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Programme Note

SYNOPSIS

Apollo, while boasting about his slaying of the mighty Python and presuming his superiority over the god of Love, meets the beautiful Daphne who awakes in him a ‘passion all consuming’. Daphne’s attempts to avoid Apollo’s pursuit fails, but as he finally catches her, she is turned into a laurel, which immediately becomes sacred to him for ever. The work dates from Handel’s early years in Italy.