Dido and Aeneas

An opera in three acts by Henry Purcell with a libretto by Nahum Tate
A synopsis and commentary by Joey Calkins

The events leading up to the story of Dido and Aeneas are even more complicated than the opera itself. It all started when Jove (Jupiter or Zeus depending on your nationality…) decides he wants to replace his daughter, Hebe, as the cup bearer of the gods with Ganymede, a Trojan prince. Ganymede was abducted by Jove and than made his lover. (This was common practice among the ancient Greeks. It was part of “coming of age.” It actually had nothing to do with sex, well, at least openly. But that’s another story.) This whole incident made Juno (Hera), Jove’s wife and Hebe’s mother mad, and, of course, jealous. But since she couldn’t do anything to Jove (the head god), she instead hated the Trojans. Which was one of the events leading to the fall of Troy. The second thing that really ticked Juno off was King Priam’s son, Paris (or Alexander) was asked to choose the loveliest among Juno, Venus, and Athena. (Something about an apple…) His choice of Venus (who, coincidently, is the goddess of love and beauty) really made Juno mad. So, in addition to her daughter being replaced by the Trojan prince Ganymede as the gods’ cup-bearer, another Trojan Prince, Paris, chose another as the “loveliest.” What woman wouldn’t be upset about that? So she cursed the Trojans, which eventually led to the fall of Troy (remember the Trojan Horse?), where King Priam, who was king of Troy at the time, was killed, and presumably, so was Paris. Hell hath no wrath as a woman scorned.

Aeneas barely escapes with his son, Ascanius, his father, Anchises (second cousin of King Priam), and several others. His wife, Creusa, was killed. (Did I mention that Venus is Aeneas’ mother?) They travel for six years. Anchises dies on the journey and he is buried in Siciliy, where they stop for a time. A storm drives them to the North African coast, where they enter the city of Carthage, ruled by Queen Dido (also known as Elissa).

Dido allows them to take refuge there; she being a refugee herself. She fled her homeland of Tyre several years earlier when Phygmalion, her brother, killed her husband to get his gold. You see, when Phy and Dido’s father died he decided to leave the rule of Tyre a joint rule between the two of them. But the people decided they didn’t like that and accepted Phy as their king; though he was yet still a boy. Phy was told that Acerbas, Dido’s husband, who was also her uncle and priest of Melqart (Hercules) and therefore second in power to King Pygmalion, had a large amount of treasure, so Acerbas was killed. Later, Acerbas appeared to Dido in a dream; telling her who killed him and where the gold really was. It turned out to be sacks of sand which Dido had dropped in the ocean; presumably as an offering to the spirit of Acerbas. But whatever floats…or sinks your boat, I guess. Dido and her followers (which included her sisters, Anna and Thais, and several friends) left and came to the shores of modern North Africa and founded Carthage. Dido swore to be faithful to her dead husband and vowed to live a chaste life. That didn’t last long! After Aeneas came, things were much different. Aeneas and Dido fell in love, which leads us to the beginning of the opera.

ACT I: Anna tries to comfort Dido by telling her to, “shake the clouds from off [her] brow….” Dido admits that she is “pressed with torment, not to be confessed.” The court tries to cheer her up, saying that maybe an arrangement of marriage between their queen and the Trojan prince would be a good thing; “When monarchs unit, how happy their fate….” (What, like getting married will make you instantly happy? Please!) But wait a second. What happened to Dido’s vow to remain faithful to her dead husband? Good question.

Venus sent her other son, Cupid (Eros), Aeneas half-brother, disguised as Ascanius to Dido where he offered the gifts expected from a guest. (The liberetto and Virgil’s Aeneid are ambiguous as to what that, or, those gifts might be. For all we know it was a bag of sand with ‘gold’ written on the side.) Dido falls in (motherly) love with “Ascanius” and as a result falls in love with Aeneas. (Two for the price of one?) Juno, who still doesn’t like the Trojans (but loves the Carthians), does not want Aeneas to fulfill his destiny of restoring Troy on the “Hesperian shore” (Italy). So she strikes up a deal with Venus with the intention of distracting him from his fate. (But even Jove is subject to Fate, I guess she forgot that.)

Eventually, Aeneas enters the scene. (Finally, we’ve only been hearing about him for fifteen minutes!) Anna announces his arrival. “See, see, your royal guest appears; how god-like is the form he bears!” Aeneas offers a proposal of marriage. But he couldn’t just say, “Will you marry me?” Oh no, he has to go on and on about how “Aeneas has no fate but you!” And, naturally, the chorus has to assist. Than Aeneas continues, “If not for mine, for empire’s sake…” In other words, “If you don’t marry me for me (ie, because I love you) than at least marry me for the sake of our empires.” Than he says, “If you don’t marry me, I’ll die!” Okay, not really, but what he says is really close to that. “Ah! Make not in a hopeless fire a hero fall and Troy once more expire.” (Oh, please!)

