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Who wrote the libretto for Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas?
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Henry Purcell
Henry Purcell.
The libretto for Henry Purcell’s opera Dido and Aeneas (c. 1689) was written by the poet and playwright Nahum Tate.12
Tate, who later served as England's poet laureate, was well-known for his adaptations of other works, including his famous version of William Shakespeare’s King Lear. For Dido and Aeneas, Tate largely followed the narrative established by Virgil, though he notably incorporated Macbeth-inspired witch scenes that added a unique dimension to the opera's dramatic structure.13