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

feel cold and dark. The emotions would not be effectively conveyed if the order was switched. A happy scene with sad music would feel strange and confusion to viewers, and vice versa.
Contained within Dido and Aeneas are arias that use ground technique. Two of the most famous arias that use ground bass in the opera are “Ah! Belinda” and “When I am laid in earth”, in which the bass line repeats continually with other parts on top of it. It places emphasis on the lines while keeping interest (Dido and Aeneas by Henry Purcell). Two other famous songs that contain ground bass are Pachelbel’s Canon by Johann Pachelbel and Cantata No. 78 by Johann Sebastian Bach.
In Emma Kirkby’s version of Dido’s Lament, she clearly puts emotion into the music, not only with her voice, but with her facial expressions and body language.

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

performance.
In Jessye Norman’s version of Dido’s Lament, I really loved her voice. She has a very rich and perfect-pitched voice. I enjoyed listening to the notes that made it seem like she was crying out, yearning for her lost love. Her facial expressions really relayed that pain to the audience. She even almost looked as if she had tears in her eyes at times. The violins and upright bass made the tone of the music seem darker and more emotional than the first video I watched. I could see the loss in her eyes and it almost makes you want to cry as you watch her singing with so much emotion. She sang at a softer dynamic at the beginning, but as she was singing toward the end, she grew louder and louder, ending on a soft note. It was very beautiful and well performed.
Alison Moyet’s version of Dido’s Lament was in performed English.

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

here.
All in all, I really enjoyed Jessye Norman’s version the best because she put the most emotion into it out of all of the performers. Her voice was clear and beautiful, and I did actually feel tears coming to my eyes. She conveyed the message of Dido’s loss very well throughout the entire presentation. Overall, I feel that she did the best in all aspects of the performance. In all three versions of the pieces, you could very well feel the pain and misery that the character was written to have, so all three of the performers were at least successful in my opinion.