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
Paris in the 18th century houses were being constructed. As the boulevards attracted crowds, they also attracted street entertainers; acrobats, musicians, dancers, and every kind of trained animal performed on the sidewalks. The end of the 18th century saw the opening of the pleasure gardens of Ranelegh, Vauxhall, and Tivoli. These were large private gardens where, in summer, Parisians paid an admission charge and found food, music, dancing, and other entertainment, from pantomime to magic lantern shows and fireworks. The admission fee was relatively high; the owners of the gardens wanted to attract a more upper class clientele, and to keep out the more boisterous