Editing Semele (section)

==In the classical tradition==
In the [[classical mythology|later mythological tradition]] of the [[Christian era]], ancient deities and their narratives were often interpreted allegorically. In the [[Neoplatonic]] philosophy of [[Henry More]] (1614–1687), for instance, Semele was thought to embody "intellectual imagination", and was construed as the opposite of [[Arachne]], "sense perception".<ref>Henry Moore, ''A Platonick Song of the Soul'' (1647), as discussed by Alexander Jacob, "The Neoplatonic Conception of Nature," in ''The Uses of Antiquity: The Scientific Revolution and the Classical Tradition'' (Kluwer, 1991), pp. 103–104.</ref>

In the 18th century, the story of Semele formed the basis for three [[opera]]s of the same name, [[Semele (Eccles)|the first]] by [[John Eccles (composer)|John Eccles]] (1707, to a libretto by [[William Congreve]]), [[Sémélé|another]] by [[Marin Marais]] (1709), and [[Semele (Handel)|a third]] by [[George Frideric Handel]] (1742). Handel's work, based on Congreve's libretto but with additions, while an opera to its marrow, was originally given as an [[oratorio]] so that it could be performed in a [[Lent]]en concert series; it premiered on February 10, 1744.<ref>{{cite book
|last = Dean
|first = Winton
|author-link = Winton Dean
|title = Handel's dramatic oratorios and masques
|year = 1959
|publisher = [[Oxford University Press]]
|location = London
|isbn = 0-19-315203-7
|page = 365}}</ref> The German dramatist Schiller produced a [[singspiel]] entitled ''[[Semele (Schiller)|Semele]]'' in 1782. Victorian poet [[Constance Naden]] wrote a sonnet in the voice of Semele, first published in her 1881 collection ''Songs and Sonnets of Springtime''.<ref>{{cite book
|last = Naden
|first = Constance
|author-link = Constance Naden
|title = The Complete Poetical Works of Constance Naden
|url = https://archive.org/details/cu31924013529205
|year = 1894
|publisher = Bickers & Son
|location = London
|page = [https://archive.org/details/cu31924013529205/page/n168 137]}}</ref> [[Paul Dukas]] composed a cantata, ''[[Sémélé (Dukas cantata)|Sémélé]]''.