About the work
Didone abbandonata is a dramma per musica in three acts by Baldassare Galuppi to Pietro Metastasio's libretto of the same name. It premiered on 26 December 1740 at the Teatro Molza in Modena; the libretto had first appeared in Naples in 1724, set by Domenico Sarro, and went on to be set more than sixty times up to the nineteenth century.
Plot
The Carthaginian queen Dido and the Trojan hero Aeneas fall in love, but Aeneas must obey the gods' command to sail on to Italy and found a new realm. Meanwhile the rejected king Iarbas threatens the city with war. Devastated by Aeneas's departure and the threat to Carthage, Dido finally throws herself into the flames of the burning city.
Cultural significance
Metastasio's debut libretto was unusual for opera seria in ending with the heroine's death rather than the customary lieto fine. Drawing on Virgil's Aeneid, it became one of the most frequently set subjects of the eighteenth century, with settings by, among others, Hasse, Jommelli and Vinci.