What kind of dramatic work does Semele and Arabella have in common?
Semele (Handel) Semele (HWV 58) is a 'musical drama', originally presented "after the manner of an oratorio", in three parts by George Frideric Handel. Based on a pre-existent opera libretto by William Congreve, the work is an opera in all but name but was first presented in concert form at Covent Garden theatre on 10 February 1744. The story comes from Ovid's Metamorphoses and concerns Semele, mother of Bacchus. Handel also referred to the work as 'The Story of Semele'.
The Spanish Gypsy The Spanish Gypsy is an English Jacobean tragicomedy, dating from 1621-22. The play was likely a collaboration between several dramatists, including Thomas Middleton, William Rowley, Thomas Dekker, and John Ford. Like Shakespeare's lost play "Cardenio", "The Spanish Gypsy" is an English reworking of the novellas of Miguel de Cervantes, combining two of Cervantes' "Novelas Ejemplares" into a single drama.