Dido and Aeneas (Z. 626) is an opera in a prologue and three acts, written by the English Baroque composer Henry Purcell with a libretto by Nahum Tate.
The dates of the composition and first performance of the opera are uncertain. It was composed no later than July 1688,[2] and had been performed at Josias Priest's school in Chelsea by the end of 1689.[3]
Some scholars argue for a date of composition as early at 1684.[4][5]
The story is based on Book IV of Virgil's Aeneid.[6]
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.[6]
It was also Purcell's first opera, as well as his only all-sung dramatic work.
One of the earliest English operas, it owes much to John Blow's Venus and Adonis, both in structure and in overall effect.[6]
The influence of Cavalli's opera Didone is also apparent.[citation needed]
Before
Dido and Aeneas, Purcell 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
A 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.
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 II 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 scenes, such as the First Sailor's song, "Take a boozy short leave of your nymphs on the shore, and silence their mourning with vows of 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 women should not succumb to the advances and promises of ardent men.
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.
[8]
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, were 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.
[9]
The first of the arias to be published separately was "Ah, Belinda" in
Orpheus Britannicus.
[6]
The most famous
aria of the work is "When I am laid 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 11 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.
[6]
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.
[10]
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.[11]
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's accessibility to amateur performers is a feature that has greatly abbetted the growth of its popularity in the latter half of the twentieth century.[12]
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.
A letter from the Levant merchant Rowland Sherman associates
Dido and Aeneas with
Josias Priest's school in
Chelsea, London no later than the summer of 1688.
[13]
The first performance may have taken place as early as 1 December 1687,
[14] and evidence suggests that the opera was performed in Chelsea again in 1689.
[3]
Several scholars have argued that the work was composed for the English court, either for Charles II (and perhaps as early as 1684)
[4][5] or for
James II.
[15]
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.
[16]
Dido and Aeneas received its first performance outside England on 14 December 1895 in a concert version at the University Society in
Dublin.
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.
[17]
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.
[18]
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
Rønne 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.
[19]
In 2011 the opera was revived by City Wall Productions and set during
World War II.
[20]
A new
Opera North production of the opera opened at
Leeds Grand Theatre in February in 2013
[21] Opera Up Close performed a truncated version in 2011, setting it in an American high school in the 1950s.
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 Théâtre Varia in
Brussels.
[22]
It 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.
[23]
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.
[24]
The production was subsequently seen at the Grand Théâtre 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.
| Role | Voice type |
|---|
| Dido (also known as Elissa), Queen of Carthage | soprano or mezzo-soprano[25] |
| Belinda, Dido's sister and handmaid | light soprano |
| Second Woman, Another Handmaiden | soprano or mezzo-soprano |
| Aeneas, Trojan Prince | tenor or high baritone[26] |
| Sorceress/Sorcerer | mezzo-soprano, contralto, countertenor or bass[27] |
| First Witch/Enchantress | mezzo-soprano |
| Second Witch/Enchantress | mezzo-soprano |
| Spirit, in form of Mercury | soprano or countertenor |
| First Sailor | tenor[28] |
| Chorus, SATB: all members at one point or another represent courtiers, witches, cupids, and sailors. |
Synopsis[edit]
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.
Scene 1: The cave of the Sorceress
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 Enchantresses 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
 |
The Sorceress' messenger, in form of Mercury, attempts to convince Aeneas to leave Carthage.
|
| Problems playing this file? See media help. |
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 prepare for a return to shelter as soon as possible. As every other character leaves the stage, Aeneas 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.
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, soft and gentle as her heart. Keep here your watch, and never never never part."
[29]
Recordings[edit]
The first complete recording of the opera was made by
Decca Records in 1935 with
Nancy Evans as Dido and
Roy Henderson as Aeneas,
[30] 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-sopranos 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 Ángeles (1965),
Emma Kirkby (1981),
Jessye Norman (1986),
Catherine Bott (1992),
Lynne Dawson (1998), and
Evelyn Tubb (2004).
