Nahum Tate wrote this libretto to be set to music by Henry Purcell. It was first performed in 1689 and has become one of the most popular works in the Early Opera repertoire. For this recording the Prologue is read by a single narrator while the 3 Acts of the opera are dramatised in a spoken-word version.
The story is taken from Book IV of Virgil's Aeneid and relates the intense but ultimately tragic love affair between Dido, Queen of Carthage, and Aeneas, a survivor of the destruction of Troy who has been charged by the Gods with the task of travelling to Italy to found Rome.
(Summary by Alan Mapstone)
Cast of Characters:
Dido, Queen of Carthage: Inkell
Aeneas, a Trojan: Mathias Thorndal
Belinda: TriciaG
Woman attendant on Queen Dido: Rapunzelina
Sorceress: Estefanía Vidal
Inchantress: Sonia
Chorus: Beeswaxcandle
Narration: Alan Mapstone
Chapters
From LibriVox, read by volunteers and in the public domain. LibriVox page (opens librivox.org), the text (opens archive.org), all files on the Internet Archive (opens archive.org).