Didone (opera)

Didone is an opera by Francesco Cavalli, set to a libretto by Giovanni Francesco Busenello (later librettist for Claudio Monteverdi). The opera was first performed at Venice's Teatro San Cassiano during 1640.

Title page of the 1656 libretto

Francesco Cavalli

The plot is based on Virgil's Aeneid (Book 4 in particular), though Busenello, in his second libretto for Cavalli, replaces Dido's tragic suicide of Virgil with a happy ending in which Dido marries Iarbas, King of the Getuli, who saves Dido from herself after Aeneas abandons her. The action is divided into a prologue and 3 acts.

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere Cast, 1640 (Conductor: - )
Enea	tenor
Didone	soprano
Iarbas	contralto
Cassandra	soprano
Anchise	tenor
Ascanio	soprano
Hecuba	contralto
Creusa	soprano
Anna	soprano
Mercurio	contralto
Sicheo	tenor
Pirro	tenor
Corebo	contralto
Sinon Greco	bass
Ambasciatore Ilionèo	contralto
Acate	tenor
Giove	bass
Giunone	soprano
Iride	soprano
Venere	soprano
Amore	soprano
Nettuno	bass
Eolo	tenor
Fortuna	soprano
Three court ladies	sopranos

Recordings

• Live Video recording on DVD - 2006 - Teatro Malibran, Venice - Fabio Biondi, conductor - Orchestra Europa Galante
  Cast: Claron McFadden, Magnus Staveland, Jordi Domènech, Manuela Custer, Marina De Liso, Donatella Lombardi - Dynamic cat. 33537

See also

• Dido and Aeneas

References

Sources

• Rosand, Ellen (2001). "Didone". In Sadie, Stanley; Tyrrell, John (eds.). The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2nd ed.). London: Macmillan Publishers. ISBN 978-1-56159-239-5. ‎

External links

• Free score of La Didone in the International Music Score Library Project
• Libretto of the opera in Italian.