Purcell: Dido & Aeneas (original) (raw)

Last updated: Feb. 13, 1997

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Music composed by Henry Purcell

Libretto by Nahum Tate

Date of composition: 1689

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• Act I
• Act II
• Act III
• Endnote

 DIDO AND AENEAS
 
 An opera perform'd at Mr. Josias Priest's Boarding School
 at Chelsey by Young Gentlewomen.
 
 The words made by Mr. NAT. TATE
 
 The music composed by Mr. HENRY PURCELL


 Dramatis Personae

 DIDO
 BELINDA
 TWO WOMEN
 AENEAS
 SORCERESS
 ENCHANTRESSES
 SPIRIT of the Sorceress (Mercury)
 
 Dido's train, Aeneas' train, Fairies, Sailors


 OVERTURE
      

ACT THE FIRST

 Scene: The Palace
 [enter Dido, Belinda and train]
 
 BELINDA
 Shake the cloud from off your brow,
 Fate your wishes does allow;
    Empire growing,
    Pleasures flowing,
 Fortune smiles and so should you.
 
 CHORUS
 Banish sorrow, banish care,
 Grief should ne'er approach the fair.
 
 DIDO
 Ah! Belinda, I am prest
 With torment not to be Confest,
 Peace and I are strangers grown.
 I languish till my grief is known,
 Yet would not have it guest.
 
 BELINDA
 Grief increases by concealing,
 
 DIDO
 Mine admits of no revealing.
 
 BELINDA
 Then let me speak; the Trojan guest
 Into your tender thoughts has prest;
 The greatest blessing Fate can give
 Our Carthage to secure and Troy revive.
 
 CHORUS
 When monarchs unite, how happy their state,
 They triumph at once o'er their foes and their fate.
 
 DIDO
 Whence could so much virtue spring?
 What storms, what battles did he sing?
 Anchises' valour mixt with Venus' charms
 How soft in peace, and yet how fierce in arms!
 
 BELINDA
 A tale so strong and full of woe
 Might melt the rocks as well as you.
 What stubborn heart unmov'd could see
 Such distress, such piety?
 
 DIDO
 Mine with storms of care opprest
 Is taught to pity the distrest.
 Mean wretches' grief can touch,
 So soft, so sensible my breast,
 But ah! I fear, I pity his too much.
 
 BELINDA AND SECOND WOMAN
 [Repeated by Chorus]
 Fear no danger to ensue,
 The Hero Loves as well as you,
 Ever gentle, ever smiling,
 And the cares of life beguiling,
 Cupid strew your path with flowers
 Gather'd from Elysian bowers.
 
 DANCE THIS CHORUS
 
 THE BASKE
 [Aeneas enters with his train]
 
 BELINDA
 See, your Royal Guest appears,
 How Godlike is the form he bears!
 
 AENEAS
 When, Royal Fair, shall I be blest
 With cares of love and state distrest?
 
 DIDO
 Fate forbids what you pursue.
 
 AENEAS
 Aeneas has no fate but you!
 Let Dido smile and I'll defy
 The feeble stroke of Destiny.
 
 CHORUS
 Cupid only throws the dart
 That's dreadful to a warrior's heart,
 And she that wounds can only cure the smart.
 
 AENEAS
 If not for mine, for Empire's sake,
 Some pity on your lover take;
 Ah! make not, in a hopeless fire
 A hero fall, and Troy once more expire.
 
 BELINDA
 Pursue thy conquest, Love; her eyes
 Confess the flame her tongue denies.
 
 A DANCE. GITTARS CHACONY.
 
 CHORUS
 To the hills and the vales, to the rocks and the mountains
 To the musical groves and the cool shady fountains.
 Let the triumphs of love and of beauty be shown,
 Go revel, ye Cupids, the day is your own.
 
 THE TRIUMPHING DANCE
 
 

ACT THE SECOND

 Scene [I]: The Cave
 [enter Sorceress]
 
 [PRELUDE FOR THE WITCHES]
 
 SORCERESS
 Wayward sisters, you that fright
 The lonely traveller by night
 Who, like dismal ravens crying,
 Beat the windows of the dying,
 Appear! Appear at my call, and share in the fame
 Of a mischief shall make all Carthage flame.
 Appear!
 [enter Enchantresses]
 
 FIRST WITCH
 Say, Beldam, say what's thy will.
 
