Who composed the English Baroque opera Dido and Aeneas?

Henry Purcell composed the English Baroque opera Dido and Aeneas.

Purcell probably wrote the opera around 1688, with a libretto by Nahum Tate. Its story comes from Virgil’s Aeneid and follows Dido, queen of Carthage, as she falls in love with the Trojan hero Aeneas. The work is especially famous for Dido’s lament, “When I am laid in earth.”

Dido and Aeneas is often described as one of the earliest English operas, although its original performance history is not completely certain. It was probably first performed at a girls’ school in Chelsea, London, rather than at a major public theater.

Purcell is sometimes confused with Handel because both were important English-language composers of the Baroque era. Handel’s best-known English vocal works include the oratorio Messiah, while Purcell’s operatic masterpiece is Dido and Aeneas.