Handel's last two operas were both comedies and performed at Lincoln Inn's Fields Theater. Apart from the castrato lead in both operas, most of the singers working for Handel by this time were all English. They had been trained by Handel himself, and he composed the roles with their voices in mind. Imeneo is based on a libretto by Stampiglia. A Porpora setting of the work had been staged in Naples in 1723. It is thought possible that Rolli adapted this libretto for Handel, although no one knows for sure who the adaptor might have been. The texts for the arias are conventional and traditional, almost all being written in the form as exit arias. Handel livens up the formal construction with the composition of cavatinas, and an extended "mad" scene for Rosmene in the third act. The opera climax and resolution is intricately constructed, carefully worked out, and dramatically powerful. Romene must choose between two ardent suitors, so she pretends madness long enough to give herself time to decide. In the meanwhile, both plead with her using the same music, first separately, and then together. The highpoint comes with a concerted trio, an unusual form in heroic opere serie, but common in buffo operas. Her "mad" scene in Act III acts as the denouement, and consists of accompagnato recitativo, a cavatina aria, and a full blown aria, during which she finally makes her choice. Her "mad" scene is also a scene of vision, as she imagines herself in Hades, struggling between the force of her love for Tirinto, and her gratitude and love towards Imeneo.

The conclusion of Imeneo is also singular. The opera opens with the moving lament of Tirinto, as he sings of the loss of his beloved Rosmene. He is the star castrato of the opera, and has several brilliant arias in which his supremacy is expressed by the ardent passion of his love, his higher tessitura, and his more difficult vocal music. However, Rosmene chooses Imeneo in the end. His part is written for the lower baritone voice. There is no intrigue in the plot leading up to the rejection of Tirinto, and Handel resolves the opera in minor, as if to hint that the wrong guy got the girl. The music of the opera is again light, and almost buffo in nature. It shows the influence of Neapolitan writing in its lighter style, as well as the influence of the newer style galant, in which the bass writing is dispensed with entirely, and the textures remain very transparent. Imeneo was another big theatrical failure with the public. Although it displays many popular elements, Italian opera was just no longer what the public wanted to hear.

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