ovexz017 Dido and Aeneas - Wikipedia
Dido and Aeneas
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dido and Aeneas (Z. 626)!" is an opera in a prologue and ido and A
three acts, written by the English Baroque composer Henry Dido and Aeneas
Purcell with a libretto by Nahum Tate. The dates of the Opera by Henry Purcell
composition and first performance of the opera are uncertain,
It was composed no later than July 1688,) and had been
performed at Josias Priest's girls’ school in London by the
end of 1689.1 Some scholars argue for a date of
composition as early as 1683.{4II The story is based on
Book IV of Virgil's Aeneid. It recounts the love of Dido,
Queen of Carthage, for the Trojan hero Aeneas, and her
despair when he abandons her. A monumental work in
Baroque opera, Dido and Aeneas is remembered as one of
Purcell's foremost theatrical works.) It was also Purcell's
only true opera, as well as his only all-sung dramatic work.
‘The composer, portrait by John Closterman, ¢.
One of the earliest known English operas, it owes much to 1695
John Blow's Venus and Adonis, both in structure and in Librettist Nahum Tate
overall effect.!*I The influence of Cavalli's opera Didone is Based on Book IV of Virgil's Aeneid
also apparent.
PP Premiere 16897
Josias Priest's girls’ school, London
Contents
1 Background and context
= LL Libretto
= 1.2 Score
= 2 Performance history
= 2.1 Premiere and early revivals
= 2.2 20th and 21st century performances
= 2.3. Adaptations
= 3 Roles
= 4 Synopsis
= 4.1 Acti
= 42 Act2
= 43 Act3
Recordings
See also
References
External links
Background and context
Before Dido and Aeneas, Purcell had composed music for several stage works, including nine pieces for
Nathaniel Lee's Theodosius, or The Force of Love (1680) and eight songs for Thomas d'Urfey’s 4 Fool's
Preferment (1688). He also composed songs for two plays by Nahum Tate (later the librettist of Dido and
Aeneas), The Sicilian Usurper (1680) and Cuckold-Haven (1685). Dido and Aeneas was Purcell’s first (and
only) all-sung opera and derives from the English masque tradition.
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Libretto
Originally based on Nahum Tate's play Brutus of Alba, or The
Enchanted Lovers (1678), the opera is likely, at least to some extent, to
be allegorical. The prologue refers to the joy of a marriage between two
monarchs, which could refer to the marriage between William and
‘Mary. In a poem of about 1686, Tate alluded to James Il as Aeneas, who
is misled by the evil machinations of the Sorceress and her witches
(representing Roman Catholicism, a common metaphor at the time) into
abandoning Dido, who symbolises the British people. The same
symbolism may apply to the opera.') This explains the addition of the
characters of the Sorceress and the witches, which do not appear in the
original Aeneid. It would be noble, or at least acceptable, for Aeneas to
follow the decree of the Gods, but not so acceptable for him to be
tricked by ill-meaning spirits.
Although the opera is a tragedy, there are numerous seemingly lighter Dido and Acneas, from a Roman
scenes, such as the First Sailor's song, "Take a boozy short leave of your fresco, Pompeian Third Style (10 BC
nymphs on the shore, and silence their mourning with vows of ~ 45 AD), Pompeii, Italy
returning, though never intending to visit them more." Musicologist
Ellen T, Harris considers the callousness and cynicism of the song to
underline the "moral" of the story, that young women should not succumb to the advances and promises of
ardent young men.
Score
No score in Purcell's hand is extant, and the only seventeenth-century source is a libretto, possibly from the
original performance. The earliest extant score, held in the Bodleian Library, was copied no earlier than 1750,
well over sixty years after the opera was composed.) No later sources follow the act divisions of the libretto,
and the music to the prologue is lost. The prologue, the end of the act 2 'Grove' scene, and several dances, wer
almost certainly lost when the opera was divided into parts to be performed as interludes between the acts of
spoken plays in the first decade of the eighteenth century.)
