Dido and Orfeo

The music for Dido and Orfeo involves a reworking of music from Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice, just as my previous collaboration with Edouard Lock, Amjad, took the Romantic ballet – Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty as its source.

The music is for a small ensemble, four players, playing saxophones (soprano, alto, tenor/baritone), viola, cello and piano. The original performance and subsequent touring performances, were directed by pianist Njo Kong Kie, who also directed Amjad. The other performers were viola (Jennifer Thiessen, who also performed with Amjad), cello (Jean-Christophe Lizotte) and saxophones (Ida Toninato – who plays soprano, alto and tenor saxophones. I subsequently replaced the tenor with baritone sax, as this is Ida’s preferred instrument).

Sequence of work for edition

 (renumbered – original numbers in brackets))

(Purcell: Dido)

I Overture

II Banish Sorrow

III Ah, Belinda

IV Cupid only

V To the hills

VI The Triumphing dance

VII Prelude for the witches

VIII In our deep vaulted cell

IX Thanks to the lonesome vales

X Oft she visits – not used in dance

XI Haste haste

XII Dido’s lament

XIII With drooping wings

XIV After the Witches’ Prelude

(Gluck: Orfeo))

XV (XIV) Che Piangendo – not used in dance

XVI (XIVA) Pantomime

XVII (XIVB) Ah, si intorno

XVIII (XVIC) Chiamo il mio ben cosi – not used in dance

XIX (XV) Dance of the Furies

XX (XVI) Ah quale incognito

XXI (XVIA) Men Tiranne

XXII (XVII) Dance A

XXIII (XVIII) Dance B

XXIV (XIX) Air

XXV (XX) Dance of the Heros – not used in dance

XXVI (XXI) Vieni a regni

XXVII Che faro senza Euridice

XXVIII (XXII) Sposa

XXIX (XXIII) Si Aspetta

XXX (XXIV) Trio

Dance Sequence (with current score numberings)

(Purcell: Dido)

I Overture

II Banish Sorrow

III Ah, Belinda

V To the hills

VII Prelude for the witches

VIII In our deep vaulted cell

XI Haste haste

VI The Triumphing dance

IX Thanks to the lonesome vales

IV Cupid only

XVIII Dance B (from Orfeo, not Dido))

XIII With drooping wings

XII Dido’s lament

After the Witches’ Prelude (film)

(Gluck: Orfeo)

XIX Air

XIVA Pantomime

XIVB Ah, si intorno

XV Dance of the Furies

XVI Ah quale incognito

XVII Dance A

XXI Vieni a regni

XXII Sposa

XVIA Men Tiranne

XXIV Trio