 CHORUS
 Harm's our delight and mischief all our skill.
 
 SORCERESS
 The Queen of Carthage, whom we hate,
 As we do all in prosp'rous state,
 Ere sunset, shall most wretched prove,
 Depriv'd of fame, of life and love!
 
 CHORUS
 Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho! [etc.]
 
 TWO WITCHES
 Ruin'd ere the set of sun?
 Tell us, how shall this be done?
 
 SORCERESS
 The Trojan Prince, you know, is bound
 By Fate to seek Italian ground;
 The Queen and he are now in chase.
 
 FIRST WITCH
 Hark! Hark! the cry comes on apace.
 
 SORCERESS
 But, when they've done, my trusty Elf
 In form of Mercury himself
 As sent from Jove shall chide his stay,
 And charge him sail tonight with all his fleet away.
 
 CHORUS
 Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho! [etc.]
 [Enter a Drunken Sailor; a dance]
 
 TWO WITCHES
 But ere we this perform,
 We'll conjure for a storm
 To mar their hunting sport
 And drive 'em back to court.
 
 CHORUS [in the manner of an echo.]
 In our deep vaulted cell the charm we'll prepare, 
 Too dreadful a practice for this open air.
 
 ECHO DANCE [Enchantresses and Fairies]
 
 Scene [II]: The Grove
 [enter Aeneas, Dido, Belinda, and their train]
 
 RITORNELLE [Orchestra]
 
 BELINDA [Repeated by Chorus]
 Thanks to these lovesome vales,
 These desert hills and dales, 
 So fair the game, so rich the sport, 
 Diana's self might to these woods resort.
 
 GITTER GROUND A DANCE
 
 SECOND WOMAN
 Oft she visits this lov'd mountain,
 Oft she bathes her in this fountain; 
    Here Actaeon met his fate, 
 Pursued by his own hounds, 
 And after mortal wounds 
    Discover'd, discover'd too late.
 [A Dance to entertain Aeneas by Dido's women]
 
 AENEAS
 Behold, upon my bending spear
 A monster's head stands bleeding, 
 With tushes far exceeding 
 Those did Venus' huntsman tear.
 
 DIDO
 The skies are clouded, hark! how thunder
 Rends the mountain oaks a sunder.
 
 BELINDA [Repeated by Chorus]
 Haste, haste to town, this open field 
 No shelter from the storm can yield.
 [exeunt Dido and Belinda and train]
 
 [The Spirit of the Sorceress descends to Aeneas in the 
 likeness of Mercury] 
 
 SPIRIT
 Stay, Prince and hear great Jove's command; 
 He summons thee this Night away.
 
 AENEAS
 Tonight?
 
 SPIRIT
 Tonight thou must forsake this land, 
 The Angry God will brook no longer stay. 
 Jove commands thee, waste no more 
 In Love's delights, those precious hours, 
 Allow'd by th'Almighty Powers 
 To gain th' Hesperian shore 
 And ruined Troy restore.
 
 AENEAS
 Jove's commands shall be obey'd,
 Tonight our anchors shall be weighed.
 [Exit Spirit.]
 But ah! what language can I try 
 My injur'd Queen to Pacify: 
 No sooner she resigns her heart,
 But from her arms I'm forc'd to part. 
 How can so hard a fate be took?
 One night enjoy'd, the next forsook. 
 Yours be the blame, ye gods! For I 
 Obey your will, but with more ease could die.
 
 THE SORCERESS AND HER ENCHANTRESSES (CHORUS)
 Then since our Charmes have sped, 
 A Merry Dance be led 
 By the Nymphs of Carthage to please us. 
 They shall all Dance to ease us,
 A Dance that shall make the Spheres to wonder,
 Rending those fair Groves asunder.
 
