Comparing Purcell's Dido And Aeneas
One of my favorite pieces of music is Dido’s Lament, from Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. The slow, sorrowful melody is hauntingly beautiful, and though it contains few lyrics, the text infers a rich backstory of romantic love and a grieving, broken heart. Purcell uses several elements archetypal to Baroque era music styling to convey a dramatic story of emotional extremes, from love to heartache; a concept prevalent over all human cultures and generations.
Henry Purcell was considered one of the most significant English composers of the Baroque era. His collection of works is diverse, including music both sacred and secular, and he composed for multiple venues, such as the stage, the royal court, and the church. He spent all of his life …show more content…
This music-drama tells a story of a Trojan hero and a Carthaginian Queen who fall in love, but tragically, cannot be together. Troy has fallen, and Aeneas, tasked by the gods with discovering Rome, is shipwrecked at Carthage while on a journey to Italy, where he meets, and falls in love with, the queen Dido. The queen requites his love, and accepts his marriage proposal. Their happiness is doomed to end, however, as a sorceress carries out a plan to destroy Dido. She orders a witch from her coven to impersonate the god Mercury, who goes to Aeneas and reminds him of his obligation to the gods to discover Rome. Dido, devastated that her beloved Aeneas must leave her to fulfill his commitment to the gods, decides to take her own life by throwing herself on a fire. The opera ends with Dido’s Lament, written for instruments common of the era and a solo female voice. It opens with a recitative sung by Dido to her handmaiden Belinda. She expresses with desperation that she cannot go on living without Aeneas. The melody unfolds in half-step intervals. The statements “Darkness shades me” and “death is now a welcome guest” make clear her absolute misery, and unwillingness to overcome her broken heart. The recitative is followed by “When I am laid in earth”, an aria in the form A-A-B-B, sung by Dido just before she throws
Henry Purcell was considered one of the most significant English composers of the Baroque era. His collection of works is diverse, including music both sacred and secular, and he composed for multiple venues, such as the stage, the royal court, and the church. He spent all of his life …show more content…
This music-drama tells a story of a Trojan hero and a Carthaginian Queen who fall in love, but tragically, cannot be together. Troy has fallen, and Aeneas, tasked by the gods with discovering Rome, is shipwrecked at Carthage while on a journey to Italy, where he meets, and falls in love with, the queen Dido. The queen requites his love, and accepts his marriage proposal. Their happiness is doomed to end, however, as a sorceress carries out a plan to destroy Dido. She orders a witch from her coven to impersonate the god Mercury, who goes to Aeneas and reminds him of his obligation to the gods to discover Rome. Dido, devastated that her beloved Aeneas must leave her to fulfill his commitment to the gods, decides to take her own life by throwing herself on a fire. The opera ends with Dido’s Lament, written for instruments common of the era and a solo female voice. It opens with a recitative sung by Dido to her handmaiden Belinda. She expresses with desperation that she cannot go on living without Aeneas. The melody unfolds in half-step intervals. The statements “Darkness shades me” and “death is now a welcome guest” make clear her absolute misery, and unwillingness to overcome her broken heart. The recitative is followed by “When I am laid in earth”, an aria in the form A-A-B-B, sung by Dido just before she throws