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- I think the appeal of the Dido & Aeneas story
is that it reminds us about the power of love.
For the Ancients, love was something that they described as bittersweet,
something that harmed you as well as thrilling you.
The Romantics thought love could kill you, it was such a powerful emotion.
People have been telling stories about Dido for centuries.
Indeed, it goes all the way back to the Roman poet Virgil,
who put together the story in his poem, The Aeneid.
What Purcell does is he takes the Virgilian framework
of a Carthaginian Queen who falls in love with a Trojan prince
but then is abandoned by him as he answers the call of destiny,
and he turns it into a story not about answering the call of duty
or about fulfilling the orders of the gods,
but in fact turns it into a love story.
And I think this is really reminding us of a set of values
and of a kind of commitment to another person that could be so overwhelming,
so passionate, so transformative,
that you would be literally willing to put your life on the line for it.
It's a message that I think is really worth remembering.
What Purcell's Dido & Aeneas does is
it reminds us of the grand passion,
that love was something that you would be prepared to die for.
What I think is wonderful about Sasha Waltz's interpretation
is the way in which she's incorporated dance back into the story of this opera.
This opera premiered in a dance school
and she has picked up on that tradition
and incorporated that throughout the work.
It's this physicality that she brings
to this production that I think is so exciting.
The other thing that's really wonderful is the way in which she incorporates
the notion of voyaging and travel back into the Dido & Aeneas story,
and the way in which travel transforms you.
That we're all moved and we're all changed
by the experiences that we encounter as we travel through the world.
Dido's famous line at the end in her Lament is, "Remember me,"
and I think after this opera,
the question you have to ask is, how could you ever forget her?