Comparing Purcell's 'Dido And Aeneas'

Going back to the Baroque music period, one name stands out over most: Henry Purcell. He was known as the most famous musician in all of England, and he wrote operas such as Dido and Aeneas. Dido and Aeneas is an opera about Dido, the queen of Carthage who falls in love with the fallen solider Aeneas after the Trojan War. It does not end well for either party however, when Aeneas leaves to found the Roman Empire and Dido kills herself because of losing him (Dido and Aeneas by Henry Purcell). Purcell told this story through the major and minor keys, assigning major keys to the happy scenes and minor keys to the sad scenes. I think this is a very effective way to tell a story, considering that major keys have a warmer feel whereas minor keys

When she sings about the pain, her face is contorted into one of pain and misery, and her slight slump suggests wanting to curl up and get away from the pain. It also suggests that all happiness is gone. Also, the Baroque instruments lend to a better rendition of what it may have sounded like originally. She decrescendos and gets softer in the beginning, but as the emotion builds, she crescendos and her singing becomes more frantic and emotional. She does a good job at conveying the emotion to the audience throughout the entire

She has a deeper voice, and there was not a video of her performing it, but you could hear the emotion in her voice as she sang in a softer dynamic, almost at a whisper at times. I could hear violins playing in a minor key in the background as well, giving a haunting vibe as the piece progressed. She also was not singing very opera either. It was styled like a more modern song and you could understand what she was singing, which helped me to understand and hear the pain of the song more. At the same time, however, I did not feel as if it was as sad as the other versions. The other versions were not in English, but pain is something universal that you can hear in someone’s voice. I did not feel like it was present as much