The first of the arias to be published separately was "Ah, Belinda” in Orpheus Britannicus.(51 The most famous
aria of the work is "When I am laid in earth", popularly known as "Dido's Lament". Both arias are formed on a
lamento ground bass. "Dido's Lament” has been performed or recorded by artists far from the typical operatic
school, such as Klaus Nomi (as "Death"), Ane Brun and Jeff Buckley. It has also been transcribed or used in
many scores, including the soundtrack to the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers (renamed "Nixon's Walk"). It is
played annually by a military band at the Cenotaph remembrance ceremony, which takes place on the Sunday
nearest to 1] November (Armistice Day) in London’s Whitehall. The music is thought by some to be too simple
for Purcell in 1689, but this may simply reflect that the intended performers were schoolchildren. The work is
scored for four-part strings and continuo, The fact that the libretto from the Chelsea School performance
indicates two dances for guitar, the "Dance Gittars Chacony" in act 1, and the "Gittar Ground a Dance" in the
‘Grove’ scene of act 2, has led one scholar to suggest that Purcell envisioned a guitar as a primary member of
the continuo group for the opera.!°l Music for neither of these dances is extant, and it seems likely that Purcell
did not compose them, but rather left them to be improvised by the guitarist.!!"] Several editions of the opera
have been made and have been provided with a continuo realisation; a notable, if rather idiosyncratic edition
being that made by Imogen Holst and Benjamin Britten, There are a number of editions with realisations, and
the opera’ sibility to amateur performers is a feature that has greatly abetted the growth of its popularity
in the latter half of the twentieth century.!] While the Prologue's music has been lost and has not been
reconstructed, several realisations of the opera include a solution to the missing ritornello at the end of the
second act, Known to have been part of the score, it is now performed as a dance taken from other, similar
works by Purcell, or invented outright in the same vein, to keep the integrity and continuity of the performance.
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Performance history
Premiere and early revivals
A letter from the Levant merchant Rowland Sherman associates Dido and Aeneas with Josias Priest's girls!
school in Chelsea, London no later than the summer of 1688.!/31 The first performance may have taken place as
carly as 1 December 1687,('4] and evidence suggests that the opera was performed at the school again in
1689.'3] Several scholars have argued that the work was composed for the English court, either for Charles IT
(and perhaps as early as 1684)§4I[5] or for James 11.!!5] Following the Chelsea performances, the opera was not
staged again in Purcell's lifetime. Its next performance was in 1700 as a masque incorporated into an adapted
version of Shakespeare's Measure for Measure at Thomas Betterton's theatre in London.
After 1705 it disappeared as a staged work, with only sporadic concert performances, until 1895 when the first
staged version in modern times was performed by students of the Royal College of Music at London's Lyceum
Theatre to mark the bicentenary of Purcell's death.!"§] Dido and Aeneas received its first performance outside
England on 14 December 1895 in a concert version at the University Society in Dublin.
20th and 21st century performances
Dido and Aeneas premiered in the United States at the Plaza Hotel in New York City on 10 February 1923
performed by the girls of the Rosemary School, although The New York Times noted that "considerable
liberties" had been taken with the score.!'7 A concert version with professional musicians organised by the
Society of Friends of Music took place on 13 January 1924 at the New York City Town Hall, using a score
edited by Artur Bodanzky, who also conducted the performance.!!81
‘As new critical editions of the score appeared, and with the revival of interest in Baroque music, the number of
productions steadily increased. After Jonathan Miller's visit to Bornholm, Denmark, Dido was performed in
2008 at the Ronne Theatre (which had been built in 1823). Devin Duggan conducted, Amongst the new
productions of the opera in 2009 (the 350th anniversary of Purcell’s birth) were those staged by the De
Nederlandse Opera, the Royal Opera, London, the Divertimento Baroque Opera Company, and Glimmerglass
Opera in Cooperstown, New York. The Royal Opera production, which featured contemporary dance by Wayne
McGregor Random Dance and animated effects by Mark Hatchard, formed part of a double bill with Handel's
Acis and Galatea.) In 2011 the opera was revived by City Wall Productions and set during World War 1.29)
A new Opera North production of the opera opened at Leeds Grand Theatre in February 20132"! Opera Up
Close performed a truncated version in 2011, setting it in an American high school in the 1950s.
