--- product_id: 46613433 title: "Handel: Semele" price: "$56.64" currency: USD in_stock: true reviews_count: 8 url: https://www.desertcart.ec/products/46613433-handel-semele store_origin: EC region: Ecuador --- # Handel: Semele **Price:** $56.64 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Handel: Semele - **How much does it cost?** $56.64 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.ec](https://www.desertcart.ec/products/46613433-handel-semele) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description Cecilia Bartoli stars in the title role of Robert Carsen's modern-dress staging of Handel's dramatic opera 'Semele' at Zurich Opera House. Not satisfied with being the mistress of Jupiter (Charles Workman), the beautiful and ambitious Semele strives with tragic results to supplant his wife, Juno (Birgit Remmert). The La Scintilla Orchestra is conducted by William Christie. Sung dazzlingly, Myself I shall adore was one of many high points in Bartoli's stunning performance, her first operatic role in a language other than Italian...The wonderfully intimate Zurich Opera House allows every detail of her performance to be savoured. --International Herald Tribune Review: and Bacchus crown the joys of love - ....and Bacchus crown the joys of love. The Work. By 1741 Handel was out of the opera business. For three decades he had presided over a thriving Italian Opera House in London, had produced dozens of operas by other composers as well as written and produced some thirty five or so operas of his own composition. All this time he had been in the favor of the royals and the "people of Quality". However the tastes of the London audience had changed and he had gone from a wealthy man to near bankruptcy. Now he simply changed forms and was writing oratorios in English and was again prospering. A succession of "hits" folloowed including Messiah, Samson, Saul, Joseph and his Brethren etc. Then in 1743 he too up the script of Semele, a tale from Ovid. He had previously written a "serenata" in English also based on Ovid in 1714 called Acis and Galatea which is in oratorio style, not staged. Semele was to be a non-opera even though the libretto by William Congreve was set as an opera by John Eccles in 1707 but not performed at that time. This libretto is a masterpiece of English writing. It pulsates with life, passion, lust, comedy, pathos and eroticism. Certainly not something for a church choir. Handel added some parts of Alexander Pope e.g. Jupiter's "Where 'er you walk" to fill in the Congreve text. His great inspiration began to flow again and Handel produced one of the most perfect gems of his great output. The Performance. This DVD production was filmed in January 2007 at the Zurich Opera House, The cast here has the very gifted Cecilia Bartoli, the formidable conductor and Baroque authority William Christie and noted producer Robert Carsen. All in all a very successful operation. The other cast members are not so well known as Ms Bartoli but are most all up to the calling except the Ino of Liliana Nikiteanu who goes breathless on occasion. They all work together along with the excellent chorusto give the piece a light comedic touch, particularly the Juno of Brigit Remmert. When this work was first presented (not staged but sung) in 1744 the reviwer dubbed it "No Oratorio, but a baudy opera", and bawdy it is. A good evvenings entertainment as a staged work. In 1990 a superb CD was issued using period instruments, the Ambrosian Opera Chorus, English Chamber Orchestra all led by John Nelson. The cast was a dream roster with the young Kathleen Battle in perhaps her best recorded role, the unmatchable Marilyn Horne as Juno and Ino, Samuel Ramey, Sylvia Mc Nair, counter tenor Michael Chance and John Aler as Jupiter. I have listened to and cherished this recording for many years. When I compare this performance to the present DVD I'm impressed with several things. In the CD we have a series of arias superbly sung e.g. Horn "Hence, Iris, hence away", M Chance "Hymen haste, thy torch prepare"(not included in the DVD), Ramey "Wher 'er you walk" (so beautiful). But that is it. It is a series arias sung by some of the best and most famous singers of the time; there is no sense of continuity. Here in this DVD it all works well together as an opera with the good chorus providing push for the action and unifying the parts into a whole. Semele has a sad end but from her ashes is born the demigod of wine and good cheer. So in the end the chorus sings his praises and passes around the wine to everyone onstage, all get tipsy and start doffing off clothes; and Bacchus crown the joys of love. Review: Jupiter was an Insufferable Cad... - ... and, like other powerful executives of recent memory, had dubious taste in dames. But the libretto for this English opera, written by playwright William Congreve, is several notches above the average Georgian doggerel, and the music is Handel near his compositional peak. What follows here will be a critique of this specific performance and should not be read as criticism of Semele as a work of the musical stage. This is a wretched mess of a performance. The modern sets are dreary. The orchestra is shaky. The balance of voices with orchestra is lacking in acoustic integration. But most of all, the singing is shoddy, unstylish, lacking in ensemble discipline, and OUT! OF! TUNE! Cecilia Bartoli is the biggest name and has of course the biggest role, as Semele. Bartoli often substitutes mannerism for affective expression, but this time she takes her flouncy coyness to extremes. Worse yet, she sings most of her arias with a tight, quivery, non-ornamental