Opera

Dido and Aeneas

Rating: 4.0
Author: Michael Halliwell

Pinchgut Opera revels in the possibilities

Pinchgut Opera

by Michael Halliwell •

ABR Arts • 03 June 2024

Opera

Dido and Aeneas

Pinchgut Opera revels in the possibilities

Pinchgut Opera

by Michael Halliwell •

ABR Arts • 03 June 2024

Valda Wilson as Dido (photograph by Cassandra Hannagan)

A powerful sense of irony accompanies the poignant final words sung by Queen Dido of Carthage as she contemplates her imminent death in Henry Purcell’s compact three-act, hour-long opera Dido and Aeneas. ‘Remember me, but ah! Forget my fate’, has echoed down the ages since the late seventeenth century, but little is known, never mind remembered, about the actual performance of the opera in Purcell’s time.

Dido’s demise is occasioned by the departure of Aeneas as he is summoned away from Carthage by Mercury, at the instigation of Aeneas’s mother, Venus, to what will become the founding of Rome. Dido, realising that she has been betrayed by Aeneas, sees death as the only possibility to regain her honour and dignity, thus becoming an archetypal operatic abandoned woman in a long line from Monteverdi’s Ariadne to Puccini’s Butterfly. She takes her own life with Aeneas’s sword; the nobility of the music is heartbreaking and has become one of the most celebrated operatic arias, frequently heard in recitals, but also in other versions – Jeff Buckley’s poignant performance being one of the most memorable.

Michael Halliwell

Michael Halliwell studied literature and music at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, at the London Opera Centre, and with Tito Gobbi in Florence. He has sung in Europe, North America, South Africa and Australia and was principal baritone for many years with the Netherlands Opera, the Nürnberg Municipal Opera, and the Hamburg State Opera singing over fifty major operatic roles, including several world premiere productions. He has served as Chair of Vocal Studies and Opera, Pro-Dean and Head of School, and Associate Dean (Research) at the Sydney Conservatorium. He is President of the International Association for Word and Music Studies. His publications include the monographs, Opera and the Novel (Rodopi: 2005); and National Identity on Contemporary Australian Opera: myths reconsidered (Routledge, 2018), as well as many chapters and articles. He still performs regularly and recent CDs include When the Empire Calls (ABC Classics, 2005); O for a Muse of Fire: Australian Shakespeare Settings (Vox Australis, 2013); Amy Woodforde-Finden: The Oriental Song-Cycles (Toccata Classics, 2014); That Bloody Game; Australian WWI Songs (Wirripang, 2015).