Eight days after having finished The _Messiah_ (that is to say, before he had yet arrived in Ireland) Handel had commenced _Samson_, which was finished in five weeks, from the end of September to the end of October, 1741. However, he did not give it in Dublin. Doubtless he could not find the interpreters which he desired for this colossal drama, rich in choral scenes and in difficult _rôles_.[247] Perhaps also he reserved the work for the following season in Dublin, when he hoped to return, but the expected invitation which he awaited in London did not come, and it was in London that _Samson_ reached its first hearing on February 18, 1743. To this heroic oratorio, based on the sublime _Samson Agonistes_ of Milton,[248] succeeded a light opera, which bore, nevertheless, the name of oratorio, the libretto of which was based on a poem by Congreve: _Semele_ (June 3 to July 4, 1743). It afforded a relief for him between these two Herculean works. In the same month in which he finished _Semele_, Handel wrote his monumental _Dettingen Te Deum_, to celebrate the victory of the Duke of Cumberland over the French.[249] _Joseph_, written in August and September of the same year, on a very touching poem by James Miller, reveals a sweet yet melancholy fancy, a little insipid, on which, however, the strong portrait of Simeon projects itself forcibly. 1744 was one of Handel's most glorious years from the creative point of view, but one of the most miserable in outward success. He wrote nearly simultaneously his two most tragic oratorios, the great Shakespearian drama of _Belshazzar_ (July-October, 1744), the rich poem of which was furnished for him by his friend Jennens;[250] and the sublime tragedy of the ancient _Hercules_, a musical drama,[251] which marks the culmination of the Handelian musical drama, and indeed one might say of the whole musical theatre before Gluck.