vibrato. It's unclear whether she's attempting to re-legitimize the old-time fat lady's warble, or to mask the deficiencies of her tuning, but in any case she fails at both. Liliana Nikiteanu, in the role of Ino, has such a reedy little voice, and so little control of her enunciation, that it hardly matters when she's out of tune, which is often. Believe me, it's true. Listen to her duets with Athamas, sung by high tenor Thomas Michael Allen, early in the First Act. The duets are shockingly out of tune, and I think the fault is chiefly Nikiteanu's. Birgit Remmert (Juno) and Isabel Rey (Iris) play their roles as TV comedy, which might be presumed to justify their squawky, squeaky timbres. But they're also tragicomically OUT! OF! TUNE! altogether too often. There's nothing especially ingratiating about the voice of bass Anton Scharinger, at least in his Baroque role of King Cadmus. His singing is bluff and robust, but not at all stylish. Nevertheless, his arias come as a relief, since he's mostly IN TUNE! High tenor Thoams Michael Allen struggles bravely with a role (Athamas) that flings him up and down across his voice break. He has some style and he acts with expressive restraint. I'll watch for him in other productions. William Christie is one of the finest conductors and exponents of Baroque music in the world today. It was his presence at the podium in the Opernhaus Zürich that induced me to buy this DVD. Unfortunately, the orchestra "La Scintilla" lets him down. The violins struggle raggedly to keep up with Handel's hustling sixteenth notes. The oboes are scattered at crucial passages, and in one obbligato, they are hideously OUT! OF! TUNE! This DVD is so disappointing that I'm putting it up for re-sale immediately. Hopefully one of my pesky persistent no-voters will buy it by mistake. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Contributor | Anton Scharinger, Birgit Remmert, Cecilia Bartoli, Charles Workman, George Frideric Handel, Isabel Rey, Liliana Nikiteanu, Operanhaus Zurich, Robert Carsen, Thomas Michael Allen, William Christie Contributor Anton Scharinger, Birgit Remmert, Cecilia Bartoli, Charles Workman, George Frideric Handel, Isabel Rey, Liliana Nikiteanu, Operanhaus Zurich, Robert Carsen, Thomas Michael Allen, William Christie See more | | Customer Reviews | 3.7 out of 5 stars 86 Reviews | | Format | AC-3, Classical, Color, DTS Surround Sound, Dolby, Multiple Formats, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen | | Genre | Classical / Opera & Vocal, Music Video & Concerts | | Language | English | | Runtime | 18 hours and 31 minutes | ## Product Details - **Genre:** Classical / Opera & Vocal, Music Video & Concerts - **Format:** AC-3, Classical, Color, DTS Surround Sound, Dolby, Multiple Formats, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen - **Contributor:** Anton Scharinger, Birgit Remmert, Cecilia Bartoli, Charles Workman, George Frideric Handel, Isabel Rey, Liliana Nikiteanu, Operanhaus Zurich, Robert Carsen, Thomas Michael Allen, William Christie - **Language:** English - **Runtime:** 18 hours and 31 minutes ## Images ![Handel: Semele - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61NeeH93rbL.jpg) ![Handel: Semele - Image 2](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/91xTgCF3iYL.jpg) ![Handel: Semele - Image 3](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81nBWnTcg6L.jpg) ![Handel: Semele - Image 4](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/91S8kfxjwwL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and Bacchus crown the joys of love *by D***N on May 26, 2009* ....and Bacchus crown the joys of love. The Work. By 1741 Handel was out of the opera business. For three decades he had presided over a thriving Italian Opera House in London, had produced dozens of operas by other composers as well as written and produced some thirty five or so operas of his own composition. All this time he had been in the favor of the royals and the "people of Quality". However the tastes of the London audience had changed and he had gone from a wealthy man to near bankruptcy. Now he simply changed forms and was writing oratorios in English and was again prospering. A succession of "hits" folloowed including Messiah, Samson, Saul, Joseph and his Brethren etc. Then in 1743 he too up the script of Semele, a tale from Ovid. He had previously written a "serenata" in English also based on Ovid in 1714 called Acis and Galatea which is in oratorio style, not staged. Semele was to be a non-opera even though the libretto by William Congreve was set as an opera by John Eccles in 1707 but not performed at that time. This libretto is a masterpiece of English writing. It pulsates with life, passion, lust, comedy, pathos and eroticism. Certainly not something for a church choir. Handel added some parts of Alexander Pope e.g. Jupiter's "Where 'er you walk" to fill in the Congreve text. His great inspiration began to flow again and Handel produced one of the most perfect gems of his great output. The Performance. This DVD production was filmed in January 2007 at the Zurich Opera House, The cast here has the very gifted Cecilia Bartoli, the formidable conductor and Baroque authority William Christie and noted producer Robert Carsen. All in all a very successful operation. The other cast members are not so well known as Ms Bartoli but are most all up to the calling except the Ino of Liliana Nikiteanu who goes breathless on occasion. They all work together along with the excellent chorusto give the piece a light comedic touch, particularly the Juno of Brigit Remmert. When this work was first presented (not staged but sung) in 1744 the reviwer