From Lore to Score: Adaptations of Classical Literature in Purcell and Strauss

Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas

Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas (1689) is an English Baroque opera with a libretto by Nahum Tate. It is Purcell’s only true opera and is thought to have been composed for a girls’ boarding school in Chelsea. Adapted from Book IV of Virgil’s Aeneid, it recounts the love story between Dido, Queen of Carthage, and the Trojan hero Aeneas. The evil Sorceress, plotting the destruction of Carthage and its queen, sends her “trusted elf”, disguised as Mercury, to bring orders from Jove that Aeneas must abandon Dido and sail to Italy to found Rome. Aeneas, although reluctant to leave Dido, prepares the Trojan fleet to depart from Carthage. Dido is distraught when she discovers that Aeneas is leaving; Aeneas offers to defy the gods and remain in Carthage, but Dido’s heart is already broken and she forces him to leave, stating that “Death must come when he is gone”. Dido’s final aria, “When I am laid in Earth”, also known as “Dido’s Lament”, is followed by her slow death. The chorus concludes the opera by ordering the Cupids to “scatter roses on her tomb”.

In Dido and Aeneas, Purcell uses several musical techniques to enhance the drama of the story. The famous “Dido’s Lament” is supported by a ground bass featuring a descending chromatic line. This simple but powerful musical device underscores Dido’s grief and impending death, building tension and reflecting the inevitability of her fate.

Listen to “Dido’s Lament”

The Sorceress’s scenes, in which she orchestrates the fall of Carthage, are marked by dark harmonies and sharp contrasts which amplify the sense of deception and malice.

Dido’s death in Dido and Aeneas differs from her death in the Aeneid. In the Aeneid, Dido violently kills herself by climbing a funeral pyre and stabbing herself with her sword, whereas in Purcell’s opera, Dido dies a gradual death with her sister Belinda by her side. This is perhaps because the opera offers a more emotional, introspective perspective, whilst Virgil’s epic focuses on the drama of physical violence.

Strauss’s Elektra

Richard Strauss’s 1909 opera, Elektra, with a German-language libretto by Hugo von Hoffmansthal, is an expressionist adaptation of Sophocles’ Greek tragedy Electra and is widely considered to be his most modern work. It follows the story of Electra as she seeks to avenge the violent death of her father, Agamemnon, which had taken place at the hands of her own mother, Clytemnestra. Burning with rage and mourning, Electra and her exiled brother Orestes devise a plan to murder Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus. Once Clytemnestra and Aegisthus have been slain with the axe that had killed Agamemnon, Electra dances in a triumphant frenzy, exulting in her mother’s death and the completion of her revenge; Electra then collapses to the ground, dead.

Listen to the “Dance of Electra”

The story of Electra explores complex themes of madness, guilt, betrayal and retribution, which are reflected in Strauss’s score. Harsh dissonances push the boundaries of conventional tonality; the bitonal “Elektra chord”, a synthesis of E major and D-flat major, is used to convey extreme psychological distress.

Meanwhile, characters such as Agamemnon and Clytemnestra are represented by leitmotifs; the four-note “Agamemnon motif” both opens and closes the opera, brightening from minor to major in the final bars.

Listen to the opening of Elektra

Strauss and Hoffmansthal adapted the character of Electra to focus her story on personal psychological torment, rather than loyalty and justice. In Sophocles’ tragedy, Electra is noble and stoic, patiently waiting to avenge her father. In Elektra, however, Electra is portrayed as a madwoman, driven by an obsession with vengeance and fury. The opera highlight ideas of the mental disintegration and the destructive nature of human will, straying from the original themes of duty and morality. Whilst Sophocles’ play employs a traditional Greek chorus to serve as a central moral and philosophical voice, Hoffmansthal’s libretto incorporates servants and maids who provide background commentary on the tension in the emotional atmosphere. Sophocles’ Electra ends Orestes’s triumph, providing a sense of closure and moral resolution. On the other hand, the ending of Elektra, in which Electra, exhausted and ecstatic, collapses to the ground, is much more intense and provides a sense of tragic catharsis.

Sources:

“Dido and Aeneas | Barbican,” n.d. https://www.barbican.org.uk/digital-programmes/dido-and-aeneas.

The Kennedy Center. “Dido and Aeneas,” n.d. https://www.kennedy-center.org/education/resources-for-educators/classroom-resources/media-and-interactives/media/opera/rep/baroque/dido-and-aeneas/.

“Analyzing Vocal Music - Henry Purcell, ‘Dido’s Lament,’” n.d. https://sites.google.com/view/analyzing-vocal-music/posts/henry-purcell-didos-lament.

———. “A Guide to Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and Its Best Recordings,” n.d. https://www.classical-music.com/articles/guide-purcell-dido-and-aeneas-best-recordings.

Wikipedia contributors. “Dido and Aeneas.” Wikipedia, September 7, 2024.  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dido_and_Aeneas.

Metropolitan Opera. “The Opera’s Plot & Creation,” n.d. https://www.metopera.org/discover/education/educator-guides/elektra/the-operas-plot-creation/.

Berliner Philharmoniker. “The Sound of Crime and Retribution,” n.d. https://www.berliner-philharmoniker.de/en/stories/richard-strauss-elektra/.

Martell, Logan. “Opera Profile: Strauss’ Elektra.” OperaWire, January 25, 2018. https://operawire.com/opera-profile-strauss-elektra/.