Imeneo

[1] Charles Jennens, who created the libretti for both Saul and Messiah, described Imeneo as "the worst of all Handel’s Compositions", but added "yet half the Songs are good".

The opera opens with Tirinto's lamentation of his lost love, Rosmene, a virgin of goddess Ceres, to barbaric pirates.

When Imeneo, who insists that Rosmene is ungrateful, and Tirinto, who calls her unfaithful, tell her to decide who she will marry, she feigns a nervous breakdown in front of the characters.

Tirinto maintains that she is out of her mind, but in the aria "Io son quella navicella" Rosmene compares herself to a storm-tossed ship coming to shore.

The chorus at the end of the opera restates that one must not bow down to one's desire, but to reason; one must not follow true feelings and fidelity, but gratitude and honor.