How is the affectation of key employed in the opera and is it
successful?
An essay on Dido and Aeneas
The affectation of key in Dido and Aeneas is used explicitly to evoke different
moods throughout the opera. Purcell uses major keys to evoke moods of happiness and
minor keys to evoke sadness, as do most other composers so this shows that Purcell has
followed the normal structure of an opera.
The first scene of the opera, where Dido is unhappy and afraid of falling in love
with Aeneas who has a destiny to fulfill, is in C minor. This key is most often associated
with tragedy or anguish because of its sad and mournful sound. This is part one where
part 2 (where Aeneas first enters the palace) is in C major, the opposite and overall more
optimistic sounding tone gives the listener a feeling of encouragement (even Belinda is
optimistic that Dido’s emotions can excel over Aeneas’ fate).
The next scene (where the plot of the opera unfolds) is the cave scene where the
witches devise their plan to separate Dido and Aeneas, since the key shifts from F minor
to F major, it is clear that we as the listener are meant to be horrified by this planning of
evil (F minor is the lowest note on the treble, indicating a strong sense of horror and
imbalance, where F major (in Purcell’s works) is the key associated with love. The two
keys balance perfectly).
Although the overall key structure of the opera is balanced and neat, there are
occasional interruptions that are worth noting, such as the D key of the grove scene
interrupting the F tonality of the cave scene, and the E minor key of Aeneas’ entrance
interrupting the C major key of the introduction of Dido. These keys all reflect different
moods ranging from the feeling of hate to the power of the feeling of love; such is the
organization of Purcell.
When looking at the placement of each key in the opera, it can be said that the
opera can be divided into 2 large sections each containing three minor sections, these
sections are occasionally divided by an act/ scene change or a change in destination (the
cave scene transition to the grove scene for example, one minor section to another) each
having its own tonal center as explained before. The one scene that has not yet been
analyzed is the sailor scene, which is in the key of Bb; this is also the scene where
Aeneas prepares to depart and leaves Dido to her anguish. The end scene (Dido’s demise)
Cameron Tolbert & Terneisha Terry
SL Music
How is the affectation of key employed in the opera and is it
successful?
An essay on Dido and Aeneas
is in the key of G minor and thus concludes the opera; this key is generally associated
with either royalty (G major) or death (G minor).
As said before, the overall key structure of Dido and Aeneas is surprisingly neat,
using the technique of calculated tonal shifts gives the listener the feeling that the story is
moving in different directions all the time, the key also tells the listener which mood they
should be feeling at the time (since the opera is supposed to be performed as a play and
not just as a listening piece). Although the play is supposedly incomplete (the argument
of the tonal imbalance at the end of the grove scene) the key and story is not heavily
impacted. It can be said that this is one of Henry Purcell’s greater works because of how
much attention has been paid to making the key structure balance so well.
Cameron Tolbert & Terneisha Terry
SL Music