Verdi’s profound knowledge of the theater and his strong dramatic sense, combined with his virtually incomparable Italian lyricism, made him one of the greatest composers for the musical theater of all time. But it is his lyricism—with all its infinite charm and variety—that makes so much of his writing so popular to so many in such widely scattered areas of the world. Selections from his most famous operas are favorites even with many who have never seen them on the stage, because their emotional appeal is inescapable.
Aida is an opera filled not only with some of the most wonderful melodies to be found in Italian opera but also with scenes of pomp, ceremony, with exotic attractions, and with episodes dynamic with dramatic interest. This was the opera that brought Verdi’s second creative period to a rich culmination; and it is unquestionably one of the composer’s masterworks. He wrote it on a commission from the Egyptian Khedive for ceremonies commemorating the opening of the Suez Canal. However, Verdi took so long to complete his opera that it was not performed in Cairo until about two years after the canal had been opened, on December 24, 1871. The libretto—by Antonio Ghislanzoni—was based on a plot by Mariette Bey. Radames, captain of the Egyptian guard, is in love with Aida, the Ethiopian slave of Amneris. The latter, daughter of the King of Egypt, is herself in love with Radames. When an invading Ethiopian force comes to threaten Egypt, Radames becomes the commander of the army and proves himself a hero. Lavish festivities and ceremonies celebrate his victorious return, during which the king of Egypt offers him the hand of Amneris as reward. But Radames is still in love with Aida. Since Aida is actually the daughter of the Ethiopian king, she manages to extract from Radames the secret maneuvers of the Egyptian army, information enabling the Ethiopian army to destroy the Egyptians. For this treachery, Radames is buried alive; and Aida, still in love with him, comes within his tomb to die with him.
The brief overture opens with a tender melody in violins suggesting Aida. After an effective development we hear a somber and brooding motive of the Priests of Isis, which soon receives contrapuntal treatment. The Aida motive is dramatized, brought to a magnificent climax, then allowed to subside.
The Ballet Music is famous for its brilliant harmonic and orchestral colors, exotic melodies, and pulsating rhythms. In Act 2, Scene 1 there takes place the Dance of the Moorish Slaves, an oriental dance performed before Amneris by the Moorish boys. The Ballabile is another oriental dance which appears in Act 2, Scene 2, performed by the dancing girls during the celebration attending the arrival of the triumphant Egyptian army headed by Radames. In this scene there is also heard the stirring strains of the Grand March. This march begins softly but soon gathers its strength and erupts with full force as the king, his attendants, the Priests, the standard bearers, Amneris and her slaves appear in a brilliant procession. The people raise a cry of praise to the king and their Gods in “Gloria all’ Egitto.” After this comes the dramatic march music to which the Egyptian troops, with Radames at their head, enter triumphantly into the square and file proudly before their king.
Of the vocal excerpts the most famous is undoubtedly Radames’ ecstatic song of love to Aida in the first act, first scene, “Celeste Aida,” surely one of the most famous tenor arias in all opera. Two principal arias for soprano are by Aida. The first is her exultant prayer that Radames come back victorious from the war, “Ritorna vincitor” in Act 1, Scene 1; the other, “O Patria mia,” in Act 3, is her poignant recollection of her beloved homeland in Ethiopia. Amneris’ moving aria in Act 2, Scene 1, “Vieni amor mio” where she thinks about her beloved Radames, and the concluding scene of the opera in which Radames and Aida bid the world farewell, “O terra, addio” are also famous.
La Forza del destino (The Force of Destiny) has a popular overture. This opera was first performed in St. Petersburg, Russia on November 10, 1862—libretto by Francesco Piave based on a play by the Duke de Riva. Leonora, daughter of the Marquis of Calatrava, is in love with Don Alvaro, a nobleman of Inca origin. When they plan elopement, Leonora’s father intervenes and is accidentally killed in the ensuing brawl. Leonora’s brother, Don Carlo, swears to avenge this death by killing Don Alvaro. On the field of battle, Don Alvaro saves Don Carlo’s life. Not recognizing Don Alvaro as his sworn enemy, Don Carlo pledges eternal friendship; but upon discovering Don Alvaro’s true identity, he challenges him to a duel in which Don Carlo is wounded. Aware that he has brought doom to two people closest and dearest to his beloved Leonora, Don Alvaro seeks sanctuary in a monastery where many years later he is found by Don Carlo. In the sword duel that follows, Don Alvaro kills Don Carlo, whose last act is to plunge a fatal knife into his sister’s heart.
A trumpet blast, creating an ominous air of doom, opens the overture. An air in a minor key then leads to a gentle song for strings; this is Leonora’s prayer for help and protection to the Virgin in the second scene of the second act, “Madre pietosa.” A light pastoral tune, depicting the Italian countryside in the third act, is now heard. Leonora’s song of prayer is now forcefully repeated by the full orchestra, after which the overture ends robustly.
Rigoletto, introduced in Venice on March 11, 1851, is based on the Victor Hugo play, Le Roi s’amuse adapted by Francesco Piave. Rigoletto is the hunchbacked jester to the Duke of Mantua who jealously guards his daughter, Gilda, from the world outside their home. Disguised as a student, the Duke woos Gilda and wins her love. Since the Duke’s courtiers hate the jester, they conspire to abduct Gilda and bring her to the ducal court to become the Duke’s mistress. Distraught at this turn of affairs, the jester vows to kill the Duke and hires a professional assassin to perform this evil deed. But since his own sister loves the Duke, the assassin decides to spare him and to kill a stranger instead. The stranger proves to be none other than Gilda, disguised as a man for a projected flight to Verona. The body is placed in a sack for delivery to Rigoletto who, before he can get rid of the body, discovers that it is that of his beloved daughter.
The following are the best loved and most widely performed excerpts from this tuneful opera: the Ballata, “Questa o quella” from the first act in which the Duke flippantly talks of love and his many conquests; the graceful Minuet to which the courtiers dance during a party at the Ducal palace in the same act; Gilda’s famous coloratura aria, “Caro nome” from the second act, in which she dreams about the “student” with whom she has fallen in love; the light and capricious aria of the Duke, “La donna è mobile” from the third act, in which the Duke mockingly comments on fickle womanhood, and one of the most celebrated tenor arias in the repertory; the quartet “Bella figlia dell’ amore”—as celebrated an ensemble number as “La donna è mobile” is as an aria—in which each of the four principal characters of the opera (Gilda, Rigoletto, the Duke, and Maddalena) speaks of his or her inner turmoil, doubts, and hatreds in the third act.
La Traviata (The Lost One) is Francesco Maria Piave’s adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ celebrated romance, La Dame aux camélias. Its central theme is the tragic tale of the courtesan, Violetta, who falls in love with and is loved by Alfredo Germont. After they live together for a blissful period, Alfredo’s father is instrumental in breaking up the affair by convincing Violetta she must give up her lover for his own good. She does so by feigning she has grown tired of him. Only too late does Alfredo learn the truth; when he returns to Violetta, she is dying of tuberculosis.