Early Music America Winter 2013 - (Page 64)

INconclusion Dido and Aeneas RECONSIDERED What was the relationship between Henry Purcell's legendary lovers? events unfold to their unhappy denoueURCELL S Dido and Aeneas is an oft' performed opera whose libretto is not ment. But in Aeneas's soliloquy at the end of Act II, when he believes he has often seriously considered. In conbeen ordered by Jove to leave Dido and ducting Dido at the Hawaii Performing proceed that very night on his fateful trip Arts Festival this summer, with the to conquer Rome, we ﬁnd the key to the collaboration of such ﬁne artists as drama. He reﬂects on how unfair his Stephen Stubbs, Anna Marsh, and Paul departure will be to his "injur'd Miller, I once again had the occasion to Queen"-"How can so hard a fate be reconsider this enigmatic work. The took? One night enjoyed, the next forsubtle nature of the libretto has led to wildly different interpretations, including sook." As the night she is to be forsaken is the night within the a postmodern attempt 24-hour period of the in which the apparent The authors knew they drama, we are quite confusion in the mind explicitly presented of Dido is explained could count on their with the fact that the by making her the audience to figure out love of Dido and Sorceress as well, in a Dido's guilty secret, Aeneas was "enjoyed" kind of psychodrama which could not be made the night before the where she doesn't explicit on stage, given the opera begins! know herself. mores of the period. Now everything For several years makes sense. Dido I've been moving toward a more natural explanation of the enters in Act I in a state of anguish, which seems odd when such an ideal motivation behind the behaviors of the Dido and Aeneas by Rutilio Manetti (Italy, Siena, 1571-1639), circa 1630, in suitor is at her doorstep. Not only that, principal characters. This begins with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. but she is consumed by a secret she allowing for the possibility that the must hide. "Ah, Belinda," she begins, "I authors knew exactly what they were am press'd, with torment not to be condoing! In particular, it's reasonable to fess'd. Peace and I are strangers grown, I assume they knew they could count on their audience to ﬁgure out Dido's guilty languish till my grief is known, yet By James Richman secret, which could not be made explicit would not have it guess'd." I am not aware of any staging that on stage, given the mores of the period. seeks an understanding of this secret, The "Classical Unities" from Greek when it's quite clear what the real probdrama govern the action in Dido, as lem is-she has shared love with would have been expected in 17th-century London. The subject is singular, the Aeneas, secretly, and she has found it far place is Carthage, and a single day's Continued on page 62 P 64 Winter 2013 Early Music America

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Early Music America Winter 2013

Editor's Note
Reader Forum
Sound Bytes
Musings: Time Traveling with Instruments
Profile: Pure Gold: Beiliang Zhu
Recording Reviews
Let's put on a... Zarzuela!
A Banquet of Music 40 Years in the Serving
Honoring Krebs
Book Reviews
Ad Index
In Conclusion: Dido and Aeneas Reconsidered

Early Music America Winter 2013