La Nébuleuse / Gabriel Rignol

Cast: 7 artists (3 singers - harp - viola da gamba - organ and/or harpsichord - theorbo)

Dido Furens is a ‘dialogue in three voices’ taken from Domenico Mazzocchi's Dialoghi e Sonetti posti in Musica, published in Rome in 1638. This collection features musical settings of passages from literary masterpieces by various authors, both ancient and more contemporary, including Virgil, Le Tasse and Giorgio Aldobrandini.

Here, the excerpt in Latin is taken from the fourth book of Virgil's Eneide, and relates the entire passage between the moment when Dido learns of Aeneas' imminent departure and the moment when she takes her own life. Mazzocchi may well have heard these verses recited in the popular theatres of Rome, before deciding to set them to music, thus creating a kind of miniature opera, little scenes that remain a field of expression to be explored.

Andrea FALCONIERI (1585 - 1666)
La Suave Melodia

Domenico MAZZOCCHI (1592 - 1665)
Volga al ciel
Lagrime Amare
O che dolce mirare

Joannes HIERONIMUS KAPSGERBER (1580 - 1651)
Canarios & Sfessaina

Domenico MAZZOCCHI (1592 - 1665)
Amorose Catene

Joannes HIERONIMUS KAPSGERBER (1580 - 1651)
Toccata Prima

Domenico MAZZOCCHI (1592 - 1665)
Dido Furens