Aug 25, 2016 Book of the week — Dido and Aeneas

“In our deep Vaulted Cell, the Charm wee’l prepare,
Too dreadful a Practice for this open Air”

DIDO AND AENEAS
Nahum Tate (1662-1715)
West Burke, VT: Janus Press; Bangor, ME: Theodore Press, 1989
Z232 J36 T37 1989

Libretto by Nahum Tate to music by Henry Purcell. Compact disc of the opera inserted, performed by the Taverner Choir and Taverner Players, conducted by Andrew Parrott. Book structure and box designed by Claire Van Vliet. Three overlapping sections of accordion-fold paperwork landscape collage with five varying and irregular-sized text pamphlets sewn into each of five openings. The book can be stood in a line or in a star-circle. Housed in a black cloth tray case with paper spine label. Compact disc is in a chemise in a pocket at the front. A rear pocket contains an empty chemise for the owner’s own CD. Printed in honor of the 300th anniversary Nahum Tate’s libretto. The first publication of the libretto was probably distributed to the audience at the first performance of the piece, which celebrated the coming of William and Mary to the English throne in 1689. Edition of one hundred and fifty copies. University of Utah copy is no. 49.

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