Adaptations
A version of the opera adapted to modern dance was choreographed by the American Mark Morris, who
originally danced both the roles of Dido and the Sorceress. It premiered on 11 March 1989 at the Théatre Varia
22] tt has since been performed many times and was filmed in 1995 by Canadian director Barbara
Willis Sweete, with Morris in the roles of Dido and the Sorceress.75) Another dance version, choreographed by
Sasha Waltz, premiered at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin on 29 January 2005 and opened with the
dancers performing underwater in an enormous tank.!4 The production was subsequently seen at the Grand.
Théatre in Luxembourg, Opéra national de Montpellier, and Sadler's Wells Theatre in London, In both the
Morris and the Waltz adaptations, the characters are each portrayed by both a singer and a dancer, with the
dancers onstage and the singers performing from the side of the stage or the orchestra pit.
in Brussels.
Roles
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Role Voice type
Dido (also known as Elissa), Queen of Carthage | soprano or mezzo-soprano!)
Belinda, Dido's sister and handmaid light soprano
Second Woman, Another Handmaiden soprano or mezzo-soprano
Aeneas, Trojan Prince tenor or high baritone!6l
Sorceress/Sorcerer mezzo-soprano, contralto, countertenor or bass!?7!
First Witch/Enchantress mezzo-soprano
Second Witch/Enchantress mezzo-soprano
Spirit, in form of Mercury soprano or countertenor
First Sailor tenor?)
Chorus, SATB: all members at one point or another represent courtiers, witches, cupids, and sailors.
Synopsis
Act 1
Dido's court
The opera opens with Dido in her court with her attendants.
Belinda is trying to cheer up Dido, but Dido is full of
sorrow, saying 'Peace and I are strangers grown’. Belinda
believes the source of this grief to be the Trojan Aeneas,
and suggests that Carthage’s troubles could be resolved by a
marriage between the two. Dido and Belinda talk for a time
—Dido fears that her love will make her a weak monarch,
but Belinda and the Second Woman reassure her that "The
hero loves as well.” Aeneas enters the court, and is at first,
received coldly by Dido, but she eventually accepts his
proposal of marriage.
Act 2
Scene 1: The cave of the Sorceress
The Meeting of Dido and Aeneas by Nathaniel
Dance-Holland
The Sorceress/Sorcerer is plotting the destruction of Carthage and its queen, and summons companions to help
with evil plans. The plan is to send her "trusted elf" disguised as Mercury, someone to whom Aeneas will
surely listen, to tempt him to leave Dido and sail to Italy. This would leave Dido heartbroken, and she would
surely die, The chorus join in with terrible laughter, and the Enchantre:
decide to conjure up a storm to make
Dido and her train leave the grove and return to the palace. When the spell is prepared, the witches vanish in a
thunderclap.
Scene 2: A grove during the middle of a hunt
Dido and Aeneas are accompanied by their train,
They stop at the grove to take in its beauty. A lot of
action is going on, with attendants carrying goods
from the hunt and a picnic possibly taking place,
and Dido and Aeneas are together within the
activity, This is all stopped when Dido hears distant
thunder, prompting Belinda to tell the servants to
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Stay, Prince and hear
000 MENU
‘The Sorceress’ messenger, in form of
Mercury, attempts to convince Aeneas
to leave Carthage.
Problems playing this file? See media help.ovexz017 Dido and Aeneas - Wikipedia
prepare for a return to shelter as soon as possible.
