Dido and Aeneas

Jillian Aebly

The 1688 groundbreaking performance and opera of Dido and Aeneas, written by Henry Purcell, portrayed an iconic love affair filled with betrayal, lust, anger and love. The use of mise en scene throughout, made it easier for the audience to understand the heinous scenes vs the pleasant ones and the cordial vs malicious characters. Though it is considered to be an opera, the use of technology, lighting and scenery evokes a cinematic affect, which at that time could be looked at as innovative and revolutionary.

To understand this opera, you need to first understand the past of these two lovers and how they came to unite as one. After the Trojan War, Aeneas fled the burning city of Troywith his wife and son to build a new empire in Italy, although they both died in the flames and when he set sail to find new land and build a new empire, a deadly storm veered them astray and placed them in vulnerable land (which eventually becomes Rome). Similarly, Dido fled her homeland when her brother, King Pygmalion, killed her first husband for his wealth. We can see that Aeneas and Dido have gone through similar tragic experiences, they both lost their first marital lover, both had to flee their hometown and they are both universally attractive - the recipe for love. In the beginning, we see a fire burning in a dark night sky, leading to the first appearance of Queen Dido of Carthage, lamenting over the loss of her beloved. Belinda, Dido's sister, is trying to comfort her by telling her to focus on the present and not the past. She repeats, “banish sorrow, banish care, grief should never approach the fair” (2:39). Belinda wants Dido to move on and marry Aeneas, but Dido is extremely hesitant at first; she even tells Aeneas that “fate forbids what you pursue” (12:32). However, Aeneas has a plan of his own and convinces Dido to take her hand in marriage by telling her that even if she does not want to marry him for love, she should marry for him for the empire’s sake. Following this scene, the witches come out at night to formulate a plan leading to the downfall of their marriage. The head witch decides to send an elf, disguised as the messenger god Mercury, to tell Aeneas that he must to set sail to his fate, Italy, and leave behind Dido. He obviously obeys the gods and when arriving to share the news with Dido, she is heartbroken and filled with anger and doubt. At the end of the movie, Aeneas tries to reconsider leaving her although her final response was the determining factor, “no faithless man thy course pursue, i’m not resolved as well as you” (41:53). Dido echos ‘away, away’ and when he finally obeys, she kills herself, leaving no happily ever after.

Evidently, the anecdote of Dido and Aeneas is extremely tragic. The only jubilant scene is when Dido and Aeneas are married. The use of mise en scene throughout the opera is useful to understand the plot; there are a few aspects to mise en scene that Purcell covered including lighting, setting, motifs and costume. The motif of fire is prevalent in almost every scene, including the very beginning scene and ending scene, which makes sense because this a generally pessimistic story. It should be noted that the marriage of Dido and Aeneas directly parallels the mise en scene; darkness approaches when something has gone astray. For instance, Dido speaks of how pressed she is with torment as the ambient light flickers from the swaying fire, and in the end Aeneas approaches Dido during night to tell her he is leaving her. The setting illustrated by mise en scene is very predictable; as I stated earlier, darkness and fire is a representation of evil and anguish, although there is one benevolent scene filmed during the daytime illuminating the unity of the married couple. Dido is wearing a light colored white and gold dress during this scene representing purity and wholesomeness whereas in other scenes she is displayed wearing darker shades of off white and tan. Overall, the mise en scene in Dido and Aeneas illustrates melancholy times with melancholy scenes and visavera.

As a result of the opera being filmed in the 17th century, there was a lack of technology available for their benefit. Although with the technology they did have, they were able to film stage productions with different angles and settings that created a life like atmosphere. For instance, during the cave scene with the witches, a mirror is placed on a table when shortly after thunder crashes and an immense ray of bright light shines down onto it. This use of technology is destined to leave the audience in awe after viewing it for the first time, especially during that time period. Operas are usually filmed in one perspective, the singer usually stands on a stage with props although Dido and Aeneas is basically an opera in the form of a film. The story is revolutionary because one of the main characters die. Through my research on operas in the 17th century I have learned that the hero or heroine’s life may be threatened but there is always a happy ending. The fact that there is no happy ending is exceptional for the times. Dido and Aeneas is also the first baroque, and English opera to exist which not only evokes reactions on the audience but it is radical in the chronology of opera. In addition, I have discovered that Aeneas and Dido was first performed at Josias Priest’s school for girls in Chelsea, London and that neither the original nor any 17th century copy of the score survived.

If I could imagine the opera of Dido and Aeneas in a video game, I would relate it to

popular and modern video game called Fortnite. In the beginning, Aeneas flies to his drop off zone in conquest of winning the beloved Queen Dido, although instead of killing to win, he has to overcome obstacles thrown at him by her and if he fails she will die. Aeneas does fairly well with every single obstacle but the last one. The last obstacle is a trick, he will be sent by an evil dwarf hypnotizing him to quit the game and when he does, Dido will die. After his first time playing, Aeneas lost the game and Queen Dido dies.