Henry Purcell – Dido’s Lament from Dido and Aeneas

The Composer

Henry Purcell was born in 1659 in London.  As a child, he sung in the choir at the Chapel Royal and showed a natural talent for composition.  In fact, his talent was so pronounced that it would be fair to think of him as a compositional prodigy.  His first published work was a song written when he was eight years old.  When his voice broke and he could no longer sing in the choir, he was hired to various positions, eventually becoming the composer-in-ordinary for the violins at court.  Despite his position, Purcell mainly composed sacred vocal music period at this time.  Purcell was extremely prolific, gaining a reputation as England’s greatest composer (a position some believe he still holds).  His career reflected this success.  At various times he held positions as the organist of Westminster Abbey and the Chapel Royal, as well as composer to the court.  Unfortunately, Purcell died at the young age of thirty-six, but not before leaving a massive catalog consisting most of vocal works, many of which rank among the greatest music ever composed in the English language.

The Work

Dido and Aeneas was an example of baroque opera.  At the time it was composed, opera was a fairly new art form.  The first work considered to be a bona fide opera was composed in 1600 by Jacopo Peri.  In the time between that first composition and the premiere of Dido and Aeneas around 1688-89, a fairly uniform structure had been established for the composition of operas.  This consisted of isolated songs, or arias, surrounded by declaimed or half-sung sections, which were called dry recitative (or recitativo secco in Italian opera), that served to move the dramatic action forward.  In this way, arias served a role similar to soliloquies in spoken theater.  As a nod to the Greek tradition that inspired opera, most operas also included a chorus that served to comment on the action of the drama.

Like most operas from this period, the subject of Dido and Aeneas is drawn from classical storytelling.  The libretto is an allegorical adaptation of a portion of Virgil’s Aeneid.  It tells the story of Dido, the queen of Carthage, and her marriage to the Trojan Aeneas.  A sorceress wishing to bring the downfall of Carthage plots to trick Aeneas into leaving for Italy, believing he has been ordered by the gods, then destroying his ship in transit.  Aeneas falls for the plot, and upon telling Dido he must leave, she relents.  In her sorrow, she slowly dies, leading to the end of the opera.

The aria featured in this post is the final aria of the work, popularly called “Dido’s Lament.”  This aria is what is called a ground bass aria.  The primary distinguishing feature of this kind of aria is the repeated bass line that is featured throughout the work.  The ground bass line in this aria is designed to be symbolic of Dido’s death, featuring a slow chromatic descent.  Lines moving by descending semitones were and are often used metaphorically to depict death.

The section you will hear in the recording features the aria as well as the preceding recitative.  In baroque practice, recitative was accompanied by a semi-improvised basso continuo.  Basso continuo was a feature of baroque music that consisted of an ever-present accompaniment consisting of a monophonic bass instrument, usually a cello, and a polyphonic instrument of some sort, usually a harpsichord, though occasionally an organ or lute.  The bass line in these parts would be written out with figured bass that the keyboard or lute player would use to improvise harmony.

I have included the lyrics below.  Notice the way Purcell uses the ground bass to depict the descent into the cold ground.  Baroque music can often seem cold and technical (see Vivaldi and Bach), but Purcell’s music here is both touching and tragic, reaching a distinctly grand level as the opera comes to a close.  Enjoy listening to this performance, recorded at the Proms in 2009.

Recitative

Thy hand, Belinda, darkness shades me,

On thy bosom let me rest,

More I would, but Death invades me;

Death is now a welcome guest.

Aria

When I am laid, am laid in earth, May my wrongs create

No trouble, no trouble in thy breast;

Remember me, remember me, but ah! forget my fate.

Remember me, but ah! forget my fate.