Dido and Aeneas in Full Score (Dover Vocal Scores) - Softcover

Purcell, Henry; Opera And Choral Scores

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0486287467 ISBN 13: 9780486287461

Publisher: Dover Publications, 1995

Synopsis

"The more it is studied the more confidently can we assert its flawlessness as one of the masterpieces of music-drama." — Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians
When English composer Henry Purcell (1659–1695) wrote Dido and Aeneas, opera was not yet publicly performed in London. Indeed, although Purcell was already recognized as one of London's most distinguished musicians and composers, the debut performance of Dido and Aeneas was not in the kind of grand theater we now associate with opera. It took place at "Josias Priest's Boarding-School at Chelsey...Perform'd by Young Gentlewomen," possibly as early as 1680.
In time, sparkling miniature opera, filled with intense drama and elegant song, would dazzle theater audiences around the world. It remains the oldest English operatic work still regularly performed.
Dido and Aeneas lasts little more than an hour, yet encompasses a broad range of expressive music, from a high-spirited sailors' dance to one of the most touching of all operatic arias, Dido's lament, "When I am laid in earth." This brilliant work, by the greatest English composer of his time, is presented here in an authoritative early full-score edition.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

Music examples and charts illustrate the analyses, and each essay is fully annotated by the editor. In some cases, the results of original research by the editor or by others working in the field are published here for the first time. Much of the material has never before appeared in English.

About this edition

• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0486287467
• ISBN 13: 9780486287461
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 112