Word: dido
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Strange & Haunting. In the 13-minute unaccompanied chorale Chorus of Dido, Nono as usual used the voice as a musical instrument, at times calling upon performers to jump two octaves, insisting that consonants as well as vowels be stressed, introducing a kind of staccato syllabification that somehow managed not to obscure the text. What gave Dido its strange and haunting power was the deft balance of the vocal writing-so carefully calculated that all 32 choristers were able to sing together without destroying the work's flexible texture...
...what did most to save the performance was Marilyn Miller's Dido. She unleashed her rich, vibrant soprano without jarring Purcell's carefully organized elaborations and achieved an intensity which is essential to a character as impassioned as Dido. Miss Miller's very lack of gestures or changes of expression conveyed her strength; her cry to Aeneas of "Away!" displayed how much Dido meant it. Mary Lou Sullivan was a brilliant contrast to her as Belinda, Dido's sister. Her voice had just the lightness and grace the part needs, and she did not burlesque her role as the traditional...
Ideals of love as high as Dido's demand much from a production if they are to be convincing. Dido, of course, rejects Aeneas because he intially succumbs to Fate's dictum that he leave her, but such conviction can emerge easily as prissiness, and its ruler, destiny, as mere farce. The principals last night did capture the opera's ideals; the chorus gave adequate support to the venture, the orchestra little; and the forces of destiny did not even pretend to their powers, nor did they exhibit that of singing ability...
Purcell has sketched Dido and Aeneas as very real people. Aeneas almost parodies the traditional hero: when Fate tells him to depart he immediately says "of course" but when he thinks about it he curses the Spirit rather pompously. Alvarez Bulos paraded in just that manner, and swelled the roundness of his tone to catch Aeneas's rather stolid uprightness. In fact, his effort went too far: his tone became coarse and lacked contrast in its registers...
...Irishmen, forget the past And think of the day that is coming fast, When we shall all be civilized, Neat and clean, and well-advised, Oh, won't Mother England be surprised, Whack fol the diddle lol the dido...