About the work
Henry Purcell's opera Dido and Aeneas, probably premiered in 1689 in London, is regarded as the first great English opera. The short work tells the tragic love of the Carthaginian queen Dido for the Trojan hero Aeneas, after Virgil's Aeneid.
Plot
Queen Dido of Carthage falls in love with the shipwrecked Trojan hero Aeneas. Witches hatch an intrigue, using a false messenger of the gods to make Aeneas set off for Italy. Although Aeneas is willing to stay, the disappointed Dido rejects him. In the famous lament "When I am laid in earth", Dido dies of a broken heart.
Cultural significance
Dido and Aeneas founded the tradition of English opera and contains, in Dido's Lament, one of the most moving arias of Baroque music. The work is treasured as a jewel of music history and is performed regularly on stages worldwide.