The Classical Music Book

76 BAROQUE OPERA IN ENGLAND

A musical revival

The creative foundations for

England’s music and drama were

in a poor state when Charles II

came to the throne in 1660. The

Puritans had closed London’s

theatres from around 1642 and,

abhorring music in places of

worship, had even disbanded

cathedral choirs. Charles’s

interest in the arts and his

subsequent support for them

was part of a wider policy of

encouraging entertainment.

This influenced music in

several ways. Charles created a

royal string orchestra modeled on

the Vingt-quatre violons du roy

(“The king’s 24 violins”) at

the court of Louis XIV. It played

for church services and court

occasions, performing birthday

odes by Purcell and others. The

post of “Master of the King’s

Musick” was reinstated with

the reappointment of Nicholas

Lanier. Foundations such as the

Chapel Royal, which trained

professional musicians, were

also renewed. New theatres

were opened and thrived,

producing what is now called

Restoration drama—often

bawdy comedies—for which

songs and incidental music

were required, frequently

supplied by Purcell himself.

As a child, Purcell served as a

chorister of the Chapel Royal at

Hampton Court, England, a training

ground for young musicians.

acquired a taste for French and

Italian music. Such preferences

influenced aspiring musicians

eager for royal patronage.

French influences are noticeable

from the start of Dido and Aeneas.

Act One starts with a typical

French overture, its slow, stately

introduction based on intense

dotted rhythms (which divide

the beat between a long note and

a short one). The second part of

the overture is fast, using imitative

counterpoint, as well as a structural

device by which sections are

repeatedly built up from a short

aria, followed by a chorus, and

then a dance. The opera included

several dances, a feature common

for French and English operas of the

time. Such dances would no doubt

have pleased the dancing master,

Priest, when the opera was staged

at his school.

Equally noticeable is the impact

of Italian opera—and specifically of

Didone, another opera about Dido

and Aeneas by Francesco Cavalli.

Both operas employ a ground bass

or passacaglia, in which the bass

line is repeated throughout with

changing melodies and harmonies

above it. Purcell uses this to great

dramatic effect for two of Dido’s

arias, including her lament, which

comes close to the end of the score

and provides a natural climax to

the whole drama.

Dramatic effects

As it has survived, Dido and

Aeneas consists of three short

acts telling the story of the arrival

in ancient Carthage of Aeneas,

the classical hero of Virgil’s epic

poem, the Aeneid. Having escaped

from the burning city of Troy at the

end of the Trojan War, he had sailed

with his followers to North Africa.

There he woos the Carthaginian

queen Dido—a wary widow who

finally submits to his advances.

Wicked witches plot against her,

however, sending an imp in the

likeness of Mercury to call Aeneas

away to his glorious destiny as the

founder of Rome. In despair at his

departure, Dido commits suicide.

Purcell masterfully employs

stirring motifs and deft word-

painting to express the fluctuating

moods that shape the action.

Throughout the opera’s varied

movements, Purcell’s text and

music work together in perfect

synergy to evoke the necessary

emotions of sadness, joy, or the

evil intent of the witches—music

and poetry “walking hand in hand

support each other,” an ideal Purcell

expressed in the dedication of his

semi-opera Dioclesian (1690).

His use of melismas—setting

one syllable on several notes—is

striking, enhancing the effect of

As poetry is the harmony

of words, so music is

that of notes; and as

poetry is a rise above

prose ... so is music the

exaltation of poetry.

Henry Purcell

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