Henry PURCELL Dido Fjveneas
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Henry PURCELL (1659-1695) Dido fJvEneas Opéra en trois actes/Opera in three acts/Oper in drei Akten Livret/Libretto : Nahum Tate Didon/Dido Véronique GENS, sopmno/Sopran Enée//Eneas Nathan BERG, baryton-basse/bass-baritone/Baßbäfiton Belinda Sophie MARIN-DEGOR, sopranolSopran La Magicienne/Sorceress/Zauberin Claire BRUA, mezzo-soprano/Mezzosopran La deuxième Femme, La premiere Sorcière/ Second Woman, First Witch/ Sophie DANEMAN, sopranolSopran Zweite Dame, Erste Hexe La deuxième Sorcière/Second Witch/Zweite Hexe Gaëlle MECHALY, sopranolSopran L'Esprit, le Marin/Spirit, Sailor/Geist, Seeman Jean-Paul FOUCHÉCOURT, te'nor/Tenor Alto/Alt (cbaurlcborus/Cbor) Steve DUGARD1N Basselbass/Baß (cbaur/cborus/Cbor) Jonathan ARNOLD CWecÎM et direction/harpsichord and conductor/Cembalo und Dirigent. William CHRISTIE Les Arts Florissants WIL Ly^J^Mß^T IE Les Arts Florissants sont subventionnés par le Ministère de la Culture, la Ville de Caen, le Conseil Régional de Basse-Normandie, et parrainés par PECHINEY^ P Erat« Piscine. S.A. 1995 MADE IN GERMANY BY ® WARNER MUSIC MANUFACTURING EUROPE WE810 Unauthorized copy in«, hiring, public performance and liromkasiinj; ot ihis recording prohibited Ces Arts Florissants WILLIAM CHRISTIE PURCELL Dido £f >Eneas f >. v I Gens - Marin-Degor Brua - Berg William Christie Les Arts Florissants T erato Enregistrement numérique/Digital recording/Digitale Aufnahme Producer : Nicholas Parker Sound engineer : Jean Chatauret Editing : Nicholas Parker Digital editing : Adrian Hunter Enregistré en/Recorded in/Aufnahme : 8-11/11/1994, Théâtre-Opéra de Massy (Essonne, France) Conseillère linguistique/linguistic consultant/Philologische Beratung : Noëlle Barker Recto : Simon Vouet (1590-1649) : La Mort de Didon Collection Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dôle (photo : Chéchillot, Dôle) Verso : William Christie, photo Michel Szabo Maquette : Federico Restrepo © Erato Disques S.A. 1995 Henry PURCELL (1659-1695) DIDO & /ENEAS Opéra en trois actes/Opera in three acts/Oper in drei Akten Livret/Libretto : Nahum Tate Didon (Elissa), Reine de Carthage/ Véronique GENS, soprano/Sopran Dido (Elissa), Queen of Carthage/ Dido (Elissa), Königin von Karthago Enée, Prince troyen/£senas, trojan Prince/ Nathan BERG, baryton-basselbass-baritonel jEneas, trojanische Prinz Baßbariton Belinda, sœur de Didon/Belinda, Dido's sister/ Sophie MARIN-DEGOR, soprano/'Sopran Belinda, Schwester von Dido La Magicienne/Sorceress/Zauberin Claire BRUA, mezzo-sopranoi'Mezzosopran La deuxième Femme, la première Sorcière/ Sophie DANEMAN, sopranolSopran Second Woman, First Witch/ Zweite Dame, Erste Hexe La deuxième Sorcière/ Gaëlle MECHALY, sopranol Sopran Second witch/Zweite Hexe L'Esprit, le Marin/Spirit, Sailor/Geist, Seeman Jean-Paul FOUCHÉCOURT, ténorITenor Alto/Alt (chœur/chorus/Chor) Steve DUGARDIN BasselbasselBaß Jonathan ARNOLD (chœur/chorus/Chor) Clavecin et direction/harpsichord and conductor/Cembalo und Dirigent : William CHRISTIE Chœur de Courtisans et de Sorcières/Chorus of Courtiers and Witches/Chor der Höflinge und Hexen ENSEMBLE INSTRUMENTAL/INSTRUMENTAL ENSEMBLE/ INSTRUMENTALENSEMBLE : Hiro Kurosaki, Mihoko Kimura, violon/violin/Violine (ialina Zinchenko, alto/viola Emmanuel Baissa, violoncelle/Violoncello Hugo Reyne, flûte à bec/recorder/Querflôte Geoffrey Burgess. hautbois/Oboe Jonathan Rubin, théorbe/Theorbo William Christie, clavccin/harpsicord/Cembalo Willard Manin, USA (copie française) m 1. Ouverture/Overture/Ouvertiire 1 '56 ACTE/ACT/AKTI FT! 2. "Shake the cloud from off your brow" 1 '03 (Belinda, chorus) IT1 3. "Ah Belinda, I am press'd with torment" 3'36 (Dido) FTI 4. "Grief increases by concealing" 0'45 (Belinda, Dido) 5. "When monarchs unite, how happy their state" (Chorus) m 6. "Whence could so much virtue spring?" 1 '54 (Dido, Belinda) r~6~l 7. "Fear no danger to ensue" 1 '33 (Belinda, chorus) m 8. "See our royal guest appears" 1' 10 (Belinda, /Eneas) 9. "Cupid only throws the dart" (Chorus) fin 10. "If not for mine, for Empire's sake" 2' 14 (/Eneas) 11. "Pursue thy conquest, Love" (Belinda) 12. "To the hills and the vales" (Chorus) |~9l 13. The Triumphing Dance/La Danse Triomphante/Triumphtanz 1 '08 ACTE/ACT/AKT II Scene/Scene/Auftritt 1 [lö] 14. Prelude for the Witches/Prelude des sorcieres/Vorspiel der Hexen 2*1,5 "Wayward sisters, you that fright" (Sorceress) 15. "Harm's our delight" (Chorus) 16. " The Queen of Carthage" 1*52 (Sorceress) 17. "Ho! ho! ho!" (Chorus) 18. "Ruin'd ere the set of sun?" (First Witch, Sorceress) 19. "Ho! ho! ho!" (Chorus) IT2I 20. "But ere we this perform" 1' 10 (First and Second Witches) im 21. "In our deep vaulted cell" (Chorus in the manner of an echo) 22. Echo Dance of Furies/Danse des Furies/Echotanz der Furien 2'23 Scene/Scene/Auftritt 2 rTTI 23. Ritornelle/Ritournelle/Ritornell 3'35 24. "Thanks to these lonesome vales" (Belinda, chorus) [Tsl 25. "Oft she visits this lone mountain" 1 '55 (Second Woman) ¡161 26. "Behold