Customer Reviews

Dido & Aeneas [VHS]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Those jangling, affected tetrameter rhymed couplets? Listen to them sung to the strains of Purcell's best masque music and you'll understand. In fact, this performance of Dido and Aeneas, which makes no effort at recreating the historical staging, nonetheless will bring you closer to the "spirit of the times" of mid-17th Century England than any amount of reading. It's only a 55-minute production, so it might even be useful for classrooms in English literature and history.

If the dandies and grandees of Hampton Court had had video cameras and sound equipment, surely they would have made a film as visually noir as this. As it happens, they didn't. They depended on dancing and costumes for their visual thrills, and a good deal of the music Purcell wrote was intended for dancers. The film has no dancing at all, about which you, dear reader, may or may not care. What it has is movie-quality camera handling, evocative sets, and fairly good acting for a bunch of singers.

The singing is good. Maria Ewing (Dido) has enough drama left in her voice to compensate for a slight lack of athleticism in her rapid passages. Karl Daymond (Aeneas) doesn't have the voice to match his macho presence, but Aeneas doesn't get to sing much in this production anyway. Rebecca Evans is vocally delightful as Belinda. The best singing of all is that of James Bowman as Mercury, but he has hardly more than twenty bars. The chorus carries Purcell's musical art here, with the melodies you'll remember and the words you won't forget:
"Come away, come away, fellow sailors!
Take a boozy short leave of your nymphs on the shore,
and silence their mourning
with vows of returning,
but never, no never intending to visit them more."
Purcell is the household deity of English music, and his premature death is lamented as the reason why England fell short of other European countries in music for the rest of the millennium. Welll... This is elegant and diverting music, but it's no more than that. Unfortunately, this DVD comes with no notes at all - no history, no libretto, no performers' bios. Kinda cheap, Kultur!

Four stars for the singing, minus one for the lack of any notes.

Unfortunately, this is the only operatic version of Purcell's masterpiece on DVD. However, it's definitely worth the money. There are many purists who look for different traits in a filmed Baroque opera; for example, costumes and dancing that reflect the styles of the original performance are usually expected. While these traits are certainly wonderful, it makes more sense on the first DVD release to have a dynamic and lavish feature-style presentation, with the original music and libretto preserved (which is what this recording does). To a mainstream audience, this approach will be far more engaging than an attempt at historical xeroxing. I'd like to see an historically accurate reproduction of this opera myself, but it's best that such a film come later. Baroque music can be too slow for many people, and Baroque costumes and dancing will put the majority of prospective purchasers into either an ennui-induced coma or fits of laughter.

My wife likes only a few choice operas, and was surprised by how much she enjoyed this one. So, for those who might read this review considering a purchase, here are a few things she found appreciable about it:
- It's short (1 hour).
- Almost every aria or duet is stunningly beautiful and instantly infectious.
- It gives a fine sample of some of the best music of that period.
- It's in English!

I think these traits make a strong argument for why many might find this DVD enjoyable. Purcell's opera will fade away if modern filmmakers, opera houses, and recording studios don't strive to make it relevant to a wider audience. This movie is a must-have for the opera collector.

I hadn't planned to write an exhaustive review (or any at all) of this DVD, but I just couldn't let the one previous assessment, Giordano Bruno's three-star rating, stand alone. Actually, it's surprising that Mr. Bruno gave such a relatively low score, given his generally positive written comments.

Let me say, then, that I think this is an excellent filmed production of Purcell's miniature masterpiece. The director, Peter Maniura, manages to be at once traditional and imaginative in setting this Virgilian tragic love story of ancient Carthage within the confines of the eighteenth-century Hampton Court House. To liven this elegant, stately background, Maniura makes particularly good use of fire as a persistent motif, whether in the blazing torches celebrating the lovers' public acknowledgement of their mutual passion, or the fiery engulfment of the exterior of the house to indicate both the end of the brief affair and the accompanying fall of Carthage, or the final conflagration of the funeral pyre which consumes the body of the tragic queen who has died of thwarted love. The two principals, Maria Ewing and Karl Daymond, are both attractive and convincingly wrapped up in one another's longing gazes, so as to make their tempestuous passion compelling. Maniura even manages to make the Sorceress and her cackling demonic followers, so oddly (and potentially comically) discordant with Virgil's classical narrative, into genuinely fearsome and formidable figures. All this, plus a stirring rendition of Purcell's lovely score, makes for an entrancing and moving production which more than makes up, Mr. Bruno notwithstanding, for the lack of dancing and liner notes.

