Dido and Aeneas

Album by Henry Purcell & Jessye Norman & Sir Thomas Allen & Marie McLaughlin & English Chamber Orchestra & Raymond Leppard

Dido and Aeneas is a short English opera by composer Henry Purcell, first performed around 1689. The work exemplifies English Baroque vocal writing—combining expressive recitative, arias and choral passages supported by basso continuo and ground-bass technique—and is one of Purcell's few surviving stage works, central to the early English opera repertoire.
First released: 1986

Tracklist

  1. 1.
    Dido and Aeneas: Overture
    2:09
  2. 2.
    Dido and Aeneas: Act I. “Shake the cloud from off your brow”
    1:12
  3. 3.
    Dido and Aeneas: Act I. “Ah! Belinda, I am prest with torment”
    5:41
  4. 4.
    Dido and Aeneas: Act I. “Whence could so much virtue spring?” – “Fear no danger”
    3:32
  5. 5.
    Dido and Aeneas: Act I. “See, your royal guest appears” – “If not for mine” – “To the hills and the vales” – The Triumphing Dance
    5:21
  6. 6.
    Dido and Aeneas: Act II, Scene 1. Prelude for the Witches
    1:01
  7. 7.
    Dido and Aeneas: Act II, Scene 1. “Wayward sisters” – “But ere we this perform”
    4:58
  8. 8.
    Dido and Aeneas: Act II, Scene 1. “In our deep vaulted cell” – Echo Dance of the Furies
    2:22
  9. 9.
    Dido and Aeneas: Act II, Scene 2. Ritornelle – “Thanks to these lonesome vales”
    3:28
  10. 10.
    Dido and Aeneas: Act II, Scene 2. “Oft she visits” – “Behold, upon my bending spear”
    3:25
  11. 11.
    Dido and Aeneas: Act II, Scene 2. “Stay, Prince” – “Jove’s commands shall be obey’d”
    3:20
  12. 12.
    Dido and Aeneas: Act III, Scene 1. Prelude – “Come away, fellow sailors”
    1:41
  13. 13.
    Dido and Aeneas: Act III, Scene 1. The Sailor’s Dance – “See the flags” – “Destruction’s our delight” – The Witches’ Dance
    4:23
  14. 14.
    Dido and Aeneas: Act III, Scene 2. “Your counsel all is urged in vain” – “But death, alas!”
    5:34
  15. 15.
    Dido and Aeneas: Act III, Scene 2. “Thy hand, Belinda … When I am laid in earth”
    5:23
  16. 16.
    Dido and Aeneas: Act III, Scene 2. “With drooping wings”
    4:45

Credits