- Hector Berlioz. Opéra in five acts. 1858.
- Libretto by the composer, based on Virgil's Aeneid.
- First performance of Acts 3 - 5, as Les Troyens à Carthage (The Trojans at
Carthage), at the Théâtre Lyrique, Paris, on 4th November 1863. First complete
performance in Carlsruhe on 6th December 1890.
CHARACTERS
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| Énée (Aeneas), Trojan hero, son of Venus and Anchises | tenor |
| Cassandre (Cassandra), Trojan prophetess daughter of Priam | mezzo-soprano |
| Didon (Dido), Queen of Carthage, widow of Sychaeus, |
| prince of Tyre | mezzo-soprano |
| Chorèbe (Coroebus), a young prince from Asia, |
| betrothed to Cassandra | baritone |
| Anna, sister of Dido | contralto |
| Narbal, minister to Dido | bass |
| Iopas, Tyrian poet at Dido's court | tenor |
| Hylas, a young Phrygian sailor | tenor |
| Panthée (Panthous), Trojan priest, friend of Aeneas | bass |
| Ascagne (Ascanius), son of Aeneas | soprano |
| L'ombre d'Hector (Ghost of Hector), Trojan hero, son of Priam | tenor |
| Priam, King of Troy | bass |
| Hécube (Hecuba), his wife | mezzo-soprano |
| Sinon, a Greek spy | tenor |
| Two Trojan Soldiers | basses |
| A Greek Captain | bass |
| Mercure (Mercury) | bass |
| Hélène (Helenus), a Trojan priest, son of Priam | tenor |
| A Priest of Pluto | bass |
| Polyxène (Polyxena), sister of Cassandra | soprano |
| Andromaque (Andromache), widow of Hector | silent rôle |
| Astyanax, her son | silent rôle |
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The Greeks have seemingly departed, and the Trojans, under siege for ten years, follow the
treacherous advice of Sinon and drag the Wooden Horse into their city. Cassandra foresees what
will happen. At night the ghost of Hector urges Aeneas to flee. Troy is destroyed, but Aeneas
escapes to found a new Troy in the West. The Trojan women kill themselves, rather than fall captive
to the Greeks. In Carthage Dido is established as queen of a prosperous city. Aeneas and his men
arrive and help to protect the city from the attack of Iarbas. Returning victorious, Aeneas joins Dido
in a hunt, during the course of which they shelter from a storm, while the voice of wood- nymphs still
insist on Italy as the destination of Aeneas, reminding him of his duty. Dido and Aeneas sing of their
love, but the god Mercury reminds him of Italy. Trojan ghosts appear to urge Aeneas on and he
obeys, setting sail. Dido, abandoned, mounts her funeral pyre, calls for future revenge from
Hannibal and kills herself with the sword of Aeneas, seeing, as she dies, the future power of Rome.
Berlioz had recourse to Virgil's Aeneid, a poem with which he had been familiar from boyhood,
for the basis of his opera, a work that makes considerable demands on resources, although it should
not last more than four and a half hours. It is a spectacular work and in its earlier history was divided
into two parts, the first dealing with the capture of Troy and the second the events in Carthage. Most
familiar of all to audiences are the orchestral Royal Hunt and Storm from the fourth act. The epic
work is richly orchestrated, with off-stage effects that include groups of instruments set apart to give
the impression of an approaching and passing procession in the first act, with an off-stage group of
sax-horns. Over all is the grandiose historical perception of the destiny of Aeneas and the imperial
future of Rome, a reflection of the concept behind his literary source.
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