Opera Daily 🎶 — The sadness and simplicity of Purcell's best known aria

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Henry Purcell (1659–1695)

Hi friends,

Today we are going back to 17th-century England.

Dido and Aeneas is Henry Purcell’s first (and only) opera and contains Dido’s aria “When I am laid in earth”, also known as “Dido’s Lament”.

Purcell is often credited with introducing opera to British high society.

Opera was so unknown at that time that Purcell’s opera was performed for the first time by a girl’s boarding school. Despite the opera’s humble beginnings, Purcell was able to do what no other composer at that time could; he turned his little opera into the greatest English opera and, unquestionably, one of the most popular opera’s today.

But how can something so simple tug on our heartstrings every time we listen?

As a leading composer of the Baroque period, Purcell had an incredible bag of composition tricks, styles, and techniques.

He’s very direct.

He knows how to use a very small amount of material to produce maximum effect.

The music is connected to real human emotions.

The “Remember Me” motif sounds like a devastated cry.

Dido and Aeneas was thought by some to be too simple for Purcell in 1689, but this may reflect that the intended performers were children. 

And how Purcell may have indirectly stumbled upon perfection by boiling the work down to its essence (so even a child could understand).

“Dido’s Lament”, Purcell’s, Dido and Aeneas

In Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, “Dido’s Lament” happens at the end of a simple and sad story: Aeneas, whom Dido loves and has agreed to marry, believes he has to leave her and go to Italy. As he goes, Dido dies from her grief.

When I am laid, am laid in earth, may my wrongs create
No trouble, no trouble in, in thy breast
When I am laid, am laid in earth, may my wrongs create
No trouble, no trouble in, in thy breast
Remember me, remember me, but ah
Forget my fate
Remember me, but ah
Forget my fate
Remember me, remember me, but ah
Forget my fate
Remember me, but ah
Forget my fate

The piece begins with a recitative of Dido saying farewell to her sister Belinda. It’s followed by the famous descending chromatic bass, paving the ominous path to her end.

This aria is among the most beautiful arias in operatic literature.

🎧 Listening Example: (5 minute listen): Mezzo-soprano Dame Janet Baker sings “When I am laid in earth” (also known as “Dido’s Lament”) from Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, Glyndebourne Opera House, 1966

🎧 Listening Example: (5 minute listen): Soprano Anna Dennis singing “When I am laid in earth” (also known as “Dido’s Lament”) from Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, performed on original instruments with San Francisco’s Voices of Music (an early music ensemble)

Want more?

Henry Purcell would be surprised, but hopefully, he would approve of this adaptation of “Dido’s Lament” by Annie Lennox and the London City Voices.

Thank you for reading (and listening),

Michele

PS. If you missed last week’s selection, we talked about Operatic Earworms from Rossini, Delibes, Verdi, and Mozart.

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