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 (novel) an effort to find and explore the Niger River. The novel is loosely based on historical sources, including Mungo Park's 1799 book, "Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa". However, as Boyle admits in his foreword to "Water Music", he does not claim historical accuracy or even faithfulness to the contemporary accounts, whose reliability is doubtful anyway. Water Music (novel) Water Music is the first novel by T. C. Boyle, first published in 1981. It is a semi-fictional historical adventure novel that is set in the late 18th and early 19th century. The novel follows the parallel adventures and intertwining