In an earier blog, I discussed the Tolkien literary legend of Beren and Luthien, two doomed lovers akin to Tristan and Isolde whose conquered the confines of death. well two of my favorite poems of all time are Homer's "The Illiad" and "The Odyssey" which cover events that started the famous Trojan War (Paris' "abduction" of Helen who was "the face that launched a thousand ships") to the end of King Ulysses' 10 year journey back home to his wife Penelope and son, Telemachus which included outwitting Cyclops, escaping the siren Calypso, avoiding certain death between the Scylla and Charybdis(Sting used this imagery in his song "Wrapped around your finger"), and even going to the Underworld briefly, encountering his dead mother. Well after Troy fell via the Ullysses-conceived Trojan Horse stunt, Homer covered what happened to the Greeks but what happened to the Trojans that survived? This story is not told as often as the greek one. Well, Virgil composed the great poem "The Aeneid" which tells the adventures of Aeneas, the surviving Trojan prince and son of Anchises and the goddess of love Aphrodite, who is said to be the father of a little city eventually called...Rome. During Aeneas' travels, he comes upon the ancient city of Carthage where he meets the Queen, Dido. they fall in love. But the gods tell Aeneas that he has to go to be a founder of a future great city, so reluctantly he leaves Queen Dido behind where she laments to her death. Sounds like a cool subject for a play or opera, right? Well, the English Baroque composer, Henry purcell thought so. He composed a fantastic one act opera, "Dido and Aeneas"(a one act opera? Hard to believe, isn't it? lol) As I mentioned in a previous blog, the highlight of this composition is "When I am laid in earth.." it has a basso continuo in the orchestration and a repeated musical phrasing that accompanies the singer. Dido is telling her servant to"remember me" while giving instructions on how she should be laid to rest after she dies. So my official BKT Book and Music Club recommendations are, if you have never read them : Homer's Illiad and "The Odyssey" and as a companion poem, please read Virgil's "The Aeneid" but please take your time reading them even if they span over a few months and savor these stories because they are true classics.BKT