- Didon (Piccinni)
-
Niccolò Piccinni 
Operas- Le donne vendicate (1763)
- Il finto astrologo (1765)
- La buona figliuola (1766)
- L'americano (1772)
- Roland (1778)
- Atys (1780)
- Iphigénie en Tauride (1781)
- Didon (1783)
Didon (Dido) is a tragédie lyrique in three acts by the composer Niccolò Piccinni with a French-language libretto by Jean-François Marmontel. The opera is based on the story of Dido and Aeneas from Virgil's Aeneid as well as Metastasio's libretto Didone abbandonata (which Piccinni himself had set in 1770). Didon was first performed at Fontainebleau on October 16, 1783 in the presence of the French sovereigns, Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. After being remounted at court twice, the opera had its Paris public premiere on December 1, 1783. It proved to be the composer's greatest success and was billed almost every year till 1826, enjoying a total of 250 performances al the Paris Opera.[1] Didon had some influence on Berlioz's opera on the same theme, Les troyens.
Contents
Roles
Cast[2] Voice type Premiere, October 16, 1783[3] Didon, the Queen of Carthage soprano Antoinette Cécile de Saint-Huberty Énée, a Trojan prince tenor Étienne Lainez Iarbe, an African King bass-baritone Henri Larrivée Phénice, a confidante of Dido soprano Adealaïde Gavaudan, cadette Elise, Dido's sister soprano Anne-Marie Jeanne Gavaudan, l'aînée[4] Un confident d'Iarbe, a confidant of Iarbas bass-baritone Pretres de Pluton, priests of Pluto bass-baritone Une ombre, the shade of Anchises bass-baritone Dido's followers, Carthaginian people, Trojan warriors: choir Ballet
ballerinas: Marie-Madeleine Guimard, Peslin, Anne-Marguerite Dorival, Dorlay; male dancers: Maximilien Gardel, Nivelon, LaurentSynopsis
The Death of Dido, by Andrea Sacchi
Dido, Queen of Carthage (Didon), falls in love with the Trojan warrior Aeneas (Énée), who has been shipwrecked on her shore. However, Dido is promised in marriage to the African king Iarbas (Iarbe). War breaks out between Aeneas and Iarbas in which the Trojan is triumphant. But Aeneas is warned by the ghost of his father, Anchises, that he must leave Carthage at once for Italy. The heartbroken Dido commits suicide by throwing herself on a funeral pyre. Her Carthaginian subjects swear eternal revenge on Aeneas' descendants, the Romans.
Recording
- Didon Soloists, Orchestra del Teatro Petruzzelli, conducted by Arnold Bosman (Dynamic, 2003)
References
- ^ Lajarte, p. 337
- ^ according to the first performance libretto and to Dizionario dell'opera (article: Didon)
- ^ according to Lajarte, p. 338
- ^ source: Correspondance littéraire, philosophique et critique de Grimm e de Diderot, depuis 1753 jusqu'en 1790, Nouvelle Édition, Paris, Furne and Legrange, 1830, Tome XII, p. 10 (accessible online for free in books.google)
- First public performance original libretto: Didon, tragédie-lyrique, en trois actes: représentée pour la première fois sur le Théâtre de l'Opéra, le premier Décembre 1783, Paris, Chez les Marchands de Pièces de Théâtre, 1783 (accessible for free online in books.google
- (Italian) Casaglia, Gherardo, "16 Ottobre 1783", Almanacco Amadeus, 2005. Accessed 14 October 2009 (in Italian).
- Holden, Amanda (Ed.), The New Penguin Opera Guide, New York: Penguin Putnam, 2001. ISBN 0-140-29312-4
- (French) de Lajarte, Théodore, Bibliothèque Musicale du Théatre de l'Opéra. Catalogue Historique, Chronologique, Anecdotique, Paris, Librairie des bibliophiles, 1878, Tome I (accessible free online in scribd.com – accessed 3 February 2011, ad nomen, pp. 337-38)
- "Didon (1815) - Niccolò Piccinni", University Of North Texas Libraries on library.unt.edu
- (Italian) Dizionario dell'opera in "delteatro.it", Baldini Castoldi Dalai editore (accessed 5 February 2011)
External link
Categories:- Operas
- French-language operas
- Operas by Niccolò Piccinni
- 1783 operas
- Tragédies en musique
- Operas based on Greco-Roman mythology
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