The mythical heroes of Dido and Aeneas excited the imagination of not only the ancient Greeks and Romans, but also people of later eras. The love story, sung by Homer and Virgil, was repeatedly beaten and rethought by the ancient tragedians. In it, historians saw the encrypted code of future Punic wars. Dante Alighieri used the story of Aeneas and Dido for his pious edifications in The Divine Comedy. But the English baroque composer Henry Purcell made the mythical couple famous. Using Virgil's Aeneid, Naum Tate wrote the libretto. Thus, in the second half of the 17th century a remarkable opera appeared in three acts - “Dido and Aeneas”. Who are Dido and Aeneas? Gods? Not. But not historical characters. These heroes emerged from the myth and became a legend.
Aeneas story
The great poet of antiquity, Homer, who lived in the eighth century BC, in his multifaceted epic work "Iliad" brought out, among others, the image of Aeneas. This son of the beauty goddess Aphrodite and the earthly king of the Dardans, Anchis, left the burning Troy and sailed out over the sea with his people in twenty vessels. The twentieth book of the Iliad describes his salvation. He saved from the sinking city not only his wife Crispus and son Yul, but also the old father, carrying him on his back. The Greeks, respecting such an act, missed it. However, other ancient authors give different versions of the history of Aeneas. Lesch describes how the mythical hero was captured by Neoptole. Arktin believes that Aeneas left Troy before her capture. Gellanic, Lutacy Daphnis and Menekrat Xantius believed that it was he who surrendered the city to the Achaeans. Be that as it may, the fall of Troy caused the wanderings of the Dardan tribe. A storm at sea drove the ships to the shores of Carthage. Thus, the local queen Dido and Aeneas met. The myth tells that they fell in love. But obedient to the will of the gods, Aeneas remained faithful to his duty. He was to found the kingdom of the Latins. In order not to torment himself and his beloved for a long parting, he left Carthage secretly. Dido, learning about the flight of Aeneas, ordered to light a funeral pyre. Then she threw her lover's things there and herself rushed into the fire.
Vergil Version
For Homer, Dido and Aeneas are supporting characters. The ancient Roman poet Virgil devotes more attention to mythical heroes and their love story. The navigator, shrouded in a veil of fog, in which his mother, the goddess Venus, clothed, enters Carthage. He sees the beauty queen and the fact that she is well-disposed towards the members of his team. Then he appears to her. At the feast, Cupid, taking the form of the son of Aeneas, Yul, clings to Dido and shoots her an arrow right in the heart. From this, the queen falls madly in love with a Trojan hero. But their happiness did not last long. A year later, the gods sent Mercury to remind Aeneas of his duty - to go to Italy and establish a new kingdom. Fate, which, according to ancient notions, cannot be changed, Aeneas foresaw a marriage with Lavinia, daughter of Latina. In order not to hear Dido's complaints, Aeneas leaves her when she was sleeping. Waking up, the queen in despair rushes into a flaming bonfire. Seeing the black smoke rising above the horizon, Aeneas understands its cause, and his heart yearns. But he follows his fate.
Heroes don't die
A touching love story with a tragic end was not forgotten with the fall of the Roman Empire. Ovid Nason composed the “Letter of Dido to Aeneas” (Heroids VII). This mythical couple became the main characters in the tragedy of the Pseudo-Euripides "Res". Dido and Aeneas are also mentioned in a number of medieval poetic works. And if the Romans with full confidence considered their famous ancestor as their common ancestor, the Spaniards revered Queen Carthage as their founder. So, at least, it is indicated in the 1282 chronicle of King Alfonso X “Estoria de Espanna”.
Political rethinking
In 1678, the famous British playwright Naum Tate wrote the play “Brutus from Alba, or Enchanted Lovers,” which later became the basis for G. Purcell’s opera Dido and Aeneas. The libretto completely reinterprets the love story and makes it an allegory for political events of the era of the English king James II. It is his author who infers in the image of Aeneas. Dido, according to Tate, is the British people. The author of the play introduces new characters that are not found in Virgil. These are the Sorceress and her assistants - witches. By these, Tate means the Pope and the Catholic Church. These evil creatures take the form of Mercury and instill the king in betraying his people.
Dido and Aeneas: Purcell's opera
This work is considered one of the best works of the baroque composer. The original score was not preserved, and at the beginning of the eighteenth century it underwent many changes (the music of the prologue, several dances and the end of the scene in the grove were lost). This is Purcell's only work without conversational dialogues. For the first time, the opera was performed on the theatrical stage of the Women's Guesthouse in London. This gave music researchers the right to believe that Purssel deliberately simplified his baroque score by adapting it for schoolgirls to perform. The most popular excerpts from the opera are the aria “Ah Belinda” and the sailor’s song. But the most valuable, included in the treasury of world music, was the "Cry of Dido." With the departure of her beloved, the Carthaginian queen asks cupids to sprinkle rose petals on her grave, as tender as her love. Dido's Cry - the aria “When They Put Me in the Ground” - is annually performed on the day of the end of the First World War, at a ceremony that takes place in Whitehall.
Yang and Yin in Rethinking Joseph Brodsky
In 1969, for Soviet justice, a parasite, and for the rest of the world, the great poet wrote the poem "Dido and Aeneas." Brodsky in it only indirectly relates to the plot of an already famous myth. He focuses on thinking about the dialectical confrontation of the male - active and active - beginning, Yang, and emotional, feminine Yin. The "great man" Aeneas, in his quest to make a fate, leaves Dido. And for her, the whole world, the whole Universe, is only her lover. She wants to follow him, but she cannot. This turns into torment and death for her.