26. January 2008

Dear friends of Opera to Go,

We are always looking to not only entertain, but to bring our audiences something novel. Our main production of the 2007/2008 season,at the High School Auditorium  March 1-2 and 14-15, is Henry Purcell's Dido and Aeneas [pronounced dahy-do and i-nee-uhs] will do just that.  While the opera itself is no stranger to the stage, the nature of the piece leaves visual elements wide open to interpretation. Our director, Roald Simonson, has begun to bring to life a creation that, while being totally faithful to the music of Purcell, is energetic, poignant and abstract all at the same time.

The story of the opera:

The opera takes place after the fall of Troy. Aeneas, Prince of Troy, has left his homeland and is making his way to found Rome. He stops in Carthage and meets the Queen, Dido who is mourning the death of her husband.

Belinda, an attendant of Dido's, tries in vain to pull Dido out of her melancholy state, but to no avail. "Peace and I are strangers grown" Dido sings in her first aria, pondering why she is "press'd with torment not to be confess'd". Belinda knows exactly what is going on – the arrival of the Trojan prince Aeneas has stirred up love in both of their hearts, yet Dido dares not fall. "Cupid only throws the dart that's dreadful to a warriors heart" sings her friends. The two fall madly in love and Aeneas denies his fate to proceed on to Italy to found Rome.

An evil sorceress and a pack of witches see this as an opportunity to finally bring down Dido and lay waste to Carthage. They prepare a spell that is meant to break Dido's heart and then they dance in ecstasy at the thought of causing such mischief.

A lovely day in the country  for Aeneas, Dido and the court is interrupted by an oncoming storm that scatters the party members. Aeneas is then confronted by a spirit in the form of Mercury that chides his stay and urges him by Jove's command to "gain the Hesperian shore, and ruined Troy restore" (that is, go to Italy and found a new Troy that will be Rome). Aeneas knows what this will do to Dido, and with great sorrow, consents. Jubilation from the witches spreads to the sailors in Aeneas' fleet. They leave their lives and loves in Carthage behind -

take a boozy short leave of your nymphs on the shore
and silence their yearning with vows of returning
but never intending to visit them more!

Aeneas tells Dido of his fate decreed by the gods and she is inconsolable. Even after he feels remorse and sings "In spite of Jove's command I'll stay, Offend the gods, and Love obey" Dido wants nothing more from him singing "For 'tis enough, whate'er you now decree, That you had once a thought of leaving me." After he leaves, Dido sings her famous lament, "When I am laid in Earth."

With drooping wings ye Cupids come,
And scatter roses on her tomb.
Soft and gentle as her heart,
Keep here your watch and never part.