 THE GROVES DANCE
 
 

ACT THE THIRD

 Scene: The Ships
 [enter the Sailors, the Sorceress, and her Enchantresses]
 
 PRELUDE
 
 FIRST SAILOR [Repeated by Chorus]
 Come away, fellow sailors, your anchors be weighing.
 Time and tide will admit no delaying.
 Take a bouzy short leave of your nymphs on the shore,
 And silence their mourning
 With vows of returning
 But never intending to visit them more.
 
 THE SAILORS' DANCE
 
 SORCERESS
 See the flags and streamers curling
 Anchors weighing, sails unfurling.
 
 FIRST WITCH
 Phoebe's pale deluding beams
 Guilding more deceitful streams.
 
 SECOND WITCH
 Our plot has took,
 The Queen's forsook.
 
 TWO WITCHES
 Elissa's ruin'd, ho, ho!
 Our plot has took,
 The Queen's forsook, ho, ho!
 
 SORCERESS
 Our next Motion
 Must be to storme her Lover on the Ocean!
 From the ruin of others our pleasures we borrow,
 Elissa bleeds tonight, and Carthage flames tomorrow.
 
 CHORUS
 Destruction's our delight
 Delight our greatest sorrow!
 Elissa dies tonight and Carthage flames tomorrow.
 [Jack of the the Lanthorn leads the Spaniards out of 
 their way among the Enchantresses.] 
 
 A DANCE
 
 [Enter Dido, Belinda and train]
 
 DIDO
 Your counsel all is urged in vain
 To Earth and Heav'n I will complain!
 To Earth and Heav'n why do I call?
 Earth and Heav'n conspire my fall.
 To Fate I sue, of other means bereft
 The only refuge for the wretched left.
 
 BELINDA
 See, Madam, see where the Prince appears;
 Such Sorrow in his looks he bears
 As would convince you still he's true.
 [enter Aeneas]
 
 AENEAS
 What shall lost Aeneas do?
 How, Royal Fair, shall I impart
 The God's decree, and tell you we must part?
 
 DIDO
 Thus on the fatal Banks of Nile,
 Weeps the deceitful crocodile
 Thus hypocrites, that murder act,
 Make Heaven and Gods the authors of the Fact.
 
 AENEAS
 By all that's good ...
 
 DIDO
 By all that's good, no more!
 All that's good you have forswore.
 To your promis'd empire fly
 And let forsaken Dido die.
 
 AENEAS
 In spite of Jove's command, I'll stay.
 Offend the Gods, and Love obey.
 
 DIDO
 No, faithless man, thy course pursue;
 I'm now resolv'd as well as you.
 No repentance shall reclaim
 The injur'd Dido's slighted flame.
 For 'tis enough, whate'er you now decree,
 That you had once a thought of leaving me.
 
 AENEAS
 Let Jove say what he will: I'll stay!
 
 DIDO
 Away, away! No, no, away!
 
 AENEAS
 No, no, I'll stay, and Love obey!
 
 DIDO
 To Death I'll fly
 If longer you delay;
 Away, away!.....
 [Exit Aeneas]
 But Death, alas! I cannot shun;
 Death must come when he is gone.
 
 CHORUS
 Great minds against themselves conspire
 And shun the cure they most desire.
 
 DIDO
 [Cupids appear in the clouds o're her tomb]
 Thy hand, Belinda, darkness shades me,
       On thy bosom let me rest,
    More I would, but Death invades me;
 Death is now a welcome guest.
 When I am laid in earth, May my wrongs create
             No trouble in thy breast;
             Remember me, but ah! forget my fate.
 
 CHORUS
 With drooping wings you Cupids come,
 To scatter roses on her tomb.
 Soft and Gentle as her Heart
 Keep here your watch, and never part.
 
 CUPIDS DANCE
 
 FINIS

Endnote:

The text of the Prologue is here omitted, as music has not survived for it. Music is missing also for some of the parts of the opera proper, but some attempts have been made to reconstruct them in some productions. The text here does not guarantee faithfulness to any given spelling convention or any particular version of the text, except perhaps the original 1689 print.

Initially input by: Lyle Neff, lneff@ucs.indiana.edu