HENRY PURCELL (c.1659-1695)
Dido & Aeneas

1 Overture 1:51

Act I

Scene the Palace
2 “Shake the cloud from off your brow” (Belinda)
3 “Ah! Belinda” (Dido)
4 “Whence could so much virtue spring” (Dido)
5 “See, your royal guest appears” (Belinda)
6 “If not for mine” (Aeneas)
7 “To the hills and the vales” (Chorus)

Act II

Scene the Cave
8 Prelude for the Witches. “Wayward sisters” (Sorceress)
9 “But ere we this perform” (Witches)
10 “In our deep-vaulted cell” (Chorus)

Scene the Grove
11 Ritornelle. “Thanks to these lonesome vales” (Belinda)
12 “Oft she visits” (Second Woman)
13 “Behold, upon my bending spear” (Aeneas)
14 “Stay, Prince” (Spirit)

Act III

Scene the Ships
15 Prelude. Come away, fellow sailors (First Sailor)
16 See the flags (Sorceress)
17 The Witches’ Dance

Scene the Palace
18 Your counsel all is urg’d in vain (Dido)
19 Great minds (Chorus)
20 Thy hand, Belinda (Dido)
21 With drooping wings. (Chorus)

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About this CD

The year 2001 marked the felicitous moment when Hervé Niquet and Le Concert Spirituel joined Glossa, starting a recording collaboration which to date (2013) has yielded twenty-plus titles. The first of all these was this memorable Dido and Aeneas by Henry Purcell, at the time a somewhat unusual offering from an ensemble which had hitherto made of French Baroque music the cornerstone of its activities. Like, however later with King Arthur (both on CD and DVD), and with The Fairy Queen and The Indian Queen (for the time being only in live performances), Niquet infuses this early British (semi-)opera with a subtle touch of Frenchness – needless to say historically eminently-justifiable – making his version a delightful and different listening experience. It is not by accident that Niquet is increasingly been called upon by opera houses internationally to direct the music of this English genius…