THE CARDINAL MAZARINE AND THE DANCE GUITTARS CHACONY IN DIDO AND AENEAS BY H. PURCELL. THE IMPOSSIBLE CONNECTION?

Abstract

The History of Music of the Baroque period is frequently studied, isolating it from politics, state marriages, dynastic wars, religión, etc. In a globalized world like today's, the cultural-musical developments, both of composition, interpretation and dissemination, are totally different from the problem of these same factors in the seventeenth century. In this article, we propose a hypothesis that relates cause and effect to the decisions of Cardinal Mazarin with one of the great English works, Dido and Aeneas, by Henry Purcell, especially in a very specific aspect, his Dance Gittars Chacony. Throughout this trip there are several protagonists, to a greater or lesser extent, apart from those already mentioned: Louis XIV, Charles II of England, Francesco Corbetta and Oliver Cromwell. We will see at the end if the connection is, in fact, impossible.