FULL Dido and Aeneas London 2021 Johns D’Souza Wyatt Harris
Information on the Performance
- Work Title: Dido and Aeneas
- Composer: Purcell Henry
- Libretto: Nahum Tate Libretto Text, Libretto Index
- Venue & Opera Company: Royal Academy of Music, London, UK
- Recorded: May 27, 2021
- Type: Staged Opera Live
- Singers: Bernadette Johns, Dan D’Souza, Grace-Marie Wyatt, Camilla Harris, Silja Elsabet Brynjarsdóttir, Kathleen Nic Dhiarmada, Isla MacEwan, Cassandra Wright, Maximillian Lawrie
- Conductor: Elizabeth Kenny
- Orchestra:
- Stage Director: Jack Furness
- Costume Designer: Laura Jane Stanfield
- Lighting Designer: Clare O’Donoghue
Information about the Recording
- Format: Streaming
- Quality Video: 4 Audio:4
- Subtitles: nosubs
- Video Recording from: YouTube FULL VIDEO
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE
In the late 18th century, music historians decided, on not much evidence, that Purcell had composed Dido and Aeneas especially for schoolgirls.
Its Chelsea boarding school performance happened, undoubtedly, in 1688 or 1689; but scholars should have stopped to ask what a rising star like Purcell stood to gain by involving himself in fringe musical theatre.
Over the past 30 years or so, a different view has gained traction. Dido makes excellent (if unexpected) sense when reimagined as a gritty, at times rather risqué piece meant to impress King Charles II and his famously broadminded circle of connoisseurs.
Bruce Wood’s new Purcell Society edition takes full account of these research developments. Academy staff and students are thrilled to be collaborating with the Purcell Society and publisher Stainer & Bell to give this new edition its world premiere livestreamed airings.