As the scene ends, Radames joins the priests in other rituals.Īmneris, costume design for the La Scala premiere (1872)Īct 2 takes place two years later. The solemnity of the scene is in sharp contrast to the emotional scenes that have preceded and follow it. All pray for his coming trials and for his victory in battle. In the dark halls of the temple of Vulcan, sacred weapons are given to Radames. She begs the gods to have pity on her, "Numi, pieta del mio soffrir!" ("Gods, pity my suffering!") She is ashamed that her love for Radames conflicts with her love for her father and her people. Left alone, she calls out, "Ritorna Vincitor" ("Return the victor"). The crowd leaves for the Temple of Vulcan where Radames will be consecrated to his task.Īida, too, wants Radames to be a hero. The King says that the Egyptians must fight the Ethiopians. A messenger announces that the Ethiopians, led by King Amonasro, are marching towards Thebes. The King, the High Priest, Ramfis, and the whole palace court enter. Set design by Philippe Chaperon for Act I Scene 2, (Cairo, 1871) She notices how he looks disturbed when Aida comes in and wonders whether she is the girl Radames loves. She is worried that he is in love with someone else. She would like him to be a military hero. He sings of his love in "Celeste Aida" ("Divine Aida").Īmneris enters. He wants this, not just to receive military glory, but because he hopes it will enable him to marry Aida. Radames would like to be made the head of the Egyptian army. Ramfis leaves to tell the King of the gods' choice. Ramfis, the high priest, tells him that the gods have chosen the leader of the army. Radames hopes to lead the Egyptian army against the invading Ethiopians. Scene 1: A hall in the palace of the King of Egypt in Memphis. She senses that he loves another, but she does not know it is Aida. The jealous and suspicious Amneris loves Radames, too. In the meantime, Aida and Radames, a young Egyptian soldier, have fallen in love. Amonasro plans to invade Egypt to free his daughter. Aida is the daughter of Amonasro, the King of Ethiopia. Aida is an Ethiopian who has been captured and made slave to Amneris, the daughter of the King of Egypt. The Egyptians are at war with the Ethiopians. Story Place: Ancient Egypt Time: Unspecified, days of the Pharoahs Verdi asked his publisher for an Italian librettist and Antonio Ghislanzoni was chosen. Du Locle turned the sketch into French prose. This was an Egyptian sketch by Auguste Mariette, a French Egyptologist. Du Locle continued to make suggestions for operatic treatment. This opera was commissioned by the Khedive of Egypt who wanted to celebrate the construction of a new theater in Cairo that had been built in honor of the Suez Canal. In early 1870, du Locle asked Verdi to accept the proposal made the previous winter. Verdi refused he could not find a suitable plot. In 1869, someone (possibly du Locle) asked Verdi to write an opera for a distant land. Du Locle sent him a sketch by Auguste Mariette of an invented story with an Egyptian theme. Du Locle sent him many librettos, both comic and tragic. Verdi had become increasingly dissatisfied with librettos during the 1860s. The libretto for this opera was written by two young men, one of whom (Camille du Locle) would be instrumental in bringing Aida into the world. The plot bears striking, though unintentional, similarities to Metastasio’s libretto La Nitteti (1756).In 1865, Verdi wrote Don Carlos for the Paris Opéra. Contrary to popular belief, the opera was not written to celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, for which Verdi had been invited to write an inaugural hymn, but had declined. Aida eventually premiered in Cairo in late 1871. Isma’il Pasha, Khedive of Egypt, commissioned Verdi to write an opera for performance to celebrate the opening of the Khedivial Opera House, paying him 150,000 francs, but the premiere was delayed because of the Siege of Paris (1870–71), during the Franco-Prussian War, when the scenery and costumes were stuck in the French capital, and Verdi’s Rigoletto was performed instead. Ghislanzoni’s scheme follows a scenario often attributed to the French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette, but Verdi biographer Mary Jane Phillips-Matz argues that the source is actually Temistocle Solera. Today the work holds a central place in the operatic canon, receiving performances every year around the world at New York’s Metropolitan Opera alone, Aida has been sung more than 1,100 times since 1886. Set in Egypt, it was commissioned by and first performed at Cairo’s Khedivial Opera House on 24 December 1871 Giovanni Bottesini conducted after Verdi himself withdrew. Aida is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni.
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