Dido and Aeneas / Highlights from The Fairy Queen

by Henry Purcell

A tribute to one of the earliest composers of opera, Henry Purcell. The story of the Queen of Carthage and the lover who left her desolate as well as selections from his version of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

June 4, 2010 ~ 7pm
First United Methodist Church of Bellevue
1934 108th Ave NE
Bellevue, WA
June 6, 2010 ~ 3pm
Gethsemane Lutheran Church
911 Stewart Street
Seattle, Washington

Fairy Queen Featured Performers

Renwick Hester Tony Leininger
Darin Jones Hayley Baudrau Gaarde
Janet MacLean Katie Hochman
Sherry Tuinstra Lisa Graham
Anita Proudfoot Emily Purcell
Robyn Clapper Heather Whitney
Melody Mertens John Burkhardt
Amber Rose Johnson Carla Hilderbrand
Shannon McMullin Keith Hughes

Dido and Aeneas Cast and Characters

Dido, Queen of Carthage ...... Sharon Karsner
Belinda, her sister and handmaid ...... Sarah Markovits
Second Woman, another handmaid ...... Emily Robinson
Aeneas, Trojan Prince ...... Austin Amaya
Sorceress ...... Sibyl Adams
1st Witch ...... Robyn Clapper
2nd Witch ...... Amber Rose Johnson
Spirit (disguised as Mercury) ...... Shannon McMullin
Sailor ...... Darin Jones

          The Fairy Queen          

This semi-opera is part of an adaptation of Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream. The play by Shakespeare was performed with Purcell's musical numbers as interludes to heighten the particular moment or add commentary. This amazing dramatic work is thought to have been written to commemorate the 15th Wedding Aniversary of William III and Mary II in 1692.

Some of Purcell's finest dramatic writing, the Fairy Queen is full of beauty and contrast from sensual to silly and joyful to tragic.

Act 1

The first scene set to music occurs after Titania has left Oberon, following an argument over the ownership of a little Indian boy. Two of her fairies sing of the delights of the countryside.

A drunken, stuttering poet enters, singing. The fairies mock the drunken, stuttering poet and drive him away.

Act 2

Oberon has ordered Puck to anoint the eyes of Demetrius with love-juice. Titania and her fairies merrily revel and Night, Mystery, Secrecy and Sleep lull them asleep and leave them to pleasant dreams.

Act 3

Titania has fallen in love with Bottom (now equipped with his ass' head), much to Oberon's gratification. A Nymph sings of the pleasures and torments of love and after several dances, Titania and Bottom are entertained by the foolish, loving banter of two haymakers, Corydon and Mopsa.

Act 4

After Titania has been freed from her enchantment, there is a brief divertissement to celebrate Oberon's birthday, but for the most part it is a masque of the god Phoebus and the Four Seasons.

Act 5

Theseus has been told of the lovers' adventures in the wood and the goddess Juno sings an epithalamium(poem written to a bride), followed by a woman who sings the well-known "The Plaint". A Chinese man and woman enter singing several songs about the joys of their world. Two other Chinese women summon Hymen, who sings in praise of married bliss, thus uniting the wedding theme of A Midsummer Night's Dream, with the celebration of William and Mary's anniversary.

          Dido and Aeneas          

Purcell's first and only fully sung through opera, Dido and Aeneas was premiered in a girls' school. It is based on Book IV of Virgil's Aeneis and recounts the love story of Dido, Queen of Carthage and the Trojan hero Aeneas, and her despair at his abandonment.

Act 1: Dido's court

Dido is in her court with her attendants. Belinda is trying to cheer up Dido, but Dido is full of sorrow, saying 'Peace and I are strangers grown'. Belinda believes the source of this grief to be the Trojan Aeneas, and suggests that Carthage's troubles could be resolved by a marriage between the two. Dido and Belinda talk for a time--Dido fears that her love will make her a weak monarch, but Belinda and the Second Woman reassure her that "The hero loves as well." Aeneas enters the court, and is at first received coldly by Dido, but she eventually accepts his proposal of marriage.

Act 2 Scene 1: The cave of the Sorceress

The Sorceress/Sorcerer is plotting the destruction of Carthage and its queen, and calls in her companions to help her in her evil plans. She plans to send her "trusted elf" disguised as Mercury, someone to whom Aeneas will surely listen, to tempt him to leave Dido and sail to Italy. This would leave Dido heartbroken, and she would surely die. The chorus join in with terrible laughter, and the Enchantresses decide to conjure up a storm to make Dido and her train leave the grove and return to the palace. When the spell is prepared, the witches vanish in a thunderclap. The Sorceress' messenger, in form of Mercury, attempts to convince Aeneas to leave Carthage.

Scene 2: A grove during the middle of a hunt

Dido and Aeneas are accompanied by their train. They stop at the grove to take in its beauty. A lot of action is going on, with attendants carrying goods from the hunt and a picnic possibly taking place, and Dido and Aeneas are together within the activity. This is all stopped when Dido hears distant thunder, prompting Belinda to tell the servants to prepare for a return to shelter as soon as possible. As every other character leaves the stage, Aeneas is stopped by the Sorceress's elf, who is disguised as Mercury. This pretend Mercury brings the command of Jove that Aeneas is to wait no longer in beginning his task of creating a new Troy on Latin soil. Aeneas consents to the wishes of what he believes are the gods, but is heart-broken that he will have to leave Dido. He then goes off-stage to prepare for his departure from Carthage.

Act 3: The harbor at Carthage

The Trojan fleet prepares to leave the harbor. The sailor sings a song, which is followed shortly by the Sorceress and her companions' sudden appearance. The group is pleased at how well their plan has worked, and the Sorceress sings a solo describing her further plans for the destruction of Aeneas "on the ocean". All the characters begin to clear the stage after a dance in three sections, and then disperse.

Scene 2: The palace

Dido and Belinda enter, shocked at Aeneas' disappearance. Dido is distraught and Belinda comforts her. Suddenly Aeneas returns, but Dido is full of fear before Aeneas speaks, and his words only serve to confirm her suspicions. She derides his reasons for leaving, and even when Aeneas says he will defy the gods and not leave Carthage, Dido rejects him for having once thought of leaving her. After Dido forces Aeneas to leave, she states that "Death must come when he is gone." The opera and Dido's life both slowly come to a conclusion, as the Queen of Carthage sings her last aria, "When I am laid in Earth", also known as "Dido's Lament." The chorus and orchestra then conclude the opera once Dido is dead by ordering the "cupids to scatter roses on her tomb, soft and gentle as her heart. Keep here your watch, and never never never part."

More Information

General information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dido_and_Aeneas
The Libretto: http://opera.stanford.edu/iu/libretti/dido.html
Some musical clips by the New Trinity Baroque: http://www.newtrinitybaroque.org/multimedia/audio.html

English Semi-Opera and the masque tradition from which it was derived:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semi-opera
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masque
Puget Sound Concert Opera is a 501(c)(3) organization
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