Where can I find this music?

November 3, 2008 3:41 PM

Help needed finding sheet music for Purcell's "When I am Laid in Earth" from Dido and Aeneas

This is probably a big long shot, but I need to find a printed copy of Dido’s Farewell/Dido’s Lament/When I am Laid by Purcell. The catch is that I need the Recitative (Thy hand, Belinda) in E flat and the Aria in B flat. The original key for both is B flat. I know that the Recit exists somewhere out there in E flat, because I have a photocopy of it that I likely took from a book at the Toronto Reference Library, but I can’t remember exactly since I got it about 3 years ago.

I’m in Toronto and I’ve checked Remenyi, the RCM, the U of T music library and the Toronto Reference Library, but no one seems to have it with the E flat Recit. The Photocopy that I have doesn’t give any indication to who the publisher was. The only semi-distinguishing thing about it is that it called the piece Dido’s Farewell whereas most versions call it When I am Laid or Dido’s Lament. Does anyone know of anywhere (online is fine too) where I can buy a printed copy of this piece?

posted by legendarygirlfriend to media & arts (2 comments total)

Thought of the International Musical Score Library Project, which has recently reopened after being shuttered by threats from score publishers' representatives; check their score, it has the recitative Thy Hand, Belinda on p. 103, written key of C but appears to start in E♭. The aria When I am laid is in B♭.
posted by adoarns at 4:45 PM on November 3, 2008 [1 favorite]

You might try JW Pepper...I searched under "Thy Hand, Belinda", and it pulled up a book of 40 songs by Purcell in both high and low versions; it might be that the high version is the B-flat one and the low is E-flat (or vice versa). But it might take a phone call, because while they have the song list, they don't have much more than the titles in their detail.
posted by leahwrenn at 7:41 AM on November 4, 2008