Purcell: Dido and Aeneas, Handel: Dixit Dominus

For this final concert of the 2023/24 Season, London Concert Choir, soloists and the internationally renowned Counterpoint ensemble perform Baroque music by Purcell and Handel.

Dido and Aeneas is one of the foremost theatrical works by the English composer Henry Purcell and was his only true opera. It is believed to have been first performed in around 1689 by the young ladies of a Chelsea boarding school.

The libretto by Nahum Tate is very loosely based on an episode from Virgil’s Aeneid, recounting the love of Dido, Queen of Carthage, for the Trojan hero Aeneas. In despair when he abandons her, she sings the famous Lament ‘When I am laid in earth’ and dies of a broken heart. The choir makes a major contribution to this concert performance as Courtiers, Witches and Sailors.

George Frideric Handel is of course well known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, and concertos. Dixit Dominus is a setting in nine contrasting movements of the Latin text of Psalm 110, which begins with the words Dixit Dominus (‘The Lord Said’). The work was written and first performed in 1707 while Handel was living in Italy and is his earliest surviving composition.

Dixit Dominus is a showpiece for singers and players alike. Its energy and dramatic intensity present considerable challenges to all the musicians, especially the choir. Thanks to the 22-year-old’s mastery of counterpoint and of harmonic and melodic invention, Dixit Dominus is regarded as one of Handel’s finest works.