Ignaz Holzbauer Death of Dido

Ignaz Holzbauer, Kapellmeister at the Kurpfälzische Hof in Mannheim, was counted among the renowned opera composers of his time in the second half of the 18th century. He became known in music history mainly through the opera Günther von Schwarzburg (1777), which is regarded as the first contribution to the German National Opera. One year after the premiere of his opera La morte di Didone (1779) he composed Der Tod der Dido as a German text version of Metastasio’s drama. Holzbauer was not only a master of both, the interpretation of the meaning of words and the portrayal of emotions, but also, already since Günther von Schwarzburg, a pioneer of the convergence of recitative and aria in favor of an undisturbed dramatic progression.