‘As every other character leaves the stage, Aencas is stopped by the Sorceress's elf, who is disguised as
Mercury. This pretend Mercury brings the command of Jove that Aeneas is to wait no longer in beginning his
task of creating a new Troy on Latin soil. Aeneas consents to the wishes of what he believes are the gods, but is
heart-broken that he will have to leave Dido. He then goes off-stage to prepare for his departure from Carthage.
Act 3
The harbour at Carthage
Preparations are being made for the departure of the Trojan fleet. The sailors sing a song, which is followed
shortly by the Sorceress and her companions’ sudden appearance. The group is pleased at how well their plan
has worked, and the Sorceress sings a solo describing her further plans for the destruction of Aeneas "on the
ocean". All the characters begin to clear the stage after a dance in three sections, and then disperse.
The palace
Dido and Belinda enter, shocked at Aeneas’ disappearance. Dido is distraught and Belinda comforts her.
Suddenly Aeneas returns, but Dido is full of fear before Aeneas speaks, and his words only serve to confirm her
suspicions. She derides his reasons for leaving, and even when Aeneas says he will defy the gods and not leave
Carthage, Dido rejects him for having once thought of leaving her. After Dido forces Aeneas to leave, she states
that "Death must come when he is gone." The opera and Dido's life both slowly come to a conclusion, as the
Queen of Carthage sings her last aria, "When I am laid in Earth", also known as "Dido's Lament.” The chorus
and orchestra then conclude the opera once Dido is dead by ordering the "cupids to scatter roses on her tomb,
»29]
soft and gentle as her heart. Keep here your watch, and never never never part
Recordings
The first complete recording of the opera was made by Decca Records in 1935 with Nancy Evans as Dido and
Roy Henderson as Acneas,!*"l followed in 1945 by HMV's release with Joan Hammond and Dennis Noble.
Kirsten Flagstad, who had sung the role at the Mermaid Theatre in London, recorded it in 1951 for EMI with
Thomas Hemsley as Aeneas. Dido and Aeneas has been recorded many times since the 1960s with Dido sung
by mezzo-soprano such as Janet Baker (1961), Tatiana Troyanos (1968), Teresa Berganza (1986), Anne Sofie
von Otter (1989) and Susan Graham (2003). In addition to Joan Hammond and Kirsten Flagstad, sopranos who
have recorded the role include Victoria de los Angeles (1965), Emma Kirkby (1981), Jessye Norman (1986),
Catherine Bott (1992), Lynne Dawson (1998), and Evelyn Tubb (2004),
Beginning with Andrew Parrott's 1981 recording for Chandos with the Taverner Consort and Players, there was
an increasing preference for a more genuine period sound.'*!) Further recordings by conductors and ensembles
using this approach include those by Christopher Hogwood and The Academy of Ancient Music, William
Christie and Les Arts Florissants (1986); Trevor Pinnock and The English Concert (1989); René Jacobs and the
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (1998); Emmanuelle Haim and Le Concert 'Astrée (2003); and Predrag
Gosta and New Trinity Baroque (2004), The Haim recording with Susan Graham as Dido and lan Bostridge as
Aeneas was nominated for the Best Opera Recording in the 2005 Grammy Awards./°2I
Several performances of the opera have been filmed and are available on DVD, most recently the 2008
performance at the Opéra-Comique in Paris conducted by William Christie and directed by Deborah Warner
(FRA Musica FRA001)9) and the 2009 performance at London's Royal Opera House conducted by
Christopher Hogwood and directed by Wayne McGregor (OpusArte OA1018D). The Mark Morris dance
version of the opera is also preserved on DVD (recorded 1995, Image Entertainment 8741) as is the dance
version by Sasha Waltz (recorded 2005, Arthaus Musik 101311)
See also
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ido_and_ AeneasBprinable=yes 87owoszot7 Dido ard Aeneas - Wikipedia
= List of compositions by Henry Purcell
References
Notes
refers to the Zimmerman catalogue of Purcell's works by the American musicologist Franklin B. Zimmerman
White, Bryan, ‘Letter from Aleppo: dating the Chelsea School performance of Dido and Aencas’, 426
White, Bryan, ‘Letter from Aleppo: dating the Chelsea School performance of Dido and Aeneas’, 417
Pinnock, Andrew, ‘Which Genial Day? More on the court origin of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, with a shortlist of
dates for its possible performance before King Charles II’, Early Music 43 (2015), 199-212
5. Bruce Wood and Andrew Pinnock, "Unscared by turning times"? The dating of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas,"
6. Price in Grove
7.