dubbed it "No Oratorio, but a baudy opera", and bawdy it is. A good evvenings entertainment as a staged work. In 1990 a superb CD was issued using period instruments, the Ambrosian Opera Chorus, English Chamber Orchestra all led by John Nelson. The cast was a dream roster with the young Kathleen Battle in perhaps her best recorded role, the unmatchable Marilyn Horne as Juno and Ino, Samuel Ramey, Sylvia Mc Nair, counter tenor Michael Chance and John Aler as Jupiter. I have listened to and cherished this recording for many years. When I compare this performance to the present DVD I'm impressed with several things. In the CD we have a series of arias superbly sung e.g. Horn "Hence, Iris, hence away", M Chance "Hymen haste, thy torch prepare"(not included in the DVD), Ramey "Wher 'er you walk" (so beautiful). But that is it. It is a series arias sung by some of the best and most famous singers of the time; there is no sense of continuity. Here in this DVD it all works well together as an opera with the good chorus providing push for the action and unifying the parts into a whole. Semele has a sad end but from her ashes is born the demigod of wine and good cheer. So in the end the chorus sings his praises and passes around the wine to everyone onstage, all get tipsy and start doffing off clothes; and Bacchus crown the joys of love. ### ⭐ Jupiter was an Insufferable Cad... *by G***O on July 11, 2009* ... and, like other powerful executives of recent memory, had dubious taste in dames. But the libretto for this English opera, written by playwright William Congreve, is several notches above the average Georgian doggerel, and the music is Handel near his compositional peak. What follows here will be a critique of this specific performance and should not be read as criticism of Semele as a work of the musical stage. This is a wretched mess of a performance. The modern sets are dreary. The orchestra is shaky. The balance of voices with orchestra is lacking in acoustic integration. But most of all, the singing is shoddy, unstylish, lacking in ensemble discipline, and OUT! OF! TUNE! Cecilia Bartoli is the biggest name and has of course the biggest role, as Semele. Bartoli often substitutes mannerism for affective expression, but this time she takes her flouncy coyness to extremes. Worse yet, she sings most of her arias with a tight, quivery, non-ornamental vibrato. It's unclear whether she's attempting to re-legitimize the old-time fat lady's warble, or to mask the deficiencies of her tuning, but in any case she fails at both. Liliana Nikiteanu, in the role of Ino, has such a reedy little voice, and so little control of her enunciation, that it hardly matters when she's out of tune, which is often. Believe me, it's true. Listen to her duets with Athamas, sung by high tenor Thomas Michael Allen, early in the First Act. The duets are shockingly out of tune, and I think the fault is chiefly Nikiteanu's. Birgit Remmert (Juno) and Isabel Rey (Iris) play their roles as TV comedy, which might be presumed to justify their squawky, squeaky timbres. But they're also tragicomically OUT! OF! TUNE! altogether too often. There's nothing especially ingratiating about the voice of bass Anton Scharinger, at least in his Baroque role of King Cadmus. His singing is bluff and robust, but not at all stylish. Nevertheless, his arias come as a relief, since he's mostly IN TUNE! High tenor Thoams Michael Allen struggles bravely with a role (Athamas) that flings him up and down across his voice break. He has some style and he acts with expressive restraint. I'll watch for him in other productions. William Christie is one of the finest conductors and exponents of Baroque music in the world today. It was his presence at the podium in the Opernhaus Zürich that induced me to buy this DVD. Unfortunately, the orchestra "La Scintilla" lets him down. The violins struggle raggedly to keep up with Handel's hustling sixteenth notes. The oboes are scattered at crucial passages, and in one obbligato, they are hideously OUT! OF! TUNE! This DVD is so disappointing that I'm putting it up for re-sale immediately. Hopefully one of my pesky persistent no-voters will buy it by mistake. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Semele Excels *by A***7 on May 29, 2009* Cecelia Bartoli has the voice if not the figure to make you believe Jove would lift her to a secrete love palace on the lambent wings of an eagle. This opera is Handel at his erotic best. I blushed many times as Semele and Jove cavorted the bed to sublime music. The production is what opera should be: fun and entertaining to watch one rainy evening. The only irritant is the silly bedrobe Bartolia wears through most of the production---surely the lover of Jove would be more sexily attired? My favorite aria is Juno in full fury: Hence hence, Iris, hence away. Always the jilted spouse, Juno is a fury of anger and malice as she tricks Semele into self-destruction. And does so here most convincingly. Bartoli looks so innocent besides the conspiring wife that I shuddered to think of silly, young girls throwing themselves at married men. If you have ever conceived of Handel as serious water-cannon music, here is a production that is worthy of the modern and immodest times we enjoy, and done with verve and skill so that by the end you are satisfied as only opera can satisfy: full of visual, aural, musical, and sensual delight. Buy this one. --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.ec/products/46613433-handel-semele](https://www.desertcart.ec/products/46613433-handel-semele) --- *Product available on Desertcart Ecuador* *Store origin: EC* *Last updated: 2026-04-30*