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
Hansel and Gretel (opera) Hansel and Gretel (opera) Hansel and Gretel (German: ) is an opera by nineteenth-century composer Engelbert Humperdinck, who described it as a "" (fairy-tale opera). The libretto was written by Humperdinck's sister, Adelheid Wette, based on the Grimm brothers' fairy tale "Hansel and Gretel". It is much admired for its folk music-inspired themes, one of the most famous being the "" ("Evening Benediction") from act 2. The idea for the opera was proposed to Humperdinck by his sister, who approached him about writing music for songs that she had written for her children for Christmas based on "Hansel and Gretel".