Didon is a tragédie en musique or opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 in 1 prologue and 5 Acts by composer Henri Desmarets

Henri Desmarets

Henri Desmarets was a French composer of the Baroque period primarily known for his stage works, although he also composed sacred music as well as secular cantatas, songs and instrumental works....

. The work uses a French language libretto

Libretto

A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...

 by Louise-Geneviève Gillot de Saintonge. The opera was heavily influenced by Jean-Baptiste Lully

Jean-Baptiste Lully

Jean-Baptiste de Lully was an Italian-born French composer who spent most of his life working in the court of Louis XIV of France. He is considered the chief master of the French Baroque style. Lully disavowed any Italian influence in French music of the period. He became a French subject in...

's Armide

Armide (Lully)

Armide is an opera by Jean-Baptiste Lully. The libretto was written by Philippe Quinault, based on Torquato Tasso's La Gerusalemme liberata .Critics in the 18th century regarded Armide as Lully's masterpiece...

and the music of both Marc-Antoine Charpentier

Marc-Antoine Charpentier

Marc-Antoine Charpentier, , was a French composer of the Baroque era.Exceptionally prolific and versatile, he produced compositions of the highest quality in several genres...

 and Henri Dumont

Henri Dumont

Henri Dumont was a Franco-Belgian composer.- Life :Dumont was born to Henry de Thier and Elisabeth Orban in Looz . The family moved in 1613 to Maastricht, where Henri and his brother Lambert were choirboys at the church of Notre-Dame...

.

Performance history

Didon premiered successfully at the Académie Royale de Musique

Paris Opera

The Paris Opera is the primary opera company of Paris, France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the Académie d'Opéra and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and renamed the Académie Royale de Musique...

 in Paris on 5 June 1693. The work was reprised on the following 11 September in the presence of Louis, Grand Dauphin

Louis, Grand Dauphin

Louis of France was the eldest son and heir of Louis XIV, King of France, and his spouse, Maria Theresa of Spain. As the heir apparent to the French throne, he was styled Dauphin...

, and revived again on the Paris stage in 1704 and 1705.

On 10 July 1999 the first modern revival of the opera was mounted at the Festival de Beaune

Festival de Beaune

The Festival de Beaune: Festival international d’opéra baroque is a month-long annual summer festival of baroque opera in Beaune, France. It is notable for revivals of many baroque operas and performances of Mozart on original instruments....

 by Les Talens Lyriques

Les Talens Lyriques

Les Talens Lyriques is a baroque orchestra founded in 1991 by French conductor Christophe Rousset.The ensemble takes its name from Jean-Philippe Rameau's opéra-ballet Les fêtes d'Hébé ou les talens lyriques .- External links :...

 with conductor and harpsichordist Christophe Rousset

Christophe Rousset

Christophe Rousset is a French harpsichordist and conductor, specializing in the performance of baroque music on period instruments.-Biography:...

. They presented the opera later that year at the Arsenal de Metz

Arsenal de Metz

The Arsenal is a cultural venue dedicated specially to Classical and Erudite musics and located near the Esplanade garden in Metz, capital of the Lorraine region, France...

 and the L'Opéra of the Palace of Versailles

L'Opéra of the Palace of Versailles

The Opéra Royal de Versailles ' is the main theatre and opera house of the Palace of Versailles. Designed by Ange-Jacques Gabriel, with interior decoration by Augustin Pajou, the Opéra was constructed entirely of wood and painted to resemble marble in a technique known as faux marble.The house is...

. The performance from Versailles on 9 October 1999 was broadcast live on France Musique

France Musique

France Musique is a French public radio station devoted to music, including classical music and jazz. France Musique was created in 1954 as Chaîne Haute-Fidélité then renamed 1958 as France IV Haute Fidélité, then RTF Haute Fidélité in 1963, and finally France Musique in same year...

