Dido Aeneas

Question 1

recitativo secco

Answer 1

• Italian for ‘dry recitative”
• speech-like, declamatory style of singing
• supported only by continuo
• employed in opera, oratorio, and cantata

Question 2

aria

Answer 2

• Italian for “air”
• solo song with accompaniment
• heard in an opera, oratorio, and cantata
• highly emotional and often virtuosic
• may have lyrical or dramatic qualities; offer serves to reveal character’s feelings and emotions

Question 3

ground bass

Answer 3

• Baroque compositional device
• consists of continuous repetition of short melody over which free variations occur
• often it provided the basic structure of a Baroque aria

Question 4

Dido Aeneas background information

Answer 4

• English opera
• Henry purcell
• first performed 1689
• librettist: Nahum Tate
• source of plot:
• Nahum Tate’s Brutus of Alba
• the epic poem Aeneid by ancient Roman poet Virgil

Question 5

Dido Aeneas essay sections

Answer 5

• Principal Characters
• Plot Summary

-“Dido’s Lament” (Act 3, Final Scene):
“Thy hand, Belinda” (Recitative)

• “Wjem I Am Laid in Earth” (Aria)
• “With Drooping Wings” (Chorus)

Question 6

Dido Aeneas Principal Characters

Answer 6

• Dido, soprano, queen of Carthage
• Aeneas, baritone, Trojan prince, founder of Rome
• Belinda, soprano, Dido’s lady in waiting
• Sorceress, mezzo-soprano
• Choruses of couriers, sailors, cupids, witches

Question 7

Dido Aeneas Plot Summary

Answer 7

• After the siege of Troy, Prince Aeneas and his men set sail across the Mediterranean to fulfill the command of the gods and establish a new Trojan capital on Italian soil
• they become shipwrecked on the shores of Carthage a city state ruled by Queen Dido
• The noble couple falls in love, thereby causing Aeneas to delay his mission
• a sorceress disguised as the god Mercury appears before Aeneas, tricking him into believing the gods are displeased with him
• Aeneas resolves to fulfill his destiny and leave Carthage
• Dido, heartbroken by his abandonment of her, builds a pyre on a hilltop overlooking the city
• the flames light up the night sky guiding Aeneas’s ships safely out of the harbor
• The grief-stricken queen mounts the flaming pyre and brings her life to a tragic end

Question 8

Dido Aeneas “Dido’s Lament” (Act 3, Final Scene): “Thy hand, Belinda” (Recitative)

Answer 8

• C minor
• recitativo secco (accompanied by continuo only)
• Queen Dido expresses her sorrow to Belinda, her friend and confidant, and prepares herself for death
• word painting:
• descending vocal line: symbolize death and grief
• melisma on “darkness”
• chromaticism on “death”

Question 9

Dido Aeneas “When I Am Laid in Earth” (Aria)

Answer 9

• G minor
• 3/2 (meter)
• ground bass employed: five-measure pattern, based on descending chromatic line, repeated eleven times
• solo vocal line soars above continuo and string accompaniment, moving independently, with phrase structure that does not always coincide with the ground bass pattern
• word painting:
• descending melisma on “laid” in earth
• repetition of “remember me” on repeated-note motive

Question 10

Dido Aeneas “With Drooping Wings” (Chorus)

Answer 10

• chorus of cupids gather to mourn Queen Dido’s tragic fate
• Purcell concludes his operatic masterpiece with a poignant musical eulogy to Queen Dido
• This four-part chorus serves to soften the dramatic intensity of “Dido’s Lament” and provides a contemplative conclusion to the work as a whole
• G minor
• C (meter)
• four-part texture
• word painting:
• descending lines on “drooping wings”
• two-note melodic sigh figures on “soft”