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)
[33] 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[edit]
References[edit]
Notes
- Jump up^ "Z" refers to the Zimmerman catalogue of Purcell's works by the American musicologist Franklin B. Zimmerman
- Jump up^ White, Bryan, 'Letter from Aleppo: dating the Chelsea School performance of Dido and Aeneas', 426
- ^ Jump up to:a b White, Bryan, 'Letter from Aleppo: dating the Chelsea School performance of Dido and Aeneas', 417
- ^ Jump up to:a b 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
- ^ Jump up to:a b Bruce Wood and Andrew Pinnock, "`Unscared by turning times'? The dating of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas,"
- ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f Price in Grove
- Jump up^ Harris (1990) p. 17
- Jump up^ Price, Henry Purcell and the London Stage, 239
- Jump up^ Price, Henry Purcell and the London Stage, 239–245
- Jump up^ Holman, Henry Purcell, 200–201
- Jump up^ Holman, Henry Purcell, 200
- Jump up^ Purcell (1991) p. iv
- Jump up^ White, Bryan, 'Letter from Aleppo: dating the Chelsea School performance of Dido and Aeneas', 420
- Jump up^ White, Bryan, 'Letter from Aleppo: dating the Chelsea School performance of Dido and Aeneas', 422
- Jump up^ Keates (1996) p. 179 and Walkling (August 1994) p. 469
- Jump up^ Crozier (1987) p. 114
- Jump up^ Rosenthal and Warrack (1979) p. 134; The New York Times(11 February 1923) p. 19
- Jump up^ Harris (1990) p. 157 lists this performance as the US premiere
- Jump up^ Melanie Eskenazi, The Royal Opera & The Royal Ballet –Dido and Aeneas / Acis and Galatea" on classicalsource.com
- Jump up^ City Wall Productions' website
- Jump up^ "What's On: Details on Opera North's websiteoperanorth.co.uk
- Jump up^ Mark Morris Dance Group
- Jump up^ Walker (9 July 1995) p. C1
- Jump up^ Daily Mail (15 March 2007)
- Jump up^ The original score was written for soprano, but can be performed by mezzo-sopranos. See Price (1984) p. 247
- Jump up^ The original score was written for tenor, but is often performed by high baritones. See Harris (1990) pp. 60–62
- Jump up^ Price and Cholij, ‘Dido's Bass Sorceress’
- Jump up^ 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
- Jump up^ Synopsis based on Kobbé (1987) pp. 1010–1014.
- Jump up^ Darrell (1936) p. 371
- Jump up^ Boyden et al. (2002) p. 30
- Jump up^ Associated Press (7 December 2004)
- Jump up^ Jordy (9 December 2009)
Sources
- Boyden, Matthew et al., "Dido and Aeneas", The rough guide to opera 3rd edition, Rough Guides, 2002. ISBN 1-85828-749-9
- Darrell, R.D., The Gramophone Shop Encyclopedia of Recorded Music, The Gramophone Shop, Inc., 1936
- Harris, Ellen T., Henry Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, 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, Imogen Holst (ed.), Oxford University Press, 1959, pp. 35–41
- Jordy, Catherine, "Flamboyante tragédie au Comique", Forum Opéra, 9 December 2009 (accessed 19 January 2010, in French)
- Keates, Jonathan, Purcell: A biography, Northeastern University Press, 1996. ISBN 1-55553-287-X
- Kobbé, Gustav, The Definitive Kobbé's Book of Opera. The Earl of Harewood (ed.), 1st American ed., G.P. Putnam's and Sons, 1987, pp. 1010–1014.
- Mark Morris Dance Group, Work details: Dido and Aeneas
- Price, Curtis, "Dido and Aeneas", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (accessed 31 December 2005), grovemusic.com (subscription access)
- Price, Curtis, Henry Purcell and the London stage, Cambridge University Press, 1984. ISBN 0-521-23831-5
- Price, Curtis and Irena Cholij, ‘Dido's Bass Sorceress’, The Musical Times, Vol. 127 (Nov. 1986), 615–618
- Pinnock, 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", Toronto Star, 9 July 1995, p. C1
- Walkling, Andrew (1995). "Political Allegory in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas". Music & Letters 76: 540–571. 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, 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," Early Music 20 (1992), 372–90
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