Handel’s career began as an opera composer before transitioning to oratorios. Acis and Galatea is one of these operas. Acis & Galatea debuted in 1718 as a one-act pastorale, or semi-opera, in the gardens of Cannons, with only five singers. Acis and Galatea are Greek mythological figures. Galatea loves Acis, a shepherd boy. However, envious Polyphemus – a petty god – smashes Acis with a boulder, and the bereaved Galatea turns him into a stream.