The success of Gay's The Beggar's Opera and imitative works was the principal cause of the falling-away support for H ndel's opera company. He went to Italy to hear operas by composers such as Porpora and Pergolesi and to engage the leading Italian singers. In 1734 he moved the new Covent Garden Theatre, for which he wrote two of his greatest operas, Ariodante and Alcina , but he realized, that the popularity of Italian opera was declining and began somewhat unwillingly, to develop the genre of dramatic oratorios which is perhaps his most original contribution to the art of music. Esther and Acis and Galathea, are typical examples. Ironically, released from the conventions of opera seria, H ndel's dramatic gifts found wider and more expressive outlets in the oratorio form.
Scores contain stage directions and the use of choir and orchestra became more dramatic and rich.
Nevertheless he continued to write operas and between 1737 and 1740 composed Berenice, Serse, Imeneo and Deidamia . In 1737 H ndel's health cracked under his operatic labours and he had a stroke. Following his recovery, he wrote a series of oratorios, including Messiah , produced in Dublin, 1742. By this work his name is known throughout the world, yet it is something of an oddity in H ndel's work, since he was not a religious composerin the accepted sense. But its power, lyricism, sincerity and profoundity make it one of the supreme musical creations as well as an outstanding example of devotional art.