Who was the librettist of Purcell's opera dido and aeneas?

Answer 1

Nahum Tate was the librettist for Dido and Aeneas. Tate had written an earlier play on the subject, and this may have given Purcell the idea.

Nahum Tate is an interesting character. He was a notoriously poor writer, and was heavily satirised in early versions of Alexander Pope's Dunciad (Pope eased up on Tate in later rewrites of the poem).

Almost all of Tate's poetry is now forgotten: but we still sing Dido and Aeneas and While Shepherds Watched.

One of the worst poets of his century wrote some of its best song lyrics.

Answer 2

The librettist of Purcell's Opera "Dido and Aeneas" was Nahum Tate, an Irish playwright and poet. Tate adapted the story from Book IV of Virgil's "Aeneid" and reimagined it as a tragic love story between Dido, the queen of Carthage, and the Trojan hero Aeneas.