Product Overview
Purcell - Dido & Aeneas / Guillemette Laurens, Jill Feldman, Philippe Cantor, Les Arts Florissants, William Christie / Harmonia Mundi France Audio CD 1986 / HMC 905173
UPC 3149021351733
Dido and Aeneas (Z. 626) is an opera in a prologue and three acts, written by the English Baroque composer Henry Purcell with a libretto by Nahum Tate. The dates of the composition and first performance of the opera are uncertain. It was composed no later than July 1688, and had been performed at Josias Priest's girls' school in London by the end of 1689. Some scholars argue for a date of composition as early as 1683. The story is based on Book IV of Virgil's Aeneid. It recounts the love of Dido, Queen of Carthage, for the Trojan hero Aeneas, and her despair when he abandons her. A monumental work in Baroque opera, Dido and Aeneas is remembered as one of Purcell's foremost theatrical works. It was also Purcell's only true opera, as well as his only all-sung dramatic work. One of the earliest known English operas, it owes much to John Blow's Venus and Adonis, both in structure and in overall effect.
The influence of Cavalli's opera Didone is also apparent. Both works use the prologue/three acts format and there are similarities between, for instance, Mercury's solo in Didone and the solo "Come away fellow sailors" in Purcell's work.
| Label: | Harmonia Mundi France – HMC 905173 |
|---|---|
| Series: | Radio France |
| Format: |
CD, Album
|
| Country: | France |
| Released: |
1986 |
| Genre: | Classical |
| Style: | Baroque, Opera |
Tracklist:
| Dido & Aeneas |
| 1 | Ouverture - Acte 1 | 16:18 |
| 2 | Acte II, Scène 1 | 7:56 |
| 3 | Acte II, Scène 2 | 9:52 |
| 4 | Acte III... "Great Minds Against Themselves Conspire" | 11:20 |
| 5 | Acte III, Monologue Et Mort De Didon | 8:06 |
- Baritone Vocals [Aeneas], Soloist – Philippe Cantor
- Chorus – Agnès Mellon, Antoine Sicot, Barbara Borden, Dominique Visse, Étienne Lestringant*, François Fauché, Jill Feldman, Michel Laplénie, Philippe Cantor, Sigrid Lee, Vincent Darras
- Co-producer – Les Arts Florissants, Radio France
- Composed By – Henry Purcell
- Conductor – William Christie
- Countertenor Vocals [The Sorceress], Soloist – Dominique Visse
- Edited By [Montage] – Alain Joubert
- Engineer – Alain Duchemin
- Ensemble – Les Arts Florissants
- Harpsichord – William Christie, Yvon Repérant
- Illustration [Cover] – Tiepolo
- Layout – Relations
- Libretto By – Nahum Tate
- Liner Notes – Jean-François Labie
- Mezzo-soprano Vocals [Dido], Soloist – Guillemette Laurens
- Photography By – Lauros-Giraudon
- Producer [Direction artistique] – Michel Bernard
- Soprano Vocals [1st witch & A Woman], Soloist – Agnès Mellon
- Soprano Vocals [2nd witch], Soloist – Barbara Borden
- Soprano Vocals [Belinda], Soloist – Jill Feldman
- Tenor Vocals [A Sailor], Soloist – Michel Laplénie
- Tenor Vocals [Spirit], Soloist – Étienne Lestringant
- Viola – Christine Angot (2), Jacques Maillard
- Viola da Gamba – Anne-Marie Lasla
- Violin [premiers violons] – Daniel Cuiller, Michèle Sauvé, Richard Walz (2), Walter Reiter
- Violin [seconds violons] – Frédéric Martin (2), Robert Crisafulli, Véronique Méjean
- Violoncello – Christine Kyprie, Élisabeth Matiffa
- Violone – Jonathan Cable
