“When I will be placed on earth” is an aria written in the Baroque period. It is a lament starring Dido that directly precedes her death. The aria is written in repeated binary form, and the repetitions in this piece reflect the style of Purcell and Baroque music as a whole. The aria is written in 3/2 time and the tempo marking is “larghetto”. The meter allows the piece to have weight, and this combined with the slow tempo is appropriate for the heavy emotion required in a lament. This is particularly effective in measures 1-6, where the bass line places its emphasis almost entirely on the strong beats of the metric as it falls chromatically. The meter, line direction, and low keys played by the instrument give it weight and mimic a low, lethargic breath. A strong relationship between the music and the lyrics can be seen throughout the melodic line, particularly in bars 22-23; 26; 32-33; and 36 while the soloist sings the word “ah!” This word is particularly emotional and in fact does not even function as a word, but rather as something closer to a sigh. The music reflects this by placing multiple notes on a syllable, lengthening it melismatically to mimic the prolonged, lethargic nature of the sigh. Furthermore, every instance of “ah!” involves an arching line within the melody (this is particularly evident in measures 26 and 36), which further solidifies the similarity to the sigh (an act that involves a "swelling" of the breath). The idea of ​​the sigh recurs in many cases in this piece, even acting outside the melodic line. The string accompaniment contains occasional slurs, and these slurs usually occur on a strong tempo that shifts to a weak tempo (e.g. see both violin parts in measure 9). This adds to the... center of the paper... his death abolishing his importance in the piece. Also within these measures a tardindo occurs, slowing the piece to denote the end of both the aria and Dido. The instrumentation is based on string accompaniment, common in baroque pieces. Furthermore, this helps support the emotional nature of the piece as the mechanics of stringed instruments are very similar to the mechanics of the human voice; therefore, the strings can imitate human expressions such as sighs and cries. For example, in measure 8, the 9-8 suspension in the second part of the violin seems to indicate tension. When this is combined with the vocal timbre of the instrument and the falling, melismatic line within the melody, it reflects the sobbing of a human being. The ensemble is also intimate, involving only five voices, and this seems appropriate for the emotional yet private message contained in the lyrics.