Purcell: Dido and Aeneas / James, Lewis, Baker, Herincx
Our Price: $11.98
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy Used: from $0.97 (click here)
Category: Music CD
See more CD details
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
CD Details
Composer: Henry PurcellConductor: Anthony Lewis
Performer: Thurston Dart
Performer: Janet Baker
Orchestra: English Chamber Orchestra
Performer: Monica Sinclair
Performer: Patricia Clark
Performer: Raimund Herincx
Edition: Music CD
Format: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
CD Release Date: 2000-04-11
Music Label: Decca
Music reviews of Purcell: Dido and Aeneas / James, Lewis, Baker, Herincx
Music Review: An Immortal English Opera
Rating: 5 Stars
Henry Purcell's (1659-1695) opera "Dido and Aeneas" tells, in approximately one hour, of the frustrated passion of Dido, queen of Carthage, for the Trojan hero Aeneas, whose destiny it is to found Rome. The opera is based upon Virgil's Aeneid with a highly compressed libretto by Nahum Tate. Purcell's opera includes three parts for women and only one, Aeneas, for a male. The brief opera is in three Acts. According to "The New Grove Book of Operas", Purcell based his work on an earlier English opera, "Venus and Adonis" by John Blow. With its heavy emphasis on dance and chorus, "Dido and Aeneas" also draws heavily on French baroque opera.
This reissue of a 1961 recording of a young Janet Baker in the role of Dido is an outstanding way to get to know Purcell's only opera. Baker performed "Dido and Aeneas" many times during her career. Her voice is glowing and rich. She sings with force of Dido's initially repressed love and her soon-to-be dashed love. Interestingly, Dame Baker's most famous role was another Dido -- in Berlioz' lengthy opera, "The Trojans". Anthony Lewis conducts the English Chamber Orchestra with a supporting cast of Patricia Clark as Dido's confidante Belinda, Raimund Herincx as Aeneas and Monica Sinclair as a snarling Sorceress. I greatly enjoyed the cello obligato which permeates this opera.
For all its brevity, the opera encompasses a wide variety of emotion and scenes. The opera makes great use of the chorus. In general, after an aria by one of the principals, the chorus comments extensively, much in the manner of a Greek tragedy. Sometimes the chorus repeats the music of the soloist, but at other times it takes themes of its own. In "Dido and Aeneas" the chorus appears in scenes involving the court at Carthage, as huntsmen, witches, and sailors. It also appears at the close of the opera, following the death of Dido, in elegaic music of comfort.
In addition to his use of the chorus, Purcell uses the dance as a key element of his story. In "Dido and Aeneas", there are dance scenes displaying the love of Dido, a dance of the furies, who plot to destroy her happiness, an erotic dance for Aeneas, performed by Dido's entourage, a sailors' hornpipe, and a witches' dance in which the sorceress and her compatriots celebrate their destruction of the couple.
In the concluding scene of the opera, Janet Baker powerfully sings Dido's
sad and stark lament for the loss of Aeneas and for her impending death accompanied to a dirge-like theme in the orchestra. This is music of great tragedy.
This CD includes a complete libretto and good program notes. It is an wonderful way to experience an early operatic masterpiece.
Robin Friedman
Purcell, Henry CDs
Music Genres
Bestsellers in Purcell, Henry CDs
Purcell - Dido & Aeneas / Maria Ewing, Karl Daymond, Collegium Musicum 90Release date: 2008-06-24; DVD
Best price: $16.73
Price in other shops:
Purcell: Dido and Aeneas / James, Lewis, Baker, HerincxRelease date: 2000-04-11; Music CD
Best price: $1.45
Price in other shops:
25 Baroque FavoritesRelease date: 1996-08-20; Music CD
Best price: $1.19
Price in other shops:
Wynton Marsalis, Yo-Yo Ma - The Knot Collection of Ceremony and Wedding Music Selected by the Knot's Carley RoneyThe Knot; Release date: 2006-05-02; Music CD
Best price: $7.73
Price in other shops:
Classical Wedding MusicRelease date: 2006-07-10; Music CD
Best price: $11.98
Price in other shops:
Wynton Marsalis - Baroque Music for TrumpetRelease date: 1990-10-25; Music CD
Best price: $7.38
Price in other shops:
Purcell - The Fairy Queen / Hunt, Pierard, Bickley, Crook, Padmore, Wilson-Johnson, Wistreich, Sch?tz Choir, LCP, NorringtonRelease date: 2002-04-09; Music CD
Best price: $7.81
Price in other shops:
The East Village Opera CompanyRelease date: 2005-09-27; Music CD
Best price: $6.47
Price in other shops:
Norton Recorded Anthology of Western Music, Fifth Edition, Volume 1: Ancient to Baroque (6 CDs)W. W. Norton; Published: 2005-07-11; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $55.35
Price in other shops:
Beethoven's Wig - Beethoven's Wig: Sing Along SymphoniesRounder Kids; Release date: 2002-03-05; Music CD
Best price: $7.90
Price in other shops:
Similar CDs
Palestrina: Missa Papae Marcelli, Missa AeternaRelease date: 1994-02-15; Music CD
Best price: $4.59
Price in other shops:
Purcell - Dido & Aeneas / Maria Ewing, Karl Daymond, Collegium Musicum 90Release date: 2008-06-24; DVD
Best price: $16.67
Price in other shops:
Henry Purcell's Dido and Aeneas (Clarendon Paperbacks)by Ellen T. Harris
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1990-01-18; Paperback; Book
Best price: $57.80
Price in other shops:
Purcell: Dido And AeneasRelease date: 1990-10-25; Music CD
Best price: $9.98
Price in other shops:
Monteverdi - L'Orfeo / Rolfe Johnson, Dawson, von Otter, Argenta, M. Nichols, Tomlinson, Chance, Baird; GardinerRelease date: 1990-10-25; Music CD
Best price: $23.99
Price in other shops:
Camilla Tilling - Purcell: Dido and AeneasRelease date: 2004-02-10; Music CD
Best price: $9.52
Price in other shops:
Purcell - The Fairy Queen / Hunt, Pierard, Bickley, Crook, Padmore, Wilson-Johnson, Wistreich, Sch?tz Choir, LCP, NorringtonRelease date: 2002-04-09; Music CD
Best price: $7.98
Price in other shops:
Dido and Aeneas in Full Scoreby Henry Purcell
Dover Publications; Published: 1995-10-13; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.77
Price in other shops:
Essential PurcellRelease date: 1995-04-10; Music CD
Best price: $7.99
Price in other shops:
Dido and Aeneas: An Opera (Norton Critical Scores)by Henry Purcell
W. W. Norton; Published: 1986-10-19; Paperback; Book
Best price: $17.77
Price in other shops: