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Purcell's Dido and Aeneas stands as the greatest operatic achievement of 17th-century England, despite the fact that it was originally composed not for the public theatre but for a private girls' school in Chelsea and takes little more than an hour to perform. Ellen Harris examines the work, s historical position in the Restoration theatre, and shows that, far from being an operatic anomaly, it was deeply rooted in 17th-century English theatrical and music traditions. Her book summarises the cultural climate in which Dido and Aeneas was composed, surveying the choice of subject matter and analysing Nahum Tate's libretto in the light of 17th-century English conventions of the writing of text for musical setting. It goes on to evaluate the various surviving sources -- all of which post-date the first performance by at least 80 years -- and compares them with the original libretto, discussing the various inconsistencies that arise. There is also a detailed discussion of contemporary musical declamation and ground bass composition. The final section of the book is

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Although it takes little more than an hour to perform, Purcell's Dido and Aeneas stands as the greatest operatic achievement of seventeenth-century England. This book demonstrates the opera's deep roots in the theatrical and musical traditions of its day, summarizing the cultural climate in which the opera was composed and analyzing Nahum Tate's libretto in light of seventeenth-century English music text conventions. Harris also evaluates the surviving sources, comparing them with the original libretto, and discusses the work's performance history and critical reception from the first performance through the revivals of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.