Dido and Aeneas - Definition and Overview

Dido and Aeneas is an opera by the English baroque composer Henry Purcell, from a libretto by Nahum Tate. It was composed in 1689 and hence is given catalogue number Z. 626. It comprises 3 acts and lasts about an hour.

It is based on a story extracted from Virgil's Aeneid, of the legendary Queen of Carthage Dido, and the Trojan refugee Aeneas. When Aeneas and his crew are shipwrecked in Carthage, he and the queen fall in love. However, as it is he who is destined to found Rome, he must soon leave. She cannot live without him and awaits death.

It is a monumental work in baroque opera , and is remembered as one of Purcell's, amd perhaps England's, foremost operatic works. It may be considered Purcell's only true opera, as compared with his other musical dramatic works such as King Arthur.

Perhaps the most famous part of the work is Dido's aria When I am laid, a chaconne, which has been performed or recorded even by artists far from the typical operatic school such as Jeff Buckley and Klaus Nomi (as "Death").