, and a CD of the live recording was later issued. The German premiere of the opera took place at the Kiel Opera House

Kiel Opera House

The Peabody Opera House is a civic performing arts building in St. Louis, Missouri. Founded as the Kiel Opera House, it opened it 1934 and operated until 1991, when it and the adjacent Kiel Auditorium were closed so the auditorium could be demolished and replaced by the Scottrade Center...

 in 2007.

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere cast, 5 June 1693
Didon, Queen of Carthage	soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...	Marie Le Rochois Marie Le Rochois Marie Le Rochois was a French operatic soprano who belonged to the Académie Royale de Musique. She is often referred to as Marthe Le Rochois or simply La Rochois.-Opera career:...
Énée Aeneas Aeneas , in Greco-Roman mythology, was a Trojan hero, the son of the prince Anchises and the goddess Aphrodite. His father was the second cousin of King Priam of Troy, making Aeneas Priam's second cousin, once removed. The journey of Aeneas from Troy , which led to the founding a hamlet south of...	haute-contre Haute-contre The haute-contre is a rare type of high tenor voice, predominant in French Baroque and Classical opera until the latter part of the eighteenth century.-History:...	Louis Gaulard Dumesny Louis Gaulard Dumesny Dumesnil was a French operatic tenor . His surname is sometimes found spelt Duménil, Dumény, du Mény, or Du Mesny....
Iarbe, King of Gaetulia	bass Bass (voice type) A bass is a type of male singing voice and possesses the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C...	Jean Dun
Anne	soprano	Fanchon Moreau Fanchon Moreau Françoise 'Fanchon' Moreau was a French operatic soprano who belonged to the Académie Royale de Musique, also a celebrated beauty who was a favourite of the Great Dauphin.-Opera career:...
Barcé	soprano	Françoise Dujardin
Magician	soprano	Julie d'Aubigny Julie d'Aubigny Julie d'Aubigny , better known as Mademoiselle Maupin or La Maupin, was a 17th-century swordswoman and opera singer. Her tumultuous career and flamboyant life were the subject of gossip and colorful stories in her own time, and inspired romances and novels afterwards...
Pleasure	haute-contre	Antoine Boutelou
Glory	soprano
Fame	soprano	Marie-Catherine Poussin
Jupiter Jupiter (mythology) In ancient Roman religion and myth, Jupiter or Jove is the king of the gods, and the god of the sky and thunder. He is the equivalent of Zeus in the Greek pantheon....	bass	Labbé
Mercure Mercury (mythology) Mercury was a messenger who wore winged sandals, and a god of trade, the son of Maia Maiestas and Jupiter in Roman mythology. His name is related to the Latin word merx , mercari , and merces...	haute-contre	Claude Desvoyes
Mars Mars (mythology) Mars was the Roman god of war and also an agricultural guardian, a combination characteristic of early Rome. He was second in importance only to Jupiter, and he was the most prominent of the military gods worshipped by the Roman legions...	bass	Charles Hardouin
Vénus Venus (mythology) Venus is a Roman goddess principally associated with love, beauty, sex,sexual seduction and fertility, who played a key role in many Roman religious festivals and myths...	soprano	Françoise Dujardin
Servant of Sychée Acerbas Acerbas, a Tyrian priest of Hercules, who married Elissa, the daughter of king Mutgo, and sister of Pygmalion. He was possessed of considerable wealth, which, knowing the avarice of Pygmalion, who had succeeded his father, he concealed in the earth. But Pygmalion, who heard of these hidden...	bass
Arcas	haute-contre	Poussin
Acate	bass	Moreau
Furie	soprano
Three nymphs	sopranos
Two dryads	sopranos
Two Carthaginians	hautes-contres
A faun	bass

Synopsis

Although betrothed to Iarbe, Didon is in preparation to wed Énée. Humiliated and dreading the impending wedding, Iarbe contacts his father, the god Jupiter. Jupiter promises him vengeance and Énée is forced to leave for the conquest of Italy. Didon and Énée lament their parting. Carthage comes under the pressure of the god Mercury. Didon loses all hope, becomes insane, and commits suicide.