Georg Friedrich Händel composed Die Verwandelte Daphne at the request of Reinhard Keiser, the manager of the Oper am Gänsemarkt in 1706.

[2] The libretto, based on the Daphne myth, was by Hinrich Hinsch [de], a lawyer, who also wrote the text for Keiser's first opera in Hamburg, Mahumet II (1696), based on the life of Mehmet II.

He prepared his departure to Italy where he planned to study further; he copied Keiser's opera Octavia and took it along on his journey.

Only fragments of the score survive, but a copy of the libretto exists in the Library of Congress.

[1] Two suites from Daphne were reconstructed and were published by Bärenreiter in a collection of single pieces orchestral music by Handel, as part of their complete edition of Handel's works, one in B-flat major, HWV 352, and one in G major, HWV353.