Didone (opera)

Didone is an opera by Francesco Cavalli, set to a libretto by Giovanni Francesco Busenello (later librettist for Claudio Monteverdi).

The opera was first performed at Venice's Teatro San Cassiano during 1640.

The plot is based on Virgil's Aeneid (Book 4 in particular), though Busenello, in his second libretto for Cavalli, replaces Dido's tragic suicide of Virgil with a happy ending in which Dido marries Iarbas, King of the Getuli, who saves Dido from herself after Aeneas abandons her.

The action is divided into a prologue and 3 acts.

This article about an Italian-language opera is a stub.

Title page of the 1656 libretto