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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Dido and Aeneas
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(1689) Opera by *Purcell, to a libretto by Nahum Tate (1652–1715), based on the sequence in Virgil's Aeneid where Aeneas dallies with Dido, queen of Carthage, but then leaves her and sails for Italy. Dido commits suicide after her famous lament, 'When I am laid in earth'. The opera's powerful combination of simplicity and intensity is surprising for two reasons: it is virtually the first English opera, and it was written to be performed at a girls' boarding school in Chelsea.
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