Dido and Aeneas in Venice: Willaert’s treatment of Vergil’s speeches

Philip V. Barnes (John Burroughs School, MO)

The rich choral music synonymous with Renaissance Venice was initiated by a Flemish import, Adrian Willaert. He extended and perfected public music for the Doge inside and outside the Basilica San Marco, and established a tradition of antiphonal singing that became the envy of all Europe.

His secular music has received less attention than his sacred. For classicists this is a pity, since Willaert is one of the first composers to set ancient texts rather than contemporary Italian poetry. This paper introduces his treatment of two speeches from the Aeneid, by Aeneas (“O socii … durate”) and by Dido (“Dulces exuviae”). The composer’s faithfulness to the text, and to accent and ictus, is considered, and prefaces a discussion of the works’ genesis – for whom they were written, and for what purpose.

This is a paper that demonstrates the application of classical literature to a medium that would have been alien to the original author. It addresses the perennial questions of how one work of art can foster another, and whether the original must necessarily suffer in the creation of the new.

The paper is illustrated with handouts featuring the original Vergilian text, and enhanced through recordings of the two Willaert madrigals.