What is "didon"

Didon (Dido) is a tragédie lyrique in three acts by the composer Niccolò Piccinni with a French-language libretto by Jean-François Marmontel. The opera is based on the story of Dido and Aeneas from Virgil's Aeneid as well as Metastasio's libretto Didone abbandonata (which Piccinni himself had set in 1770). Didon was first performed at Fontainebleau on 16 October 1783 in the presence of the French sovereigns, Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. After being remounted at court twice, the opera had its Paris public premiere on 1 December 1783. It proved to be the composer's greatest success and was billed almost every year till 1826, enjoying a total of 250 performances al the Paris Opera. Didon had some influence on Berlioz's opera on the same theme, Les troyens.

Didon is the title of two French operas:

• Didon (Desmarets), a 1693 opera by Henri Desmarets
• Didon (Piccinni), a 1783 opera by Niccolò Piccinni

Didon is a tragédie en musique or opera in 1 prologue and 5 Acts by composer Henri Desmarets. The work uses a French language libretto by Louise-Geneviève Gillot de Saintonge. The opera was heavily influenced by Jean-Baptiste Lully's Armide and the music of both Marc-Antoine Charpentier and Henri Dumont.