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Eloq uence
PURCELL
Dido and Aeneas
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Josephine Veasey
John Shirley-Quirk
Academy of St. Martin in the Fields
Sir Colin Davis
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120.5MM
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120.5MM
(4.74”)
241MM
(9.49”)
CD BOOK SADDLE STITCH
SEL#: 442 8334
LABEL: Philips
ARTIST: Colin Davis
TITLE: Dido & Aeneas
TEMPLATE: UMG_CD_BOOK_SADDLE_JUL00.qxt
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not to be believed £. The Sorceress,
accompanying her coven, gloats that her plot
has been successful, and that Aeneas is
making preparations to depart: Elissa (that is,
Dido) and Carthage both will be ruined $.
Back in court, Dido has heard the news about
Aeneas, and she bemoans her fate. Aeneas
arrives and tries to justify his departure, but
Dido accuses him of hypocrisy. Offering to
defy Jove himself, Aeneas resolves to stay, but
for Dido, the damage already has been done
and, her pride fatally wounded, she resentfully
drives him off %. Although Dido has shunned
Aeneas, she cannot shun Death, who now
approaches. She calls to Belinda for support ^
and sings her famous lament &:
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She dies, and ‘Cupids appear in the clouds o’er
her tomb’. The chorus implores them to
scatter roses and keep watch over the tomb, in
memory of the fallen Queen’s soft and gentle
heart *.
Raymond Tuttle
PAGE 2
Recording producer: Vittorio Negri
Recording engineer: Ko Witteveen
Recording location: Walthamstow Assembly
Hall, London, UK, August 1970
Eloquence series manager: Cyrus Meher-Homji
Art direction: Chilu Tong · www.chilu.com
Booklet editor: Bruce Raggatt
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120.5MM
(4.74”)
120.5MM
(4.74”)
241MM
(9.49”)
CD BOOK SADDLE STITCH
SEL#: 442 8334
LABEL: Philips
ARTIST: Colin Davis
TITLE: Dido & Aeneas
TEMPLATE: UMG_CD_BOOK_SADDLE_JUL00.qxt
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DATE: 25/5/06
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‘When I am laid in earth,
may my wrongs create
No trouble in thy breast,
Remember me, but ah! forget my fate.’
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At one point, the opera had an allegorical
prologue that contained allusions to William
and Mary, but its music is no longer extant.
After a brief overture 1, Belinda, Dido’s
confidante, encourages the still mourning
queen to cast off her cares, a sentiment
echoed by her courtiers 2. Dido remains
downcast, and cannot share the reason, so
Belinda names it for her: it is because she has
been moved by Aeneas and his tragic history
3. Dido admires his bravery and his manly
charms, and Belinda and the Second Woman
assure Dido that Aeneas loves her as much as
she now has come to love him 4.
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Aeneas and his retinue enter, and he wastes
no time in pressing his suit, imploring Dido to
accept him, if not for love, then at least for an
advantageous alliance between Troy and
Carthage. After further encouragement by
Belinda, Dido accepts Aeneas, and the chorus
proclaims the victory of love and beauty, which
is followed by a dance 5. Now the scene
changes to the cave of the witches. The
Sorceress calls her malicious ‘wayward sisters’
who forthwith appear. (The witches and spirits
also are Tate’s inventions.) The Sorceress
explains that Dido, ‘whom we hate, as we do
all in prosp’rous state’, shall be made
wretched before the end of day upon Aeneas’s
desertion: a spirit, appearing to him in the
form of Mercury, shall summon him away
from Carthage. Two other witches offer to put
a premature end to the lovers’ hunting
excursion by raising a storm 8. In the depths
of the cave, the necessary spells are prepared,
and the scene ends with an Echo Dance.
HENRY PURCELL (1659-1695)
Dido and Aeneas
Overture
1
In a grove, Dido and Aeneas enjoy the
pleasures of the hunt. Dido’s women entertain
Aeneas with a dance and with the story of
Diana and Actaeon 0. As Aeneas displays his
kill – a boar’s head impaled on his spear – Dido
observes that a storm is approaching and
Belinda hastens everyone back to the court at
Carthage !. Aeneas is detained by the
Sorceress’ spirit, disguised as Mercury, who
tells him that Jove himself has commanded
that Aeneas must leave Carthage tonight.
Aeneas agrees with a heavy heart, knowing
that Dido will be deeply grieved by his
untimely desertion @.
2’21
2
‘Shake the cloud from off your brow’
Belinda, Chorus
1’13
3
‘Ah! Belinda, I am prest with torment’
Dido, Belinda, Lady, Chorus
4’52
4
‘Whence could so much virtue spring’ – ‘Fear no danger’
Dido, Belinda, Lady, Chorus
3’44
5
‘See, your Royal Guest’ – ‘If not for mine’ –
‘To the hills and vales’ – The Triumphing Dance
Belinda, Aeneas, Dido, Chorus
5’22
6
Prelude for the witches
1’04
7
‘Wayward sisters’ – ‘But ere we this perform’
Sorceress, First Witch, Second Witch, Chorus of Witches
4’36
8
‘In our deep vaulted cell’ – Echo Dance of the Furies
Chorus of Witches
2’15
9
Ritornelle – ‘Thanks to these lonesome vales’
Belinda, Chorus
3’25
0
‘Oft she visits’
Lady
2’33
!
