persia. Serse, originally sung by a mezzo-soprano castrato, is now usually performed by a female mezzo-soprano or countertenor.

Overview

All data

29 statements · 21% with external sources · numbers in brackets are citations

Composer: George Frideric Handel
Date of first performance: April 15, 1738
Genre: opera seria
historical fiction
Number of parts of this work: 3 act
Language: Italian
Lyrics by: Nicolò Minato
Location of first performance: His Majesty's Theatre
Based on: Xerse
Named after: Xerxes I
Released: 18th century
Copyright status: public domain applies to jurisdiction: United States
Form of creative work: opera
Influenced by: Xerse
Title: Serse

On other databases

13 identifiers linking Serse across the web's reference databases

Data quality

statements

21%

externally sourced

Source last edited March 6, 2025. AIDb refreshes this page daily.

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AIDb. (2026). Serse (Q1069133). Retrieved from https://aidb.si/e/serse-Q1069133