Anna encourages Dido to “pursue [her] conquest, Love.” She than exclaims, “Her eyes confess the flame her tongue denies.” The eyes ARE the window to the soul after all. Than the chorus comes in (again!) and tells Dido the exact same thing! Only with different words. Dido accepts his proposal and takes up the sword he offers. That sword must’ve had diamonds in the hilt or else no woman would’ve accepted it as an engagement ring. Than the chorus does the first of many “happy” dances.

ACT II: What opera would be complete without some type of nemesis? The witches come into play and plot the fall of Carthage. Among them are Syntyche and Thais. Yes, Dido’s sister. The head witch, lovingly referred to as Beldame*, says “The Queen of Carthage whom we hate, as we do all in prosperous state…” So they plot to kill Dido. But actually, they are not going to merely kill her; they want to destroy her. They want her to die a slow and painful death. (Finally, the story is starting to get good.) They plan to “conjure [up] a storm” which will drive their (Dido and Aeneas’) hunting party back to court. At which time, Beldame’s “trusty elf, in the form of Mercury himself, as sent from Jove…” will appear to Aeneas and “chide” his stay in Carthage and tell him he must fulfill his Fate and continue on to “seek Italian ground.” The chorus of witches sings, “In a deep vaulted cell,” which is commonly referred to as the “Echo Chorus.” (That might have something to do with the fact that they are in a cave. Just a thought.) They dance, run off and fool around in the dark. This is after all a mixed chorus.

The hunting party with Dido and Aeneas, Anna, Ascanius and others are out and about in the woods. Dido goes to her tent to be alone while Aeneas goes off in search of his prey. (I thought he just had it a moment ago.) Anna sings of Diana, the goddess of chastity. (Dido could’ve learned a thing or two from Diana.) Diana was a virgin (duh!) huntress. An older woman of the court tells the tale of Actaeon. Actaeon was a hunter who was hunting (no, really?) and came upon Diana and several Nymphs bathing. Diana didn’t like that, so she turned him into a stag and set his own hounds after him. The hounds tore him apart. Than the chorus does a happy dance. (The idea of a peeping-tom being turned into a stag and then being torn apart by a bunch of dogs excites them, I guess.)

And speaking of bleeding animals…Aeneas comes back as Dido exits her tent. (She’s finally done washing her hair.) “Behold, upon my bending spear a monster’s head stands bleeding. With tushes far exceeding those did Venus’ huntsman tear!” And he holds out a bleeding head. (If I were a woman, I’d be more likely to take the sword as a love offering over the bleeding carcass. But that’s just me.) And than, you’ll never guess what happens next! Okay maybe you will if you’ve ever been associated with a soprano…She doesn’t even acknowledge him! Typical. The tenor does everything he knows how to do, to woe the soprano and she’s only got eyes for the baritone! However, in this case, there is no baritone…hmm. Anyway, she exclaims, “The skies are clouded; Hark! Hark! How thunder rends the mountain oaks asunder!” Translation, “There’s a storm comin’ boy and you’re standing between me and my castle.” (Remember the ‘deep vaulted cell?’ Remember the witches? “Just you wait ‘enry ‘iggens. Just you wait!” Oops, wrong show.)

Anna notices the storm as well and she makes the biggest understatement of the year when she sings, “…this open field no shelter from the storm can yield.” Than she tells everyone, “…[h]aste to town….” And naturally, the chorus must repeat EXACTLY what she just said. So when they’ve finally exhausted themselves and run for cover, (can you guess who was at the head of the ‘mob?’) Aeneas finally realizes what’s going on (tenors aren’t exactly the brightest crayons in the box) and he starts to head back to town with “haste.” But alas, Mercury (well it’s not really Mercury, it’s actually an elf disguised as Mercury. You know elves, the big pointy ears. Beldame mentioned having one.), appears and says, “Stay, Prince, and hear great Jove’s command.” (“The trickesy little [elf]”.) He (don’t let the fact that he sounds a lot like a ‘she’ confuse you) convinces Aeneas that he must leave Carthage (presumably forever). And finally Aeneas gets to sing an aria. It’s a rather short aria, but it gets the job done. The gist of it is, he blames the gods for having to leave Dido, he doesn’t know what to say to “pacify” his “injured Queen,” and than he says, “[but] I obey your will; but with more ease could die.” Aeneas! Where do I begin? First off, that wasn’t one of the gods! It was an evil elf pretending to be a god. You obviously weren’t paying attention in Sunday School when they talked about how to tell the difference between a god and an impersonator!

Aeneas than rushes off in search of Secundis, his right hand man, to have him gather the crew. “We sail for Italia.” Of course he didn’t specify as to when…Idiot. They also need to pack enough food so they can stop off at Sicily and dig up Anchises before they head to Italy. Sounds a bit reminiscent of Dracula, doesn’t it?

