R.M.20.f.7

ff. 5, 12, 79v and 117 are ruled with staves but otherwise blank.

Points of note:

1. f. 1. ‘Ouverture’. ‘[Here is the astrological symbol for Thursday]. angefangen den 3. June 1743’.

2. f. 4v. Act I, sc. 1. A version of the opening recitative, for ‘Priest or Cadmus’, which has been cancelled by pasting down the following page, containing the opening as in H-G., p. 10.

3. f. 11v. The original versions of the recitatives for Cadmus and Athamas have been cancelled by pasting down f. 12, on which they agree with H-G., p. 23. In the cancelled version the part of Athamas is written in the Tenor clef.

4. f. 13. Semele’s recitative ‘Ah me!’ (H-G., p. 25) is marked ‘All[egro]’. [According to Dean, Winton, Handel’s Dramatic Oratorios and Masques, London, 1959, p. 397, it should be read ‘Acc[ompanied]’].

5. f. 14v. ‘The morning lark’ (H-G., p. 28). Written in G, but marked (in pencil) ‘Un tono piu basso ex F’.

6. f. 19. ‘See, she blushing turns’. An air for Ino (A.), not in H-G., where it is replaced by a recitative (p. 36) not in the MS.

7. f. 20. The beginning of a setting of ‘Hymen, haste’, for Tenor. Crossed out.

8. f. 21. ‘Hymen, haste’. Alto setting (H-G., p. 36).

9. f. 23. ‘Why dost thou thus untimely grieve’ (H-G, p. 40). The part of Athamas has originally been written for Tenor, but altered throughout to Alto.

10. f. 26v. ‘Avert these omens’. Four bars of a different opening from that in H-G., p. 46 are crossed out.

11. f. 30. ‘Thy aid, pronubial Juno’ (H-G., p. 57). Altered from the original Tenor setting and marked ‘apart’.

12. f. 31v. ‘Turn, hopeless lover’. In D minor. A pencilled direction for transposition ‘Un tono piu alto’ is almost erased.

13. f. 32v. ‘She weeps’. Recitative for Tenor, and opening of ‘Your tunefull voice’ in G minor are crossed out.

14. f. 33. ‘Turn, hopeless lover’. Recitative for Soprano (not in H-G.). Probably to replace the setting as an Air (H-G., p. 61).

15. f. 34. ‘She weeps’, recit. (A.) and ‘Your tunefull voice’ – as in H-G. (pp. 64, 65).

16. f. 35. ‘Too well I see’ (H-G., p. 68). The part of Athamas is here written for Alto.

17. f. 38. Sc. 3. The part of Athamas has originally been Tenor, and altered to Alto.

18. f. 47v. ‘[Here is the astrological symbol for Monday] Juny. 13. 1743’.

19. f. 48. Act II, sc. 1. The ‘Sinfonia’ in H-G., p. 91, is not in the MS. [bound in Riccardo I, R.M.20.c.2., f. 42].

20. f. 48. ‘There from mortal cares’. The only ‘forte’ marked is that in H-G., p. 97, top line, bar 1. H-G., p. 97, line 3, bar 4 is marked ‘ad[agi]o’.

21. f. 51. ‘With adamant the gates are barr’d’ (H-G., p. 101); marked ‘All[egro]’. [According to Dean, Winton, Handel’s Dramatic Oratorios and Masques, London, 1959, p. 397, it should be read ‘Acc[ompanied]’].

22. f. 54. ‘Scene 2d – an apartement in the Palace of Semele; she is sleeping; Loves and Zephirs waiting’. ‘Come, Zephirs, come’. Air for Cupid (S.), not in H-G.

23. f. 56v. ‘Semele awakes and rises’. ‘O Sleep why dost thou leave me’ (H-G., p. 107). In E, but marked ‘un mezzo tono piu basso ex D#’.

24. f. 69. ‘Where’er you walk’. The second part was originally six bars longer, but has been shortened (in ink).

25. f. 72v. ‘Bless the glad earth’. The first page of another version, crossed out (in ink).

26. f. 73. ‘Bless the glad earth’: as in H-G., p. 144.

27. f. 76v. ‘Fine della parte 2da’.

28. f. 77. The end of the earlier version of ‘Bless the glad earth’.

29. f. 77v. ‘Fine dell’Atto 2do. [Here is the astrological symbol for Monday] 20 June 1743].

30. f. 80v. A cancelled version of part of the recitatives for Juno and Iris ‘Somnus, awake’ (H-G., p. 154).

31. f. 83. ‘My will obey; (H-G., p. 161). The MS. does not always agree with either the higher or the lower notes printed in H-G.

32. f. 85. ‘Scene 2d. Semele alone’.

33. f. 86. ‘Scen: 3d, Semele in an apartment, enter Juno as Ino, with a mirrour in her Hand’. The recitatives (H-G., p., 167) end at ‘or new perfection’.

34. f. 86v. ‘Behold in this mirrour’. Air for Juno, not in H-G. The recitative setting (H-G., pp. 167-168) is not in the MS.

35. f. 89v. ‘O ecstasy of happiness’. Recitative (H-G., p. 168) followed by ‘Myself I shall adore’.

36. f. 97. After ‘In witness to the oath I take’ (H-G., p. 186): ‘Thunder at a distance and underneath’ is directed. ‘You’ll grant…what you require’ follows, then the drum passage, with direction: ‘Thunder at a distance and underneath before the Recit of Semele then cast off this’.

37. f. 97v. ‘Like Jove too appear’ (H-G., p. 187) is followed by the words only of more recitative, crossed out (in pencil).

38. f. 99v. ‘No, no, I’ll take no less’. In E, but marked (in pencil) ‘Un tono piu basso ex D#’. The words in the MS. are: ‘I’ll be pleas’d with no less Than my wish in excess’.

39. f. 104v. ‘O terror’. The original words were ‘We like comets err’ (H-G., p. 204). ‘Meteors’ has been substituted.

40. f. 108. H-G., p. 209. The part of Athamas has been altered from Tenor to Alto and ‘Despair no more’ (H-G., p. 209) directed to be inserted between ‘and your’s fulfilled’ (p. 209) and ‘See from above; (p. 215).

41. f. 108v. ‘Scene the last’. ‘Sinfonia’ (H-G., p. 215).

42. ff. 109-10. ‘Despair no more’ (H-G., p. 209).

43. f. 111. ‘Apollo comes’. Recitative (H-G., p. 216).

44. f. 111v. ‘Then mortals be merry’. The beginning of a chorus, crossed out (in pencil).

45. f. 112. ‘Happy, happy’ (H-G., p. 217).

46. f. 117. ‘G. F. Handel London [here is the astrological symbol for Monday] Juy 4. 1743. Völlig geendiget’.

William Congreve, dramatist: Handel's 'Semele' (HWV58) , after a text by William Congreve: 1743-circa 1790.