Georg Friedrich Händel (1685–1759) composed forty operas, most of which belong to the quite formal and heroic genre of opere serie. These dramme per musica, as they are often called in their own libretti, catered to the political needs and aesthetic expectations of their aristocratic audiences, for they revolve around characters from the upper ranks of society. That is to say, they bring erotic impulses and the duties of … virtue into conflict with the dynamic intrigues of state actions, allow for the glorification of wisdom, responsibility, and modesty as the ideals of enlightened absolute monarchy, and exploit the dramaturgical concept of the proportional fall, the belief that the abrupt demise of a protagonist, as well as the vicissitudes of his or her life, affect the audience in direct relationship to his or her social prominence.

Opere serie particularly favor literary and historical figures who were renowned for having exhibited extraordinary virtue in difficult circumstances. Composers combed the past in search of protagonists who could unleash passionate arias that would morally edify the public as those figures endure severe trials and enjoy great triumphs. Of course, the composers often turned for such protagonists to the history and myths of Antiquity, but they did not entirely skip the Middle Ages, for at least a dozen opere serie by Händel, and many more by his contemporaries, were set during that period.