George Frideric Handel exhibition marking the tercentenary of the composer's birth calls them two men of the late eighteenth century "who have left us solid evidence of the means by which they indulged their enthusiasm". With his English oratorios, such as "Messiah" and "Solomon", the coronation anthems, and other works including "Water Music" and "Music for the Royal Fireworks", Handel became a national icon in Britain, and featured in the BBC series, "The Birth of British Music: Handel – The Conquering Hero". After his death, Handel's Italian operas fell into obscurity, except for selections such as the aria from "Serse", "Ombra mai fù".
Royal Patriarchal Music Seminary of Lisbon had passed he was already recruiting Italian opera singers and others to establish a professional opera company within the court's structure. Among several others, probably the most important of these was the Neapolitan-trained organist and composer, Davide Perez who in 1752 was appointed as "mestre de capela" at the Royal Chapel and music master to the royal princesses. Within of that same year, he opened within the palace building a new theatre called the "Teatro do Forte" which he had created by converting the room in which foreign ambassadors had once been presented. A number of operas by Perez, Johann