- Henry Purcell
Dido And Aeneas
- Novello & Co Ltd (World)
Laurie / Dart
- gtr/str
- SATB
- 5 Sopranos, 2 Mezzo Sopranos, 2 Tenors
- 50 min
- English
- 28th March 2025, Mecklenburgisches Staatstheater, Schwerin, Germany
- 30th March 2025, Mecklenburgisches Staatstheater, Schwerin, Germany
Programme Note
BRIEF SYNOPSIS
Aeneas, fleeing from ruined Troy and bound for Latium, is driven by storm into Carthage, where the widowed Dido reigns as queen. Proximity leads to passion, felt and reciprocated; but the gods forbid their union. Aeneas sails away to fulfil his destiny in Italy and Dido ends her sorrow with her own hand. To this simple story the poet has added the witches, as symbols of the malevolence of destiny and modified the tragic ending making Dido the victim of a broken heart.
Aeneas, fleeing from ruined Troy and bound for Latium, is driven by storm into Carthage, where the widowed Dido reigns as queen. Proximity leads to passion, felt and reciprocated; but the gods forbid their union. Aeneas sails away to fulfil his destiny in Italy and Dido ends her sorrow with her own hand. To this simple story the poet has added the witches, as symbols of the malevolence of destiny and modified the tragic ending making Dido the victim of a broken heart.