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
Early music of the British Isles services and anthems, employing the long lived Bryd and then following in his footsteps composers such as Orlando Gibbons (1583–1625) and Thomas Tomkins (1572–1656). The emphasis on the liturgical content of services under Charles I, associated with Archbishop William Laud, meant a need for fuller musical accompaniment. In 1626 the musical establishment of the royal household was sufficient to necessitate the creation of a new office of 'Master of the King's Music' and probably the most important composer of the reign was William Lawes (1602–45), who produced fantasia suites, consort music for harp, viols and organ and music for individual