ACT III: Early the next morning Secundis finds the sailors on the dock lounging around with their women when he comes in and tells them, “Come away fellow sailors. Your anchors be weighing…Take a boozy short leave of your nymphs (not the nymphs that hang out with Diana) of the shore. And silence their mourning with vows of returning, but never intending to visit them more.” And once again, the chorus repeats it. (What? Is the chorus incapable of learning new words? Apparently Nahum Tate thought so.) And than they do a happy dance; even the women. They were getting tired of the sailors anyway. When you’ve had one sailor, you’ve had them all, right? They leave to make their preparations.

Beldame appears with her minions. They rejoice over the departure of Aeneas and his crew. She than proclaims, “Our next motion must be to storm [Dido’s] lover on the ocean…Elissa bleeds tonight and Carthage flames tomorrow!” Enter chorus singing (you guessed it) the same thing that Beldame just finished singing. (Of course, this time there is a minor difference, but it’s so small it’s not worth mentioning.) Than they dance another happy dance.

Dido and Anna are walking along the docks. Dido says to Anna, “Get thee to a nunnery.” (Okay, that was Hamlet…) Dido says, “Your counsel all is urg’d in vain. To Earth and Heav’n I will complain; to Earth and Heav’n, why do I call? Earth and Heav’n conspire my fall.” Anna sees Aeneas approaching and tells Dido. Aeneas says, how can I obey “the god’s decree and tell you we must part?”

Dido calls him a “deceitful crocodile.” Aeneas announces, “In spite of Jove’s command I’ll stay [with you], Offend the gods and Love obey.” She basically tells him to “drop dead.” Than they argue. You’d think he’d know, having been married once before, he even has a son as a result, that you don’t argue with a woman, they’re always right. But like I mentioned before, tenors aren’t the brightest crayons in the box. So he finally gets the picture and leaves. But just before he does, while they’re arguing, Dido says “To Death I’ll fly if longer you delay.” So, what she’s saying is, if he (Aeneas) sticks around any longer, she’s going to die, because he’s there. Than Aeneas leaves, she got her wish, he’s gone for good. Than just like a woman, “But Death, alas! I cannot shun; Death must come when he is gone.” ARGH! I wish Dido would make up her mind! Now, because he’s gone, she’s going to die? “Damned if you do; damned if you don’t.” Or in this case, “dead if you don’t; dead if you do.”

The chorus, as if from Olympus and not repeating something someone previously sang (a first, it seems), tries to comfort Dido. Dido calls for her sister, Anna. “…darkness shades me. On they bosom let me rest; More I would but Death invades me; Death is now a welcome guest.” Than one of the most famous soprano arias…“When I am laid in earth…let my wrongs create no trouble…Remember me, but…forget my fate.” (aka Dido’s Lament). The members of the court prepare a pyre so that all of Aeneas’ abandoned belongings may be burned. (He left in a hurry. I can just hear him when they get out to sea, “Secundis have you seen my toothbrush?” “No sir. Did you leave it next to Dido’s bathroom sink?”) The sword (engagement ring) is brought last. Dido takes it (all the while singing) up to the pyre herself. At the conclusion of the singing, she stabs herself. Anna and the crowd let out a gasp. – What you weren’t expecting it? She’d only been talking about dying for the last ten minutes! – Anna holds her dying sister until the orchestra’s conclusion of the aria.

The crowd approaches, singing (not repeated, they ARE smart after all) “With drooping wings ye Cupids come and scatter roses on her tomb. Soft and gentle as her heart; Keep here your watch and never, never part.” Throughout the singing, the men gently pick Dido up and carry her to the interior of the palace. The rest of the crowd gathers Aeneas’ abandoned belongings (I guess they’re going to burn them later…?) Cupid, Aeneas’s brother and god of love, comes and scatters roses everywhere. Iris, goddess of the rainbow, is sent by Juno to release Dido’s spirit from her body. Hades, the god of the underworld and Juno (aka the one who started this whole bloody mess), await the arrival of Dido, Queen of Carthage. Cupid joins them; the roses all scattered. Dido arrives, escorted by Iris. Iris joins Hades, Juno, and Cupid looking down on the scene. Aeneas has made his passage to the underworld to talk to Dido. (I thought she was quite clear earlier myself, but some men just can’t take ‘no’ for an answer.) She rejects him (again!) and sees Acerbas, her husband, and goes to him. They embrace and enter into Hades, followed by Hades himself. Juno, Cupid, and Iris return to Mount Olympus, leaving Aeneas all alone.

* Beldame, according to wiktionary.org, means “an old woman, particularly an ugly one.” It comes from late Middle English (1400-1450) bel (fine) + dam (mother). How they get “old woman” out of “fine mother” I’ll never know.