Dido, Queen of Carthage (opera) role of Anfossi's "Didone abbandonata" and had sung at the King's Theatre several times in the intervening years. The role of Aeneas was sung "en travesti" by the English soprano and stage actress, Anna Maria Crouch. Her lover and frequent stage partner, Michael Kelly, sang the tenor role of Iarbas. The pair had appeared in several earlier works by Storace, including "No song, no supper" (1790) and "The Siege of Belgrade" (1791) and would later appear in his comic opera "The Pirates". "Dido, Queen of Carthage" opened on 23 May 1792 at The King's Theatre and was scheduled to run
Aeneas "Origines". The Aeneas legend was well known in Virgil's day and appeared in various historical works, including the "Roman Antiquities" of the Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus (relying on Marcus Terentius Varro), "Ab Urbe Condita" by Livy (probably dependent on Quintus Fabius Pictor, fl. 200 BCE), and Gnaeus Pompeius Trogus (now extant only in an epitome by Justin). The "Aeneid" explains that Aeneas is one of the few Trojans who were not killed or enslaved when Troy fell. Aeneas, after being commanded by the gods to flee, gathered a group, collectively known as the Aeneads, who then traveled to Italy