upon my bending spear" 1' 13 (tineas, Dido) 27. "Haste, haste to town" (Belinda, chorus) OH 28. " Stay Prince" 2'04 (Spirit,/Eneas) [TiTl 28a. "Then since our chorus have sped" 1'23 (Chorus, cf. page 34) 28b. The Grove's Dance/La Danse des Bosquets/Der Tanz der Wälder ACTE/ACT/AKT III Prelude Scene/Scene/Auftritt 1 QjL 29. "Come away" 2'20 (Sailor, chorus) 30. The Sailors' Dance/La Danse des Marins/Der Tanz der Matrosen Mol 31. "See, see the flags" 1 '41 (Sorceress, First Witch) 32. "Our next motion" (Sorceress) ÜE 33. "Destruction's our delight" 0'31 (Chorus) [221 34. The Witches' Dance/La Danse des Sorcieres/Der Tanz der Hexen 1 '35 Scene/Scene/Auftritt 2 [23] 35. "Your counsel all is urged in vain" 3'35 (Dido, Belinda, /Eneas) 124] 36. "Great minds against themselves conspire" 2'02 (Chorus) 37. "Thy hand, Belinda" (Dido) [25] 38. "When I am laid in earth" 3'46 (Dido) [26] 39. "With drooping wings' 2'54 (Chorus) ince the end of the eighteenth century, Henry liarity with the music of Restoration England (1660- Purcell and Nahum Tate's Dido and /Eneas 88) and the years that followed, have generally heard Shas been regarded as one of the staples of of Purcell and may even be familiar with his music. Baroque musical drama. Coming from a period Finally, we must take into account the fact that Dido, whose stage works do not often translate well to as it has come down to us, appears to conform in modem theaters or tastes, Dido is unique among the many ways to a "modem" conception of what opera, corpus of English seventeeth-century opera in that it and operatic drama, should be. To opera lovers raised is performed on a regular basis and is well-known to on the works of Handel, Mozart, Verdi, and Wagner modern audiences, both in the English-speaking (or even Monteverdi or Lully), most Restoration world and beyond. "operas" are barely recognizable, consisting not of A number of factors may account for the work's continuous music, but of alternating musical and dra- enduring popularity and its appeal to modem sensi- matic episodes. Dido, however, is through-com- bilities. One is the story's timelessness, its concern posed, dramatically compact and direct, and uses for issues that transcend the narrow boundaries of its music as a means to further the aims of the text - and original historical context. Although slightly less thus readily suits our modern notion of what opera than an hour in length, this miniature chamber opera "is". rivals many of the great works of later centuries in Dido and Apneas has only one clear model among its its pathos, its sense of tragic inevitability, and its English contemporaries : the court masque Venus deeply personal, profoundly sensitive treatment of and Adonis, composed by Purcell's teacher and men- human problems. Audiences are often struck by the tor John Blow in about 1682. The similarities be- intensely psychological nature of the story, which tween these two works - in length, scope, and drama- probes both the underlying complexities of the rela- tic structure - are striking, although the earlier piece tionship between the lovers Dido and /Eneas and the (whose librettist is unknown) is simpler, and lacks capacity of the seemingly gratuitous hate of the the depth and pathos that informs Tate and Purcell's witches for creating private and public chaos. In its opera. The equally remarkable differences, however, exploration of these themes, the opera represents a have led to a perception of Dido as largely sui generis, profound statement about human interaction and tra- which may go some way toward explaining the gic momentum, and thereby readily conforms to work's pre-eminent place in the history of English twentieth-centurV ideas about the function and opera, to the exclusion of most other works of the purpose of high art. Moreover, because it deals period, many of which have until very recently lain primarily with the folly and weakness of mortals almost entirely neglected. caught up in a tragedy of their own making, Dido Yet despite its overwhelming popularity in our own appeals to a Romantic idea of what literature should day, Dido and /Eneas was far less famous during do: that it should be a mirror to human activity, Purcell's lifetime than his more ambitious operatic while at the same time transcending reality, so as to projects for the public theatres, including Dioclesian serve as an escape from the world around us. (1690), King Arthur (1691), and The Fairy Queen The popular reception of Dido has been further estab- (1692). While Dido appeared briefly on the public lished by Henry Purcell's own reputation as the stage in 1700 as a series of musical vignettes (pre- greatest composer of his age. Not only was he recog- sented out of their original order) within a larger nized in his own day as the "British Orpheus", but play, and again in 1704 as an afterpiece, it was modem audiences, who may have little broad fami- originally written to be performed in a more intimate setting than any of Purcell's other dramatic works.