Bath Choral Society: Dido and Aeneas

Purcell Dido and Aeneas
Handel Dixit Dominus

Bath Choral Society
Bristol Ensemble
Stephanie Bodsworth and Rebecca Bottone sopranos
Olivia Ray alto
Eamonn Mulhall tenor
Philip Smith bass
Katrine Reimers conductor

Was ever a tragic love story more poignantly told?

Dido and Aeneas, the seventeenth-century gem depicting the abandonment of the Queen of Carthage, is a serious contender for the greatest English opera of all time. Purcell’s take on the story from Virgil’s Aeneid involves the chorus at every stage of the action. Underpinned with a powerful immediacy and simplicity, it has long had a broad appeal. The work’s emotional climax, “When I am laid in earth”, is as devastating as it is exquisite.

This concert performance is paired with another great masterpiece from the Baroque – Handel’s Dixit Dominus. Handel, ever a master of drama, brings to this choral Psalm setting a range of colours so broad that it might even take fans of his Messiah by surprise.