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The Historical Context of Handel's Semele

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The Historical Context of Handel's Semele The Historical Context of Handel's Semele John K. Andrews Queens’ College This dissertation is submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy March, 2007 [Corrected version, October 2007] Declarations and Statements: This dissertation is the result of my own work and includes nothing which is the outcome of work done in collaboration except where specifically indicated in the text. None of the material in this thesis has been submitted for any other qualification. This thesis does not exceed the word limit of 80,000 words, as stipulated by the Faculty of History. A summary of the thesis is given on pages 4-5 of the introduction. Acknowledgements I would like to take this opportunity to thank my supervisor, Tim Blanning, for all of his guidance, advice, and support over the course of my research. I would also like to thank Ruth Smith for her help in finalising the topic and for her support, both emotional and practical, over the last four years. I have also received much advice and support from colleagues working in closely related fields and in particular I would like to thank Michael Burden, Andrew Thompson and Hannah Smith. I would like to thank Sir Charles Mackerras for access to his collection of Handel scores and his support early on in my research, Laurence Cummings and John La Bouchardier for allowing me to observe rehearsals for the English National Opera production of Semele in 2005, and the wonderful members of the Cannons Scholars for allowing me to explore much of this music in performance. I would also like to thank Colin Collinson, Nicholas Cranfield and Clare Arthurs for their patient and thorough proofreading of the dissertation’s final drafts, the staff of the British Library, the Cambridge University Library and the Staats-und Universitätsbibliothek, Hamburg for their efficient and expert assistance, my family for their love, support and encouragement, and finally and most importantly I would like to thank Susan for supporting me through the past four years in more ways than are imaginable. iii Abbreviations Congreve, CW : Congreve, W., The works of Mr. William Congreve; in three volumes. Containing his plays and poems (London, 1710) GHB : Göttinger Händel-Beiträge EM : Early Music HHB I : Baselt, B. (ed.), Thematisch-systematisches Verzeichnis: Bühnenwerke (Händel-Handbuch, Band I, Leipzig, 1978) HHB II : Baselt, B. (ed.), Thematisch-systematisches Verzeichnis: Oratorische Werke, Vocale Kammermusik Kirchenmusik (Händel- Handbuch, Band II, Leipzig, 1984) HHB IV : Eisen, W. & Eisen, M. (eds), Dokumente zu Leben und Schaffen (Händel Handbuch, Band IV, Leipzig, 1985) HJB : Händel Jahrbuch HWV: Verzeichnis der Werke Georg Friedrich Händel (as set out in HHB I-III , ed. B. Baselt). ML : Music and Letters MQ : Musical Quarterly MT : The Musical Times New Grove Online : New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians Online , ed. L. Macy <http://www.grovemusic.com> ODNB Online : Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Online , Oxford University Press, 2004 <http://www.oxforddnb.com> Every effort has been made to give quotations from Semele in full the first time they are discussed. For subsequent citations of the same text, larger quotations are given in the footnotes if essential, but otherwise the reference alone has been given. The orthography of the sources has been retained without modernisation. iv The Plot of Semele Dramatis Personae Jupiter, king of the gods Juno, queen of the gods Cadmus king of Thebes Iris, attendant on Juno Athamas, a prince of Bœotia Semele, daughter to Cadmus Somnus, god of sleep Ino, sister to Semele Apollo Chorus of priests and augurs Chorus of loves and zephyrs Chorus of nymphs and swains Act One opens with the marriage of Semele to Athamas. 1 Auspicious flames rising from the altar indicate that Juno assents to the union. Semele, temporising, is urged by Athamas and by her father, Cadmus, to go through with the ceremony. In an aside, she reveals that she is in love with Jupiter and she prays to him either to rescue her, or to reconcile her mind and heart to the marriage. Meanwhile, her sister Ino is secretly in love with Athamas herself. As Cadmus, Athamas and Semele try to persuade her to explain her unhappiness, the wedding is interrupted by Jupiter’s thunder, lightning and rain. Juno rekindles the altar flame but Jupiter’s rain extinguishes it. Another burst of thunder scatters the worshippers, leaving Ino and Athamas. Athamas assumes that Ino’s tears are shed out of sympathy for him, which prompts her to confess her love. Cadmus returns with the news that Semele has been 1 Congreve’s libretto was divided into three ‘Acts.’ Handel’s published word-book was divided into three ‘Parts’ to reflect its oratorio style of performance. However, Handel called them ‘Acts’ in his autograph and conducting score and no distinction has been made in the thesis between the two terms when discussing Handel’s version. v abducted by an eagle ‘of mighty size’. The priests congratulate Cadmus on becoming son-in-law to the gods, and then celebrate the physical union of Semele and Jupiter and their ‘Endless pleasure.’ Act Two opens where Ovid began his treatment of the Semele myth in the Metamorphoses . Juno is doubly furious, having been thwarted over the wedding and having discovered Jupiter’s affair with Semele. Iris reports that Semele is residing in a newly-built palace guarded by dragons. Juno vows to visit Somnus, the god of sleep, to get assistance with her revenge. Meanwhile Semele awakes, already conscious of her mortal status while surrounded by ‘nymphs and graces’. Jupiter perceives her desire to become immortal. Knowing that he could never grant this, he brings Ino to the palace as company for Semele and then transforms the palace into an Arcadian idyll where the two sisters can watch an entertainment of dancing. 2 Act Three begins in the Cave of Sleep where Juno and Iris find Somnus. Juno demands that he give her his magic rod whereby she will pacify the dragons guarding Semele’s palace. She also instructs him to send Morpheus to give Jupiter an erotic dream to make him susceptible to Semele’s demands when he awakes. Somnus is persuaded by the promise of the nymph Pasithea. Having subdued the dragons, Juno appears to Semele disguised as Ino. She pretends that Semele has taken on the appearance of a goddess and gives her a mirror in which she sees herself deified. Juno convinces her that the only way to become immortal is to persuade Jupiter to make love to her in his divine, rather than human form. Juno also suggests (knowing that Jupiter has been visited by Morpheus’ dream) that Semele should withhold sex from him until he grants a ‘boon without a name’. Semele follows this advice to the letter and Jupiter swears to grant her anything. Semele makes her demand and is completely impervious to his attempts to dissuade her. Jupiter is distraught. Juno is triumphant. Semele realises, too late, what she has demanded and is incinerated by 2 Handel extended Congreve’s pastoral idyll to give the two women a glimpse of the music of the spheres, ending with an apotheosis of the power of music. vi Jupiter’s lightning bolts. Cadmus, Ino, and Athamas discover Semele’s destruction. Ino announces that Jove has decreed that she and Athamas should marry. In a final deus ex machina , Apollo descends and prophesies that Semele’s unborn son shall be a god ‘more mighty than love’ – Bacchus, the god of wine and theatre. There follows a final chorus in praise of the new-born god. vii Contents Introduction........................................................................................................................1 The Sources............................................................................................................6 The Main Secondary works .................................................................................15 Chapter One: The Historical Context of Congreve and Eccles’ Semele ..........................17 The Historical Context.........................................................................................19 The Sources for Congreve’s Libretto...................................................................38 Semele in the Context of English Political Theatre..............................................57 Congreve’s Semele Libretto.................................................................................89 Conclusions........................................................................................................110 Chapter Two: The Historical Context of Handel’s Semele ............................................113 ‘Sound and Sense,’ The Debate Continued........................................................116 The Political Context as reflected in the Georgian Theatres..............................124 The Politics of the Georgian Theatres................................................................151 The Moral Context.............................................................................................180 Conclusions........................................................................................................203 Chapter Three: Predecessors, Sources, and other inspiration for Handel’s Semele .......205 Previous Settings of Semele ...............................................................................207 Borrowings.........................................................................................................232 Other Inspiration for Semele ..............................................................................242
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