‘Behold, upon my bending spear’
Aeneas, Dido, Belinda, Chorus
1’27
@
‘Stay Prince’ – ‘Jove’s commands shall be obey’d’
Spirit, Aeneas
3’23
£
Prelude – ‘Come away fellow sailors’
Sailor, Chorus of Sailors
2’29
The next scene takes place in the harbour of
Carthage. A sailor sings a rude farewell song,
suggesting that sailors’ promises to return are
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120.5MM
(4.74”)
120.5MM
(4.74”)
241MM
(9.49”)
CD BOOK SADDLE STITCH
SEL#: 442 8334
LABEL: Philips
ARTIST: Colin Davis
TITLE: Dido & Aeneas
TEMPLATE: UMG_CD_BOOK_SADDLE_JUL00.qxt
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DATE: 25/5/06
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Melissa1
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has sailed for Italy to found the ruined city
anew on the banks of the Tiber. However,
storms have blown him off course and he has
landed at Carthage on the African coast, a city
governed by the widowed Queen Dido.
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‘See the flags’ – ‘Destruction’s our delight’ – The Witches’ Dance
Sorceress, First Witch, Second Witch, Chorus of Witches
3’34
%
‘Your counsel all is urged in vain’ – ‘But death, alas’
Dido, Belinda, Aeneas, Chorus
5’26
^
‘Thy hand, Belinda’
Dido
1’02
&
‘When I am laid in earth’
Dido
3’55
*
‘With drooping wings’
Chorus
4’59
Dido
Aeneas
Belinda
Sorceress
Lady and First Witch
Second Witch
Spirit
Sailor
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Dido and Aeneas has been called the first
English opera – a statement whose correctness
is not indisputable, but no matter. Another
common but possibly incorrect claim is that it
first was performed by a (necessarily allfemale) cast at Josias Priest’s boarding school
for girls in Chelsea. The opera’s premiere
actually may have taken place at court, for the
entertainment of the newly ascendant King
William of Orange and Queen Mary in 1689,
or several years earlier – but again, no matter,
because Dido and Aeneas has transcended
time and place, and today is regarded as the
greatest English opera composed prior to the
twentieth century.
Josephine Veasey, mezzo soprano
John Shirley-Quirk, baritone
Helen Donath, soprano
Elizabeth Bainbridge, mezzo soprano
Delia Wallis, mezzo soprano
Gillian Knight, soprano
Thomas Allen, baritone
Frank Patterson, tenor
It moves swiftly and surely, and, even in the
absence of typically operatic crises such as
poisonings, stabbings and conflagrations large
or small, it cuts deep. When the opera hurtles to
its end, and Queen Dido nobly expires for no
other reason than her perceived betrayal by her
lover Aeneas, few are left unmoved; it is as if one
of their own friends had died. Dido and Aeneas
continues to resonate psychologically with
listeners even today. Is it an accident that Queen
Dido and her nemesis the Sorceress may be seen
as the light and dark sides, respectively, of a
single individual? (In fact, both roles have been
taken by the same performer in some instances.)
John Alldis Choir
Academy of St. Martin in the Fields
Kenneth Heath, cello · Robin McGee, double-bass
John Constable, harpsichord, organ continuo
Neville Marriner, leader
Sir Colin Davis
Total timing: 57’55
PAGE 4
Purcell, the ‘British Orpheus’, was in his
twenties – thirty at the latest – when he
composed Dido and Aeneas. As a very young
man, and during the reign of King Charles II,
he had been active in the Chapel Royal – first
as a singer, then as a teacher and a composer.
After Charles II died in 1685, James II was less
supportive of the Chapel Royal, and that great
institution was neglected in favour of music
exported from Italy and France. Purcell may
have resented the change, but he nevertheless
learned from it. By the time he wrote Dido and
Aeneas, Purcell had been exposed to English
prototypes (most notably, Venus and Adonis,
composed by his colleague and former mentor
John Blow) as well as to operas from the
European mainland, and Dido and Aeneas can
be heard as the synthesis of these influences
… something old, and yet something entirely
new, if you will.
The plot of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas is based
on Book IV of Virgil’s Aeneid, of course, but
only loosely. (For example, Virgil describes
Dido’s death by suicide at length, whereas
librettist Nahum Tate leaves the details of her
demise poetically vague.) In preparing his
libretto, Tate drew upon his earlier Brutus of
Alba: or, The Enchanted Lovers. Prior to the
start of the opera, the Trojan Prince Aeneas
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C M
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120.5MM
(4.74”)
120.5MM
(4.74”)
241MM
(9.49”)
CD BOOK SADDLE STITCH
SEL#: 442 8334
LABEL: Philips
ARTIST: Colin Davis
TITLE: Dido & Aeneas
TEMPLATE: UMG_CD_BOOK_SADDLE_JUL00.qxt
0
1
1
2
2
3
3
4
DATE: 25/5/06
FILE NAME:
JOB #:
SEPARATOR:
L/S:
TECH:
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PMS
MAGENTA
BLACK
PMS
TOTAL
NUMBER OF
COLORS
BAC
K
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FR
Melissa1
4
25
25
50
50
75
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100
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95
95
97
97
99
99
75
50
25
10
CM
MY
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CTP
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$
119.5MM
(4.71”)