Notes from the Underworld. Or, confessions of a community college adjunct facult member...

Recently, I was preparing the students in my Art of Listening class at a local community college for their midterm exam. Specifically, we were reviewing a famous aria from Henry Purcell's baroque opera, Dido and Aeneas. The aria, "When I Am Laid", and commonly referred to as "Dido's Lament", is a heart wrenching and melancholy portrayal of unrequited love and suicidal thoughts. It is stunningly beautiful as a work of melodic art and one of my favorite arias from the Baroque period.

So, there I was in class, waxing poetic about descending bass-lines that reflect Dido's psychological descent into despair and her physical descent into her grave, when one of my students raised his hand. "Well," he said, "if you want an easy way to remember this one. Just remember it sounds like 'When I Get Laid' from the opera 'Dido and Anus'".

hmmm...

But hey, if it helps him remember the opera on his midterm, more power to him! At least he's listening to it. That being said, I'm pretty sure I felt Henry Purcell (who is buried next to the organ in Westminster Cathedral) roll over more than once in his grave.