Serse by the success in London of ballad operas such as "The Beggar's Opera" and John Frederick Lampe's "The Dragon of Wantley", the latter of which was visited by Handel. "Serse" disappeared from the stage for almost two hundred years. It enjoyed its first modern revival in Göttingen on 5 July 1924 in a version by Oscar Hagen. By 1926 this version had been staged at least 90 times in 15 German cities. "Serse"'s success has continued. According to Winton Dean, "Serse" is Handel's most popular opera with modern audiences after "Giulio Cesare". The very features which 18th-century listeners found so
Music for the Royal Fireworks days later, on 27 April, the performing musicians were in a specially constructed building that had been designed by Servandoni, a theatre designer, who used four Italians to assist him. Andrea Casali and Andrea Soldi designed the decorations. The fireworks themselves were devised and controlled by Gaetano Ruggieri and Giuseppe Sarti, both from Bologna. Charles Frederick was the controller, captain Thomas Desaguliers was the chief fire master. The display was not as successful as the music itself: the weather was rainy causing many misfires and in the middle of the show the right pavilion caught fire. Also, a woman's clothes