May my wrongs create No trouble, no trouble in thy breast

December 27, 2020 8:03 AM

Dido's Lament (slyt) - Annie Lennox and The London City Voices perform a version of When I am Laid in Earth, from Henry Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, in support of Greenpeace.
posted by thatwhichfalls (7 comments total)

This was lovely. Thank you. I have to say that the tiled presentation style here and in a number of other performance videos I've enjoyed is one of the few good things to come out of this terrible situation. Being able to see everyone at the same time and on the same plane (I thought the use of color vs. b/w to spotlight those singing was very clever.) is much preferable to what we might otherwise have had: Annie Lennox out front, with a massed choir in the background and mostly out of frame.

If you've not had enough "Dido's Lament" performed by non-opera personages, the late, great Klaus Nomi and his take on this aria.
posted by the sobsister at 8:30 AM on December 27, 2020 [3 favorites]

I started crying at "forget my fate" and couldn't stop. I'm an optimist, but sometimes reality pierces through my shield.
posted by hat_eater at 9:20 AM on December 27, 2020 [1 favorite]

Thanks for posting this. It is beautiful.

I started crying at "forget my fate" and couldn't stop.
I started crying when I read your comment.
Though to be honest, I've seen the video before, and I cried all through it the first time. I love Dido's lament, and I love Annie Lennox, and the chorus is amazing.
posted by mumimor at 9:37 AM on December 27, 2020 [1 favorite]

Another legendary version of the song by Klaus Nomi. The entire opera is lovely, especially if you can find a recording with Baroque period singing rather than the more over the top classical era style.
posted by Candleman at 9:51 AM on December 27, 2020 [1 favorite]

Christopher Nappa on two earlier Dido laments, O Decus, o Libie and Anna Soror
Anna Soror performed by "O Quam Tristis..."
posted by polytope subirb enby-of-piano-dice at 10:52 AM on December 27, 2020 [2 favorites]

Oh my word this is superb. Thank you.
posted by seawallrunner at 8:26 PM on December 27, 2020 [1 favorite]

Painfully true but done with textural taste. Annie Lennox is one of my heroines.
posted by DJZouke at 8:05 AM on December 28, 2020