Berenice was the third new opera produced by Handel for the 1736-1737 opera season at Covent Garden Theatre. All three had the castrato Conti as the lead man. And all three were failures. Although the Opera of the Nobility had collapsed by the end of the season, and were further in debt even than Handel, Handel's season was not a success either, and he became physically ill from exhaustion. He suffered from his first "paralytic stroke" as the newspapers called it in April, before the premiere of Berenice. He was forced to watch his opera from the seats, rather than conduct it from the harpsichord. The libretto for Berenice was again taken from one by Salvi, and concerns Berenice, the Queen of Egypt, and her husband-to-be Alessandro. The love intrigues that surround the cast of characters is complicated, confusing, and elaborate, but all is worked into the required happy ending by the close of the opera. Although Berenice's music is good, and so is much of the rest of the cast's, the opera was only performed three or four times. The score is given a variety of treatments by the inclusion of duets and accompagnato recitativo, as well as three entrance cavatinas. The opera seria convention places the grand da capo aria at the end of the scene, culminating the emotions and actions which transpire during the recitative which precedes it. This climax at the end of the scene allows the singer to exit in glory; however, it is dramatically stunting, for the action does not develop past it. Handel preferred writing the entrance cavatina, as he did in this opera, so that the action could be introduced by a substantial musical number, the tension built through the recitative, and then discharged in an aria or duet. This appreciation for more flexible scenic constructions dates all the way back to his operatic days in Hamburg, in his youth. It is more characteristic of German opera writing than Italian.

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