8
Harris (1990) p. 17
Price, Henry Purcell and the London Stage, 239
9. Price, Henry Purcell and the London Stage, 239-245
10, Holman, Henry Purcell, 200-201
11, Holman, Henry Purcell, 200
12, Purcell (1991) p. iv
13. White, Bryan, ‘Letter from Aleppo: dating the Chelsea School performance of Dido and Aeneas’, 420
14, White, Bryan, ‘Letter from Aleppo: dating the Chelsea School performance of Dido and Aeneas’, 422
15, Keates (1996) p, 179 and Walkling (August 1994) p. 469
16, Crozier (1987) p. 114
17. Rosenthal and Warrack (1979) p. 134; The New York Times (11 February 1923) p. 19
18, Harris (1990) p. 157 lists this performance as the US premiere
19, Melanie Eskenazi, The Royal Opera & The Royal Ballet ~ Dido and Aeneas / Acis and Galatea’ (http://www.classica
Isource.com/db_control/db_concert_review:php?id-6937) on classicalsource.com
20. City Wall Prodiictions' website (htip:/iwww.citywallprodutions.com)
21. "What's On: Details on Opera North's website (http:/www.operanorth.co.uk/productions/98) operanorth.co.tik
22. Mark Morris Dance Group
23. Walker (9 July 1995) p. Cl
24, Daily Mail (15 March 2007)
25. The original score was written for soprano, but can be performed by mezzo-sopranos. See Price (1984) p. 247
26, The original score was written for tenor, but is often performed by high baritones. See Harris (1990) pp. 60-62
27. Price and Cholij, ‘Dido's Bass Sorceress”
28. The part was originally played by a woman, although as early as 1700 the part was customarily played by a tenor. See
Purcell (1971) p. v
29, Synopsis based on Kobbé (1987) pp. 1010-1014,
30. Darrell (1936) p. 371
31, Boyden et al. (2002) p. 30
32, Associated Press (7 December 2004)
33. Jordy (9 December 2009)
Sources
= Boyden, Matthew ef al., "Dido and Aeneas", The rough guide to opera (hitps://books.google.com/books ?id-bLDagk,
JFO8C&pg-PT26) 3rd edition, Rough Guides, 2002. ISBN 1-85828-749-9
= Darrell, R.D., The Gramophone Shop Encyclopedia of Recorded Music (hitps:l/archive.org/details/gramophoneshopen
010034mbp), The Gramophone Shop, Inc., 1936
= Harris, Ellen T., Henry Purcell’ Dido and Aeneas (https:foooks. google.com/books?id-OQZGtIpzefkC), Oxford
University Press, 1990. ISBN 0-19-315252-5
+ Holman, Peter, Henry Purcell (Oxford, 1995),
= Holst, Imogen, "Purcell's librettist, Nahum Tate” Henry Purcell 1659-1695 Essays On His Music (https://archive.org/
details henrypurcell1 659002216mbp), Imogen Holst (¢d.), Oxford University Press, 1959, pp. 35-41
+ Jordy, Catherine, "Flamboyante tragédie au Comique" (http://www. forumopera. com/index. php’mact=News,cntnt01,pr
int,0&entnt0 articleid1389 &entnt0 I showtemplatefalse8cntnt0 Ilang=fr_FR &entnt0 Iretumnid=70), Forum Opéra, 9
December 2009 (accessed 19 January 2010, in French)
= Keates, Jonathan, Purcell: A biography (https:!/books. google.com/books ?id=C6vaHHv-9YC), Northeastern
University Press, 1996, ISBN 1-55553-287-X
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= Kobbé, Gustav, The Definitive Kobbé's Book of Opera, The Eatl of Harewood (ed.), Ist American ed., G.P. Putnam's
and Sons, 1987, pp. 1010-1014.
