Home Classical, Ancient Near Eastern & Egyptian Studies Endless Pleasure: Congreve’s Semele and her Classical Past
Chapter
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Endless Pleasure: Congreve’s Semele and her Classical Past

  • Catherine Connors
Become an author with De Gruyter Brill
Explore this Subject How to publish with us
Classical Enrichment
This chapter is in the book Classical Enrichment

Abstract

William Congreve’s libretto Semele was written for an opera composed by John Eccles in the early 1700s and used in slightly adjusted form in G.F. Handel’s Semele, produced as an oratorio in 1744. Congreve expands on the Semele episode of Ovid’s Metamorphoses by incorporating material from Ovid’s tales of Somnus and Narcissus as well as elements of Apuleius’ tale of Psyche and Cupid. Elements of Semele’s fatal confrontation with Jove had already been incorporated into Thomas Shadwell’s 1675 production of Psyche: A Tragedy. Congreve’s striking aria on the “endless pleasure” that Semele enjoys with Jove, this paper argues, is likewise drawn from a classical Latin model, the song about enjoying sexual pleasure (voluptas) with Jove (disguised as Amphitryon) that Plautus’ Alcmena sings at Amphitryon 633-639. Indeed, the part of Semele in the planned Eccles production was most likely written for Anne Bracegirdle, who had played Alcmena in a 1690 production of Dryden’s Amphitryon. This instance of classical reception prompts attention to parallels between Alcmena and Semele, comic and tragic versions of a mortal woman who enjoys sex with Jove.

Abstract

William Congreve’s libretto Semele was written for an opera composed by John Eccles in the early 1700s and used in slightly adjusted form in G.F. Handel’s Semele, produced as an oratorio in 1744. Congreve expands on the Semele episode of Ovid’s Metamorphoses by incorporating material from Ovid’s tales of Somnus and Narcissus as well as elements of Apuleius’ tale of Psyche and Cupid. Elements of Semele’s fatal confrontation with Jove had already been incorporated into Thomas Shadwell’s 1675 production of Psyche: A Tragedy. Congreve’s striking aria on the “endless pleasure” that Semele enjoys with Jove, this paper argues, is likewise drawn from a classical Latin model, the song about enjoying sexual pleasure (voluptas) with Jove (disguised as Amphitryon) that Plautus’ Alcmena sings at Amphitryon 633-639. Indeed, the part of Semele in the planned Eccles production was most likely written for Anne Bracegirdle, who had played Alcmena in a 1690 production of Dryden’s Amphitryon. This instance of classical reception prompts attention to parallels between Alcmena and Semele, comic and tragic versions of a mortal woman who enjoys sex with Jove.

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Preface V
  3. Contents VII
  4. Format and Abbreviations XI
  5. Classical Enrichment: In Praise of Stephen Harrison XIII
  6. An Overview of this Volume XXI
  7. Part I: Greek and Roman Interactions
  8. Text and Context: A Question of Method 1
  9. Hellenistic Literature and Latin Literature: Towards Totality 17
  10. Horace at the Symposium: Talking with Maecenas and Messalla, Singing with Lyde and Phyllis 35
  11. Healing One’s Sorrow with the Miseries of Others: Consolation and Schadenfreude in Greek and Roman Thought 55
  12. Part II: Early and Late Republican Literature
  13. Rival Plotlines and Lovers’ Hardships in Plautus’ Asinaria 71
  14. Catullus, Nepos, and the Muse 85
  15. Catullus’ Dirty Kiss (c. 99): Roman Poetry’s #MeToo Moment 95
  16. Cicero’s Marius and his Marius: Life, Dreams, and Intertext 109
  17. Part III: Augustan Poetry
  18. Iambic Parody in Horace’s Epode 11: A Variation on Vergil’s Generic Games in Eclogue 10? 127
  19. Virgil and the Roman Republic: Continuity and Rupture 145
  20. Aeneas, the Penates, and Italian Nationalism 161
  21. Dido’s First Curse (A. 4.380–387) 173
  22. Turnus Donning Tragedy: The Baldric in Virgil’s Aeneid 199
  23. Notes on the Text and Interpretation of Horace’s Odes and Carmen Saeculare 217
  24. Editing Sulpicia 235
  25. Et mihi cedet amor: The Revenge of an Abusive Master in Ars amatoria’s Proem 247
  26. Amor and amicitia: Ovid’s Ars and the Ancient Discourse on Friendship 255
  27. The Lover’s Calendar (Ars amatoria 1.399–418) 271
  28. Part IV: The Ancient Novel
  29. Recasting Epic in Petronius’ “Dinner at Trimalchio’s” 285
  30. Planet Earth: The Paradoxographic Turn in Antonius Diogenes, Achilles Tatius, Iamblichus, and Longus 305
  31. Posthuman Style: Syzygic Affirmations in Achilles Tatius 323
  32. Reevaluating and Repositioning the Historia Apollonii Regis Tyri 337
  33. Part V: Reception
  34. The Rape Scene in Terence’s Eunuchus and its Reception in the Joseph Plays in the 16th Century 347
  35. Endless Pleasure: Congreve’s Semele and her Classical Past 365
  36. Revolutionary Psyche 381
  37. Bann Valley Eclogues 397
  38. Crossing Bridges: Derek Mahon and a Resistant Tragic Tradition 413
  39. Staying Home with Hesiod: Peter Fallon’s Deeds and Their Days 423
  40. List of Contributors 441
  41. General Index 447
  42. Index of Manuscripts and Annotated Volumes 455
  43. Index of Passages 457
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111577289-024

