BAROQUE 1600 –1750 75
anthems and songs from the age
of 16. Many of these early works
show the depth of imagination that
would later make Dido and Aeneas
such a powerful work.
Surprisingly little is known
about the creation of Dido and
Aeneas. The earliest surviving
manuscripts date from several
decades after Purcell’s death,
and some material, such as music
for his librettist Nahum Tate’s
prologue, has been lost. There is
also a mystery about when and
where the work was first performed.
Although it was staged at Josias
Priest’s Boarding School for Young
Ladies in Chelsea in the late 1680s,some suggest that it was
commissioned originally for the
court of Charles II. There is,
however, no evidence of any
performance in the proposed period
(1683–1684). Priest himself was a
choreographer and dancing master
who knew Purcell from stage
productions on which they had
both worked. John Blow’s Venus
and Adonis, the model for Dido and
Aeneas and also an opera with a
prologue and three acts, had been
revived by Priest and his pupils and
premiered at court around 1683.The continental influence
While Purcell drew on the style
of his English predecessors and
contemporaries such as Matthew
Locke and Blow, European musical
models are evident in Dido and
Aeneas and other works. During
his years in exile, Charles II had ❯❯See also: Euridice 62–63 ■ Orfeo ed Euridice 118 –119 ■ The Magic Flute 134 –137 ■
The Barber of Seville 14 8 ■ La traviata 174 –175 ■ Peter Grimes 288–293Dido entertains Aeneas in a scene
by an unknown 18th-century Italian
artist. While based on Virgil’s epic
poem, Purcell’s opera used witches,
rather than gods, to separate the lovers.Henry Purcell
Born in 1659, when court life
was about to be restored with
the accession of Charles II,
Purcell was a thoroughly
trained musician. In his
relatively brief career, he
acquired the range of skills
needed to succeed in every
available genre. He was a boy
chorister in the Chapel Royal,
and, as an adult, held a series
of court appointments, writing
music for state occasions in
addition to works for church
and chamber, songs, and
harpsichord suites. As the
organist of Westminster
Abbey from 1680, he worked
close to London’s West End
and wrote incidental music
for dozens of plays. He also
collaborated on a series of
dramatic or semi-operas with
substantial musical content,
including King Arthur and The
Fairy Queen. He died in 1695
during the composition of
The Indian Queen, leaving his
brother to complete the work.Other key works1691 King Arthur
1692 The Fairy Queen
1694 Come, Ye Sons of Art
1695 Funeral music for
Queen MaryUS_072-077_Purcell.indd 75 26/03/18 1:00 PM