DIDO & AENEAS

Henry Purcell
ACT II
Dido’s Lament

March 2011
Oven of Ragousis Warehouse
Peireos, Athens

The story of Dido and Aeneas is one of the world’s most tragic love stories, first described in Virgil’s Aeneid.

Before Aeneas founded Rome, he was a Trojan soldier. When Troy fell, he left with his followers in seven ships. He was shipwrecked on the shores of Carthage, the great African city ruled by the legendary Queen Dido. Dido and Aeneas fell deeply in love, but the gods called Aeneas away to fulfill his destiny in Italy, and Dido was left heartbroken and alone. In her despair, she built a funeral pyre and committed suicide atop it.

"Thy hand, Belinda, darkness shades me,

On thy bosom let me rest,

More I would, but Death invades me;

Death is now a welcome guest.

When I am laid in earth, May my wrongs create

No trouble in thy breast;

Remember me, but ah! forget my fate"