Dido and Aeneas is a two-act opera written in
1689 by English Composer
Henry Purcell (1659-1695).
The synopsis is as follows:
Dido, queen of Carthage, takes as a husband the Trojan prince, Aeneas, whose love for her knows no boundaries.
One day, while out hunting (as most newlyweds do), three witches appear and plan to destroy not only Carthage but Dido as well. One of the witches appears to Aeneas in the form of the God Mercury and tells him that he must leave Dido and establish a Troy on Latin soil.
Aeneas is loath to leave his beloved, but ultimately cannot disobey a command from the gods...until he thinks about it some more and decides to come back to Dido, who refuses him for even thinking about leaving her...the piece infers that Dido dies soon after.