The mythical personages of Dido and Aeneas, who became the main characters of the legendary opera of the same name

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

The mythical heroes Dido and Aeneas excited the imagination not only of the ancient Greeks and Romans, but also of people of later eras. The love story, sung by Homer and Virgil, was repeatedly played up and rethought by ancient tragedians. In it, historians saw the encrypted code of the future Punic Wars. Dante Alighieri used the story of Aeneas and Dido for his pious admonitions in the Divine Comedy. But the English baroque composer Henry Purcell glorified the mythical couple. Using Virgil's Aeneid, Naum Tate wrote the libretto. Thus, in the second half of the 17th century, a wonderful opera in three acts, Dido and Aeneas, was born. Who are Dido and Aeneas? Gods? No. But not historical characters. These heroes emerged from myth and became legend.

The Story of Aeneas

The great poet of antiquity Homer,who lived in the eighth century BC, in his multifaceted epic work The Iliad, brought out, among others, the image of Aeneas. This son of the goddess of beauty Aphrodite and the earthly king of the Dardani Anchises left the burning Troy and sailed with his people across the sea in twenty ships. The twentieth book of the Iliad describes his salvation. He saved from the dying city not only his wife Crispa and son Yul, but also his old father, carrying him on his back. The Greeks, respecting such an act, missed it. However, other ancient authors give different versions of the story of Aeneas. Lesh describes how the mythical hero was captivated by Neoptolem. Arktin believes that Aeneas left Troy before it was taken. Hellanicus, Lutacius Daphnis and Menecrates Xantius believed that it was he who surrendered the city to the Achaeans. Be that as it may, the fall of Troy caused the distant wanderings of the Dardani tribe. A storm at sea drove the ships to the shores of Carthage. Thus, the local queen Dido and Aeneas met. The myth tells that they fell in love with each other. But obedient to the will of the gods, Aeneas remained true to his duty. He was to found the kingdom of the Latins. In order not to torment himself and his beloved with a long separation, he left Carthage secretly. Dido, having learned about the flight of Aeneas, ordered the funeral pyre to be kindled. Then she threw her lover's things there and threw herself into the fire.

Virgil's version

For Homer, Dido and Aeneas are the heroes of the second plan. The ancient Roman poet Virgil devotes more attention to mythical heroes and their love story. The navigator, shrouded in a veil of mist, in which his mother, the goddess Venus, clothed him,included in Carthage. He sees the beautiful queen and the fact that she is friendly to the members of his team. Then he appears to her. At the feast, Cupid, taking the form of the son of Aeneas, Yul, cuddles up to Dido and shoots her an arrow right in the heart. From this, the queen falls madly in love with the Trojan hero. But their happiness did not last long. A year later, the gods sent Mercury to remind Aeneas of his duty - to go to Italy and found a new kingdom. The fate, which, according to ancient concepts, cannot be changed, destined Aeneas to marry Lavinia, the daughter of Latinus. In order not to hear Dido's lamentations, Aeneas leaves her when she was sleeping. Waking up, the queen in despair throws herself into a blazing fire. Seeing black smoke rising over the horizon, Aeneas understands its cause, and his heart yearns. But he follows his destiny.

Heroes never die

A touching love story with a tragic end was not forgotten with the fall of the Roman Empire. Ovid Nason composed Dido's Letter to Aeneas (Heroides VII). This mythical couple became the main acting characters in the tragedy of Pseudo-Euripides "Res". Dido and Aeneas are also mentioned in a number of medieval poetic works. And if the Romans with full confidence considered the famous navigator to be their common ancestor, the Spaniards revere the queen of Carthage as their founder. So, at least, it is indicated in the chronicle of 1282 of King Alfonso X "Estoria de Espanna".

Political rethinking

In 1678 the famous British playwright Nahum Tate wrotethe play Brutus of Alba, or the Enchanted Lovers, which later became the basis for H. Purcell's opera Dido and Aeneas. The libretto completely rethinks the love story and makes it an allegory for the political events of the era of the English King James II. It is his author who displays in the image of Aeneas. Dido, according to Tate, is a British people. The author of the play introduces new characters that are not found in Virgil. This is the Witch and her assistants - witches. By them, Tate means the Pope and the Catholic Church. These evil beings take the form of Mercury and incite the king to betray his people.

Dido and Aeneas: Purcell's opera

This work is considered one of the best works of the Baroque composer. The original score has not survived, and at the beginning of the eighteenth century it underwent many changes (the music of the prologue, several dances and the end of the scene in the grove were lost). This is Purcell's only work without spoken dialogue. The opera was first performed on the stage of the Women's Boarding House in London. This has given music scholars the right to believe that Purssel intentionally simplified his baroque score by adapting it to be performed by schoolgirls. The most popular excerpts from the opera are the aria "Ah, Belinda" and the sailor's song. But the most valuable, included in the treasury of world music, was Dido's Lament. With the departure of her beloved, the Carthaginian queen asks the cupids to scatter rose petals on her grave, as tender as her love. Dido's lament - the aria "When they put me in the ground" - is performed annually on the day of the end of the First World War, onceremony taking place in Whitehall.

Yang and Yin in the rethinking of Joseph Brodsky

In 1969, for the Soviet justice by a parasite, and for the rest of the world - by a great poet, the poem "Dido and Aeneas" was written. Brodsky in it only indirectly touches on the plot of an already well-known myth. He focuses on thinking about the dialectical confrontation between the male - active and active - beginning, Yang, and the emotional, feminine Yin. The "great man" Aeneas, in his desire to decide destinies, leaves Dido. And for her the whole world, the whole Universe is only her beloved. She wants to follow him, but she can't. This turns into torment and death for her.