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Preface V
  3. Contents VII
  4. Format and Abbreviations XI
  5. Classical Enrichment: In Praise of Stephen Harrison XIII
  6. An Overview of this Volume XXI
  7. Part I: Greek and Roman Interactions
  8. Text and Context: A Question of Method 1
  9. Hellenistic Literature and Latin Literature: Towards Totality 17
  10. Horace at the Symposium: Talking with Maecenas and Messalla, Singing with Lyde and Phyllis 35
  11. Healing One’s Sorrow with the Miseries of Others: Consolation and Schadenfreude in Greek and Roman Thought 55
  12. Part II: Early and Late Republican Literature
  13. Rival Plotlines and Lovers’ Hardships in Plautus’ Asinaria 71
  14. Catullus, Nepos, and the Muse 85
  15. Catullus’ Dirty Kiss (c. 99): Roman Poetry’s #MeToo Moment 95
  16. Cicero’s Marius and his Marius: Life, Dreams, and Intertext 109
  17. Part III: Augustan Poetry
  18. Iambic Parody in Horace’s Epode 11: A Variation on Vergil’s Generic Games in Eclogue 10? 127
  19. Virgil and the Roman Republic: Continuity and Rupture 145
  20. Aeneas, the Penates, and Italian Nationalism 161
  21. Dido’s First Curse (A. 4.380–387) 173
  22. Turnus Donning Tragedy: The Baldric in Virgil’s Aeneid 199
  23. Notes on the Text and Interpretation of Horace’s Odes and Carmen Saeculare 217
  24. Editing Sulpicia 235
  25. Et mihi cedet amor: The Revenge of an Abusive Master in Ars amatoria’s Proem 247
  26. Amor and amicitia: Ovid’s Ars and the Ancient Discourse on Friendship 255
  27. The Lover’s Calendar (Ars amatoria 1.399–418) 271
  28. Part IV: The Ancient Novel
  29. Recasting Epic in Petronius’ “Dinner at Trimalchio’s” 285
  30. Planet Earth: The Paradoxographic Turn in Antonius Diogenes, Achilles Tatius, Iamblichus, and Longus 305
  31. Posthuman Style: Syzygic Affirmations in Achilles Tatius 323
  32. Reevaluating and Repositioning the Historia Apollonii Regis Tyri 337
  33. Part V: Reception
  34. The Rape Scene in Terence’s Eunuchus and its Reception in the Joseph Plays in the 16th Century 347
  35. Endless Pleasure: Congreve’s Semele and her Classical Past 365
  36. Revolutionary Psyche 381
  37. Bann Valley Eclogues 397
  38. Crossing Bridges: Derek Mahon and a Resistant Tragic Tradition 413
  39. Staying Home with Hesiod: Peter Fallon’s Deeds and Their Days 423
  40. List of Contributors 441
  41. General Index 447
  42. Index of Manuscripts and Annotated Volumes 455
  43. Index of Passages 457
Sign up now to receive a 20% welcome discount
Institutional Access
How does access work?
Have an idea on how to improve our website?
Please write us.
© 2025 De Gruyter Brill
Downloaded on 15.10.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783111577289-024/html?lang=en&srsltid=AfmBOor0iCWF2mDKluhyZW14yDywCejRPZ1t1JxusWUhXy5D2sp-H1bK
Scroll to top button