= Mark Morris Dance Group, Work details: Dido and Aeneas (hitp:/imarkmorrisdancegroup.org/works/24)
= Price, Curtis, "Dido and Aeneas", Grove Music Online, ed. L.. Macy (accessed 31 December 2005), grovemusic.com
(htp://www.grovemusic.com/) (subscription access)
= Price, Curtis, Henry Purcell and the London stage (https:/!books. google.conv/books 7id-ETERAAAATAAI&pg-PA22
5), Cambridge University Press, 1984, ISBN 0-521-23831-5
= Prive, Curtis and Irena Cholij, ‘Dido's Bass Sorceress’, The Musical Times, Vol. 127 (Nov. 1986), 615-618
= Pimock, Andrew, ‘Deus ex machina: A royal witness to the court origin of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas.” Early Music,
40 (2012): 265-278,
= Pinnock, Andrew, ‘Which Genial Day? More on the court origin of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, with a shortlist of
dates for its possible performance before King Charles II, Early Music 43 (2015), 199-212
= Purcell, Henry, Dido and Aeneas (vocal score), Edward Dent and Ellen Harris (eds.), Oxford University Press,
Oxford, 1991.
= Purcell, Henry, Dido and Aeneas (vocal and full score), Margaret Laurie and Thurston Dart (eds.), Novello, 1971
= Walker, Susan, "Every inch a diva, Opposites attract dancer Mark Morris. They define his life and his art” (http://pqa
sb,pgarchiver.comi/thestar/access/21208971. html?dids=21208971:21208971&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=cur
rent&edate=Jul+09%2C+1995 &author=By*Susan+Walker*TORONTO+STAR &pub=Torontot Stargedese=Every*inch
+a+-diva+ Opposites attract +dancer+Mark+Morris.*They+define+hisHifetandthistart&pqat!=google), Toronto Star,
9 July 1995, p. C1
= Walkling, Andrew (1995). "Political Allegory in Purcell's Dido and Aenet
doi:10.1093/ml/76.4.540,
* White, Bryan, "Letter from Aleppo: dating the Chelsea School performance of Dido and Aeneas’, Early Music 37
(2009), 417-428
+ White, Eric Walter, "New Light on Dido and Aeneas" Henry Purcell 1659-1695 Essays On His Music (https:/iarchiv
.org/details/henrypurcell 165900221 6mbp), Imogen Holst (ed.), Oxford University Press, 1959, pp. 14-34
+ Wood, Bruce and Andrew Pinnock, "Unscared by turning times"? The dating of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas
Music 20 (1992), 372-90
Music & Letters. 76: S40-S71
Early
External links
= Analysis in French (http://didoneneepurcell. googlepages.com/)
= Libretto at Stanford University (http://opera.stanford.edwiu/libretti/dido.htm!)
= Free excerpts (http://www.newtrinitybaroque.org/multimedia/audio. html) from a recording by the New
Trinity Baroque orchestra
= Internet Movie Database listing (http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0172319/)
= Free scores by Dido and Aeneas in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
= BBC Radio 4 programme about "Dido's Lament” (http://www.bbe.co.uk/programmes/b00r6029),
= Dido and Aeneas: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
= The Purcell Society (hitp://www.henrypurcell.org.uk)
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Categories: Operas by Henry Purcell | English-language operas | Operas | 1688 operas
Operas based on Greco-Roman mythology | Works based on the Aeneid | Operas set in Africa
Music based on poems
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