(Music Sales America). Henry Purcell's only Opera proper, Dido and Aeneas is a magnificent example of English Baroque music, with lively dances and passionate aria sections that demonstrate Purcell's masterful compositional and choral writing skill. Based on a libretto by Nahum Tate it was first performed in 1689, comprises three acts and lasts about an hour. Filled with dramatic lyricism with a wide range of musical and emotional content, it is a monumental Baroque composition considered to be one of England's foremost operatic works. Dido and Aeneas contains all the elements for a...