I have always loved Purcell's short piece on this famous story. However, this production is a big letdown. If you really like film, you will probably enjoy it because it is very cinematic. But if you really like opera it will be less satisfying. Like most attempt at filming opera made by film makers, this production is too cluttered visually. There is too much action to distract from the music for my taste.

Sad to say, ths biggest liability in the cast is Ewing (a singer I usually admire)as Dido. The production is, of course, dubbed. One is most aware of the lip synching with Ewing, probably most most seasoned professional in the cast. The other singers are more convincing in pretending to be singing and there are several truly outstanding voices in the cast. Anneas has a well produced lyric baritone (I don't agree with another reviewer's critique) and looks very handsome though clearly too young for the role. The first sorcerous, Sally Burgess, is outstanding with a melting mezzo and incredible phrasing. Why have we not heard more about this great singer?

Hickock has conducted this piece many times but he really seems to be dragging the tempos in the last scenes. Had Ewing been a bit more involved the ending might not have seemed so lifeless (no pun intended).
I also question the need for the nearly graphic sexuality during the "Come Away, Fellow Sailors" number. It seems that modern directors don't trust either the music or the story. They must feel that no one will pay attention if their direction is not suggestive enough. At least in this production half the cast did not carry rifles and guns.

Too bad this is the only game in town for this classic opera. It's unquestionably sumptuous visually but pretty bland as a representation of this glorious music

This production is beautiful visually and aurally. The music is rich and engaging in the context of the filmed action. We will watch this many times and see something new each time.

Speaking of an opera by such a great composer as Purcell there are always two parts - one is the glory of the music and rich history surrounding the events of Dido & Aeneas; and the second it the quality of a particular production itself.

I have addressed the first one on my review of CD set with Janet Baker as Dido. Again and again, the tragic tone of this opening, the masterful use of keys by Purcell, the lucidity of the verse merging flalessly with the music is amazing. This particular opera of Purcell also shows that the same emotional effect can be achieved within masterful use of an hour, versus five hours of some Wagner. Here we have fantastic economy of style, resolving every dramatic and musical challenge. This masterpiece deserves much more fame that it gets.

This production in particular is good; the singing is expertly. But somehow it is not very exciting. I liked the choice of singers that suggests correctly that Carthage is in Africa; and they do sing well. But there were some breaking of style; for example, when Dido is shown with tears running down her distorted face; and the scene of her death is suddenly too peaceful - she should use a sword, perhaps. Something here gives an impression of a less than Royal involvement, and smells of a mass-production appeal.

Perhaps if I had not seen Dido & Aeneas live, I would have another opinion. But here in Boston we were so lucky with an absolutely astonishing production in 2005 of this opera, by Handel and Haydn Society. The mise-en-scene was by Chen Shi-Zheng. This director used modern design with laser colors and effects, and the scene of the final fire was phenomenal, with the rock on which Dido stood becoming blazing red. It was just so elegantly done, while this production is somehow in the main Gothic stream, with a style that is completely eclectic and trite.

Paula Murrihy sang Dido, Heather Buck - Belinda and Nmon Ford - Aeneas; this Aeneas was sensational - it was easy to believe he could seduce the lonely queen. I recall even now that he appeared in a lion skin, just as Hercules. It was just a so much more superior production, thus it is not on any DVD...

Concluding, this is a good production, especially if you never saw/heard this opera; but it lacks passion or inspiration, and somehow is not memorable.

I suppose younger viewers will not remember the classic days of Radio drama when the Lux Radio Theater would cut a movie of any length to 50 minutes and lesser programs made do with 25. In fact, radio writers were extremely adept at creating productions which made sense and provided some semblance of the original. So with this opera: it made sense but I got the feeling that there was a good deal missing, such as character development, meaningful plot action and, generally, anything that might overcome the feeling that one was being given the Readers Digest version. Not yet having seen other DVD performances, I assign no blame to those associated with this one. Providing that you can go for witches, bubbling cauldrons, drama, so popular in by-gone days, there is enjoyment to be had from the brief snatches allowed the orchestra and singers. The music itself, of course, is first rate and the performers,for the most part, adequate to the limited demands made upon them.
All-in-all, I can recommend this as a way to become familiar with a classic opera. Ignorance allows me no basis for judgment as to whether this is all that there is (as Peggy Lee so aptly queried).

Purcell - Dido & Aeneas / Maria Ewing, Karl Daymond, Collegium Musicum 90
all is ok