Opera Essay

Julia Christensen

Gregg Perkins

Art & Technology

11 January 2019

Aeneas and Dido

    Aeneas and Dido was composed by Henry Purcell in 1689. It is a love story similar to Romeo and Juliet. From the get go the mise en scene of this opera is very bold. The opening scene has actual fire which does not seem note worthy but if you think of the time period it is extraordinary. Dido feels no self worth in the beginning so the lighting is very dim. Besides the fire there are few light sources so it helps us viewers understand how the mood is. In almost every shot you can see shadows in the back from the fire. Dido being the queen that she is, is dressed to impress in an elegant dress with gold shimmer, even her hair is laced with what seems to be pearls or some fancy rope. When it is her alone in the room I noticed that her mirror was unusually dirty. Probably intended to reflect her feeling of worthlessness, loneliness, and desire. Dido’s makeup throughout the Opera stays similar, red/orange lipstick, pale face makeup, and minimal eye makeup, nothing heavy. All of the actors have the same kind of clothing; elegant, expensive looking, busty, they all appear as if they belong in a castle. Aeneas is a brave Prince from Troy. Along with all of the actors his costume is very elegant. In the middle of the opera they are outside in the woods. The soldiers grab spears one at a time which I assume are real. They used real dogs, and I believe all the trees and water are real props too. Right after Aeneas leaves again Dido is in the bath. This scene has minimal props, the one I noticed and I think really added to the scene was the fog they added around her face when it was a close up shot. Aeneas returns with a bore head to prove his worthiness to Dido. They used fake blood around the head and on his face. A storm approaches. High intensity wind comes in, everyone scatters, and scraps are flying around the set. They end up back at the castle where the lighting becomes dim and there are shadows from the fire. When we Dido kills herself lighting becomes even darker with only a light on her body and from the fire. Dido gets wrapped up in sheets and carried out to the pasture. You can still find real fire being carried and on the walls. You can see the beads still threaded through her hair when her face is covered. The cast stands behind her and proceeds to light the bed of sticks underneath her. They used a real fire, which was quite large.

    After watching this opera I wouldn’t say I really learned anything but I guess discovered how intense they can be. This opera was kind of a dark one. Sure, it is a love story but lighting was never ‘light’ and one ended up committing suicide. Also I did not like how they were constantly opening their eyes to the highest capacity, kind of freaked me out. I think viewers thought the same thing as me. Operas usually are not that dark and morbid. Some may have liked the twist but i’m sure most viewers were not expecting that. This opera was not predictable, to my anyways. I think this piece is important because like I mentioned before it has its own dark twist. It broke away from the stereotypical opera. Technology is used in this opera when they filmed the entire show, when they used wind to make the illusion of the storm, and also the fog machine surrounding the bath.

    If I were a 21st century video game creator I would approach this game as a game that has a goal, like most. I would have Dido be the end goal. The character would be Aeneas himself. The game could start at two different locations. The first place the game could start would be on Lyger Island which is an island that makes it difficult to leave. You start in the middle of the island and have tasks you need to complete to get to the ship on the islands shore. The tasks are all based on speed and defense. The second place you could start the game is Horfock Island. Again, you start in the middle if the island and it is also difficult to escape this island, duh. This island is infested with grinch’s(The Grinch) and ursula’s(Little Mermaid). These two characters are two of my least favorites. The Grinchs on this island are needy and will take all of your weapons and survival needs. The Ursulas on the island will squirt their poisonous ink on you if you can’t get past them. There is also a ship on the shore of this island you need to reach. From both island if you make it to the ship you can start to sail to your queen of Carthage. Once you reach Carthage there are rings of fire, because of all the fire in the actual opera. You will have to master jumping through them to get to the city. Once in the city there are clouds or unfortunate feelings. The feelings are coming from Dido herself. They are all the negative thought and feelings she is experiencing. You must sleigh all of the words in a time frame to get through the cloud or else she will commit suicide. Once past that you are free to claim your queen, who is saved from her negative thoughts and win the game!