Serse (also known as Xerxes) is an Italian opera by George Frideric Handel.
The libretto was probably from an earlier opera of the same name by Giovanni Bononcini; it is not known who adapted it for Handel. It was first performed in London on April 15, 1738.
Serse is considered Handel's most Mozartian opera. Passion is mixed with farce and satire; the folly of human nature is exposed but never ridiculed. The opera is set in Persia in 480 BC and is very loosely based upon Xerxes I of Persia, though there is little in either the libretto or music that is relevant to that setting.
Unfortunately, in spite of the great beauty of music, Serse was not a success. It was withdrawn from London's Haymarket Theatre after only five performances and forgotten for two hundred and fifty years.
It was revived in the 1980s and is slowly becoming part of the standard operatic repertoire. A complete recording of it was made in 1979.
Xerxes is a pants role; that is, it is a male role played by a soprano.
The opening aria, "Ombra mai fù ", a love song sung by Xerxes to a tree, is Handel's best-known melodic structure.
Plot
King Xerxes is determined to wed Romilda; Romilda loves Xerxes' brother, Arsamene; Arsamene loves Romilda. Romilda's sister Atalanta is determined to make Arsamene hers.
Xerxes banishes Arsamene, who sends a note to Romilda through his servant Elviro, disguised as a flower vendor, pledging his eternal fidelity, but it is delivered instead to Atalanta, who shows it to her sister claiming that it was addressed to Atalanta. Arsamene and Romilda fight.
Xerxes pursues Romilda, and tells her father Ariodante that Romilda must wed, by the king's command, a member of Xerxes' family, equal in blood to himself. Ariodante mistakenly thinks he is referring to his brother Arsamene rather than himself.
Amastre, Xerxes' fiancée, forsaken by him for Romilda, disguises herself as a man and observes Xerxes. After Arsamene and Romilda wed, Amastre reveals herself to Xerxes, who becomes ashamed of his faithlessness. Amastre accepts his apology.
