Virgil · aftercurtain

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Andromache

Writer · Opera · 1932

After the Trojan War, Andromache is held captive by Pyrrhus, who desires her. He reveals her son Skamander survived and offers her responsibility for his upbringing, but Andromache remains devoted to her dead husband Hector and resists Pyrrhus. Hermione seeks to become queen, while her cousin Orest arrives with Greek demands that she marry Pyrrhus and that Skamander be killed. When Pyrrhus offers Andromache the crown, Hermione asks Orest to kill her rivals. Pyrrhus and his warriors pledge to protect Skamander if Andromache accepts Pyrrhus; she closes by declaring Ilion defeated.

Antony and Cleopatra

Writer · Opera · 2022

John Adams’s two-act opera adapts Shakespeare’s tragedy, incorporating supplementary passages from Plutarch, Virgil and other classical texts. Its plot is not detailed here.

Camille, reine des Volsques

Source stories · Opera · 1717

A tragédie en musique about Camilla, Queen of the Volsci, based on Virgil’s Aeneid.

Dido and Aeneas

Source stories · Opera · 1689

Queen Dido accepts Aeneas’s love, but a Sorceress sends a disguised messenger to make him leave Carthage. Aeneas returns to explain, yet Dido rejects his offer to stay after learning he had considered departing. She sings “When I am laid in Earth” and dies.

L'Orfeo

Source stories · Opera · 1607

At their wedding in Thrace, Orfeo and Euridice celebrate their love. A messenger arrives with news that Euridice has died from a snakebite. Orfeo descends to the Underworld and persuades Pluto to release her, on the condition that he not look back as they return. Doubt overcomes Orfeo and he turns to look; Euridice vanishes. In the ending used in Monteverdi’s 1609 score, Apollo descends and invites Orfeo to join him in the heavens, where he may see Euridice among the stars. The original 1607 libretto instead ends with Bacchantes threatening Orfeo, leaving his fate uncertain.

La Didone

Source stories · Opera · 1640

Cavalli and Busenello adapt Book IV of Virgil’s Aeneid but replace Dido’s suicide after Aeneas leaves her with a happy ending: Iarbas, king of the Getuli, saves Dido from herself and marries her. The opera is structured as a prologue and three acts.

Le feste d’Apollo

Writer · Opera · 1769

For a ducal wedding, a prologue celebrates Apollo and predicts prosperity. The three acts recount Jupiter rewarding Baucis and Philemon, Aristaeus atoning for pursuing Eurydice and marrying Cydippe, and a shortened reworking of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice.

Les Troyens

Source stories · Opera · 1863

As Troy celebrates the apparent end of the Greek siege, Cassandra foresees the city’s destruction, but the Trojans bring the wooden horse inside their walls. The Greeks emerge and sack Troy. Cassandra and the Trojan women choose death rather than capture, while Aeneas escapes with survivors. In Carthage, Queen Dido welcomes the Trojans and falls in love with Aeneas after they help defend the city. The gods summon Aeneas to found a new Troy in Italy, and he sails away. Dido, abandoned, takes her own life on a funeral pyre and foretells Carthage’s destruction and Rome’s rise.

Polydore

Source stories · Opera · 1720

Based on the legend of Polydorus, youngest son of Priam, who is murdered by Polymestor, King of Thrace, for his treasure. The original ending shows Polymnestor committing suicide onstage; after this shocked audiences, a chorus about Deidamie and Polydore’s love was inserted.

Énée et Lavinie

Source stories · Opera · 1690

After the fall of Troy, Aeneas reaches Latium and seeks to marry Lavinia, but Turnus is his rival. Juno incites Turnus against the Trojans, and Bacchus persuades Lavinia to declare for him; she later admits she does not love him. Aeneas defeats Turnus in single combat, and he and Lavinia marry.

Énée et Lavinie

Source stories · Opera · 1758

After fleeing Troy, Aeneas arrives in Latium, where the king wants him to marry Lavinia. Turnus, favored by Queen Amata and Juno, is his rival; Juno incites Turnus to fight. Lavinia briefly declares for Turnus under Bacchus’s influence, but admits she does not love him. Aeneas defeats Turnus in combat, and he and Lavinia marry.

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