Overture to Dido and Aeneas - Henry Purcell 1659-1695

[sd cisco]

Dido and Aeneas is an opera by the English Baroque composer Henry Purcell - 1659-1695, from a libretto by Nahum Tate. The first known performance was at Josias Priest's girls' school (Chelsea) in the spring of 1689. It comprises three acts and lasts about an hour.The work did not have another public performance during the composers short (36 yr) life.

A great deal of the work of Henry Purcell has been lost, his wife had some of it published after his death, but Dido and Aeneas disappeared, the manuscript not resurfacing until 1840.
As is fitting, the Overture is very short and to the point and my production is, of course, all GPO4. Overture to Dido and Aeneas - Henry Purcell

The gaiety and verve of the second half of the Overture give no indication of the depth of poignancy Purcell hits later in the Opera, hear Kirsten Flagstad deliver "When I am laid in earth" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6ZQACoD1C8

Best regards,
sd cisco

[Raymond62]

Listening to it right now... galant, nice and wonderful reproduced. Sometimes it is a pity that we don't hear more baroque music. It is so rich and transparent. I liked the second half also, it is like an echoe of voices (you did that on purpose!!!) and it fits wonderful.

NIce piece,

Raymond

[boulifb]

Nice piece from Henry Purcell.

[RichR]

This is very well presented. Nice detail work! Thank you for the listen.

[sd cisco]

Raymond, Fred and Rich - thank you for your listen and follow-up with posting your positive remarks! I slowed the tempo somewhat in the first section as I found every version I referenced to be in a big hurry to get to the fleet-of-foot second section and as a result, my version is 15 to 20 seconds longer than most.
Thanks again.

Best regards,
sd cisco

[englishgent]

Nice! I always enjoy a bit of Purcell. I thought the tempo you chose was good as well. Good contrast.

Regards
Owen

[sunbird]

Hi sd cisco,

I have tried several times to hear the overture,
but for some reason the download isn't working for me...

I usually have no problem downloading from box.net,
so I wonder where's the problem...


~Yudit~

[sd cisco]

Hello Owen;
I'm glad you liked it, thanks for the kind words! The Overture was a reasonable project, I included the link to "When I am Laid in Earth" for those who are not familiar with the Opera, to gain some insight into just what an amazing composer Purcell was. He was so incredibly creative in his lifetime, particularly in the last few years. He wrote much for theater of the time, pity the bulk of what he did is apparently lost, But who knows, one day a happy chap may wander into an antique shop in Chelsea, pick up an old set of drawers and find hidden inside, more truly great work by Henry Purcell.
Thanks again!

Best regards,
sd cisco

[sd cisco]

Hi Yudit;
It is distressing you can not play or download the file on Box.net, I generally find them reliable and I just tested the link and it took me there and others have done so, 54 last count, so I say keep trying and let me know if you succeed!

Best regards,
sd cisco

[sunbird]

Well, after seeing that I couldn't download another piece from box.net I realized
it had to do with some corrupted cookie and after deletion it finally worked!

Lovely majestic piece! I really enjoyed it and especially the pizzicato part!

Thanks for sharing,

~Yudit~