Serse Serse Serse (; English title: "Xerxes"; HWV 40) 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 for an earlier opera of the same name by Giovanni Bononcini in 1694. Stampiglia's libretto was itself based on one by Nicolò Minato that was set by Francesco Cavalli in 1654. The opera is set in Persia (modern-day Iran) about 470 BC and is very loosely based upon Xerxes I of Persia. Serse, originally sung by a
Water Music (Telemann) Water Music (Telemann) Water Music ("), TWV 55:C3, is the common name of an orchestral suite by the German Baroque composer Georg Philipp Telemann, with the full title (Hamburg ebb and flood). Telemann composed the piece in ten movements to celebrate the centennial anniversary of the in a performance on 6 April 1723. The suite draws upon Hamburg's geographical location as an important and successful port on the river Elbe while Telemann illustrates the piece with mythological water deities and tone painting giving the nautical theme added depth. The overture begins by representing the physical movement of the ocean, followed