Set to words by Nahum Tate, the opera follows Dido's – the Queen of Carthage's – fate. In Purcell's and Tate's version, the call for Aeneas to abandon Dido is the work of evil witches', who hat "all in proper state".[2] At their bidding and disguised as Mercury, the messenger of the Gods, he commands Aeneas to leave Carthage – and Dido, its queen. Abandoned by her lover Aeneas, she dies; the witches triumph.[2]
Dido and Aeneas. members of the Musical Antiquarian Society, at Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, originally from the University of Wisconsin - Madison. 1841.
↑ 2.02.1Dido and Aeneas. members of the Musical Antiquarian Society, at Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, originally from the University of Wisconsin - Madison. 1841.
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↑Dido and Aeneas. members of the Musical Antiquarian Society, at Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, originally from the University of Wisconsin - Madison. 1841.