The first examples were the Shakespeare adaptations produced by Thomas Betterton with music by Matthew Locke.
After Locke's death, a second flowering produced the semi-operas of Henry Purcell, notably King Arthur and The Fairy-Queen.
Semi-opera received a deathblow when the Lord Chamberlain separately licensed plays without music and the new Italian opera[citation needed].
When music was written, it was usually for moments in the play immediately following either love scenes or those concerning the supernatural.
It has been observed[1] that several of Calderón's comedias with music by Juan Hidalgo de Polanco are closer to semi-opera than to the pastoral Zarzuela.