Dido's Lament

The story of Dido and Aeneas is set in the aftermath of the Trojan War, as numerous war heroes are making their way homeward from Troy.

This afternoon, I was stunned to stumble on this aria (a classical solo) from the opera Dido and Aeneas, by Henry Purcell.  The soloist, a wonderful soprano, held me spellbound; she was certainly beautiful, but the words and the music caught my attention, like glue.

The plot, I just learned, was that Aeneas and his son were heading to Italy, because the boy had Italian ancestry.  But a violent storm took the boat, and forced it towards Carthage.

At this time, Carthage was ruled by a queen, Dido; and Dido and Aeneas fell in love.  But, fatefully, Aeneas was determined to resume his journey to the North, and departed leaving Dido.  The despairing Dido had a funeral pyre built on the beach, had it set alight, and sings this lamentation: 'Remember me, but not my ending.'  She then stabs herself.

Henry Purcell was a gifted composer, a few years before Bach, and the English claim that, if it hadn't been that he had lived a little too early, he would have surpassed Bach.  (This is a rather pointless argument, but music lovers are as passionate as sports fans in these matters.)

Purcell, like so many brilliant people, was interested in other arts as well, and particularly in the Theatre.  His wife got tired of his coming home late after plays, and locked him out of his house one time.  Reportedly, Purcell caught a bug, and died.

Kay