Dido & Aeneus

The miniscule Teatro Goldoni is the setting for a Baroque opera this week, Henry Purcell's 'Dido and Aeneus', a chamber work written for the girls' boarding school where the English composer was music master. It tells the story of the thwarted love between Dido, Queen of Carthage and her lover Prince. Dido's final lament before she stabs herself must be one of the most moving moments in the history of opera. The production has been given an 'Arab-Oriental-Colonial' setting on the shores of the sea of Carthage.