Florindo

Der beglückte Florindo (''The Delighted Florindo''), HWV 3, is an opera composed by Handel at the request of Reinhard Keiser, the manager of the Hamburg Opera. It was first performed (after Handel had left for Italy) at the Oper am Gänsemarkt in January 1708. It was probably directed from the harpsichord by Christoph Graupner and took place most likely after Handel's completion of his first Italian opera, Rodrigo.

The opera was the first part of a double opera, with the second part, ''Die verwandelte Daphne'', intended to be performed on the following evening, with the total title being ''Florindo and Daphne''. Keiser inserted a play in low German, called ''die lustige Hochzeit'', into the opera, afraid that the audience would get tired otherwise. Handel was not pleased, according to Romain Rolland. Only fragments of the score survive, but a copy of the libretto exists in the Library of Congress. Both operas totaled 100 musical numbers, 55 in the first and 45 in the second but these were written as to be spread over two nights as was customary at the time.

The libretto was by Hinrich Hinsch, a lawyer, who also wrote the text for Keiser's first opera in Hamburg: ''Mahumet II'' (1696), based on the life of Mehmet II. Hinsch had been writing librettos since 1681. He died in 1712. Provided by Wikipedia