Didon (Piccinni)
Template:Piccinni operas Didon (Dido) is a tragédie lyrique in three acts by the composer Niccolò Piccinni with a French-language libretto by Jean-François Marmontel. The opera is based on the story of Dido and Aeneas from Virgil's Aeneid as well as Metastasio's libretto Didone abbandonata (which Piccinni himself had set in 1770). Didon was first performed at Fontainebleau on October 16 1783 in the presence of King Louis XVI. It was the biggest success of the composer's career in France. Didon had some influence on Berlioz's opera on the same theme, Les troyens.
Roles
| Cast | Voice type | Premiere, 1783 |
|---|---|---|
| Didon | soprano | Antoinette Cécile de Saint-Huberty |
| Énée | haute-contre | |
| Iarbe | bass | |
| Phénice | soprano | |
| Elise | soprano |
Synopsis
Dido, Queen of Carthage, falls in love with the Trojan warrior Aeneas, who has been shipwrecked on her shore. However, Dido is promised in marriage to the African king Iarbas. War breaks out between Aeneas and Iarbas in which the Trojan is triumphant. But Aeneas is warned by the ghost of his father, Anchises, that he must leave Carthage at once for Italy. The heartbroken Dido commits suicide by throwing herself on a funeral pyre. Her Carthaginian subjects swear eternal revenge on Aeneas' descendants, the Romans.
Recording
- Didon Soloists, Orchestra del Teatro Petruzzelli, conducted by Arnold Bosman (Dynamic, 2003)
Sources
- The Viking Opera Guide ed. Holden (Viking, 1993)
- Amadeus Online