Purcell: Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626 Fabio Bonizzoni, La Risonanza & Coro Costanzo Porta

• Henry Purcell (1659 - 1695): Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626:
• 1Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626: Overture02:22
• Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act I:
• 2Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act I: Shake the Cloud01:13
• 3Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act I: Ah! Belinda, I Am Prest04:59
• 4Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act I: Whence Could So Much02:01
• 5Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act I: Fear no Danger01:36
• 6Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act I: See, See01:44
• 7Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act I: If Not for Mine01:46
• 8Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act I: To the Hills and the Vales01:01
• 9Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act I: The Triumphing Dance01:08
• Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act II:
• 10Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act II: Wayward Sisters05:43
• 11Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act II: In Our Deep Vaulted Cell01:25
• 12Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act II: Echo Dance of Furies00:52
• 13Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act II: The Grove00:44
• 14Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act II: Thanks to These Lonesome03:34
• 15Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act II: Oft She Visits02:22
• 16Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act II: Behold Upon My Bending01:24
• 17Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act II: Stay Prince and Hear03:30
• Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act III:
• 18Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act III: The Ships01:35
• 19Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act III: The Sailors Dance01:46
• 20Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act III: Our Next Motion00:41
• 21Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act III: Destruction’s Our Delight00:35
• 22Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act III: The Witches Dance01:47
• 23Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act III: Your Counsel All Is Urg’d04:13
• 24Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act III: Great Minds01:47
• 25Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act III: When I Am Laid in Earth03:07
• 26Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act III: With Drooping Wings05:32
• Gottfried Finger (1660 - 1730): The Love of Mars and Venus:
• 27The Love of Mars and Venus: Symphony02:41
• Gottfried Finger, John Eccles (1668 - 1735): The Love of Mars and Venus:
• 28The Love of Mars and Venus: Come All, Come All00:51
• Gottfried Finger: The Love of Mars and Venus:
• 29The Love of Mars and Venus: Chorus. Come All, Come All01:11
• John Eccles, Gottfried Finger: The Love of Mars and Venus:
• 30The Love of Mars and Venus: Love Alone02:50
• 31The Love of Mars and Venus: Love Like War02:32
• 32The Love of Mars and Venus: Scorn tho Beauty02:20
• 33The Love of Mars and Venus: To Double the Sports02:06
• 34The Love of Mars and Venus: To Treble the Pleasures00:51
• John Eccles: The Love of Mars and Venus:
• 35The Love of Mars and Venus: Let Scenes of Mirth02:05
• Total Runtime01:15:54

Info for Purcell: Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626

Fabio Bonizzoni, one of the leading Baroque music conductors of our time, and his group La Risonanza make their debut on Challenge Classics with Dido and Aeneas, Purcell’s operatic masterpiece. It is coupled with The Loves of Mars and Venus by John Eccles and Gottfried Finger, Purcell’s near contemporaries.

Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, composed in the 1680s, is arguably the most beloved and best-known opera in English. Bonizzoni says: “The charm of this opera is in that it contains everything, like Cervantes’ Don Quixote: any life experience is within it. Love, hate, death, dream, despair, the innocent and the wicked play. Purcell’s awareness in portraying such opposite feelings is amazing.” La Risonanza and Fabio Bonizzoni offer a version of Dido and Aeneas that provides a sense of how Purcell’s famous work may first have been heard by London theatre-goers in 1704. Italian soprano Raffaella Milanesi and Austrian baritone Richard Helm take the title roles.

Mars and Venus was composed by Purcell’s near contemporaries, John Eccles and Godfrey Finger, to a text by Peter Anthony Motteux. The songs were published in 1697 and the play text, providing a clear guide to exactly what was performed, in 1696. With these sources, Bonizzoni has reconstructed the Prologue of Mars and Venus by using the published songs, instrumental music by Finger or Eccles from other works, adapting where necessary.

One of the leading Italian harpsichordists and organists of his generation, Fabio Bonizzoni studied with Ton Koopman at the Royal Conservatorium in The Hague. After playing for several years with Amsterdam Baroque, Le Concert des Nations and Europa Galante, since 2004 he has exclusively been a soloist and director, in particular of his own orchestra La Risonanza. He is also harpsichord professor at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague and in Italy at the Conservatory of Novara. With La Risonanza he completed the award-winning recording of all of Handel’s Italian Cantatas with instruments in 2010.

"The real star is the instrumental playing (how the dances swing!); and with less at stake, warmly stylish, The Love of Mars and Venus proves a delightful postscript." (BBC Music Magazine)

Raffaella Milanesi, soprano (Dido, Thalia, Terpsichore)
Richard Helm, baritone (Aeneas)
Stefanie True, soprano (Belinda, Erato)
Iason Marmaras, baritone (Sorceress)
Michela Antenucci, soprano (First Witch, Sailor)
Anna Bessi, mezzo soprano (Second Witch, Spirit)
La Risonanza
Coro Constanzo Porta
Fabio Bonizzoni, conductor

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