When I Am Laid in Earth
Posted in Classical, Farewells, Opera on Mar 16th, 2009 No Comments »
Dido’s great lament, her farewell to life at the end of Purcell’s opera ‘Dido and Aeneas’. If you’re English, the melody is in the blood. Heard among the dead silent crowd at the Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday, it is heartstopping.
‘When I am laid in earth, may my wrongs create no trouble in thy breast. Remember me! But ah! Forget my fate.’
‘Remember me!’ - the same note repeated, the voice forlorn, almost pleading, unsure she will be remembered at all. Cupids come to cover her.
This is Janet Baker, recorded in 1961 - never equalled.
