Aida (Verdi)

Overview

Aida is a tragic opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, set in Egypt. It was commissioned by the Khedivial Opera House in Cairo and had its première there on 24 December 1871 (Wikipedia, "Aida"); the first European production followed at La Scala, Milan, in 1872 (see the La Scala libretto of 1871-72 above). Marie meets it in Italy in the winter of 1876-77.

Marie and this work

Aida becomes, in 1877, "ce qu'il y a de plus remarquable" for Marie, the opera she places above all music.

• 27 and 29 December 1876, Rome. She goes to the Apollo for Verdi's Aida (068.0309) and two days later sings it alone, "La musique m'enivre, m'énamoure, m'affole" (068.0346-0347).
• 5 January 1877. She wears red slippers made by Rubini on the model of the Egyptian shoes that struck her in Aida (068.0408).
• 7 March 1877, Naples. At "la première représentation d'Aida" (the first night of the Neapolitan production) she appears décolletée for the first time, in white (069.0224). On 25 March she recalls "la première d'Aida cet hiver à Rome" (069.0531).
• 14 October 1877, Paris. "Comment peut-on ne pas adorer Verdi. Je ne connais rien de plus remarquable que son Aida. Chaque accord et chaque phrase parlent": one could understand the plot and the country without seeing the stage; she plays its airs on her mandolin (075.0297-0305) and compares its music to Max's Gretchen.
• 11 November 1877. She plays the harp, sings and plays Aida at the piano, "l'opéra splendide, étonnant, émouvant, terrible, complet" (076.0137-0138); on 22 December she hears it "en italien ! Et bien chanté" (076.0469).
• 24 February 1879, Nice. She wishes to hear Patti in Faust, Aida or Mignon (084.0296).
• 15 April 1879, Paris. The "monologue souligné d'Amnéris dans le dernier acte" gives her "autant d'émotions que j'en veux" (084.0671).
• 3-4 February 1884, Paris. After Massenet's Hérodiade: "Je renie Aida ? Jamais !" Verdi goes beyond Massenet, especially in Aida; the opera resembles Aida in many ways but is weaker in feeling (103.0272, 103.0282-0293). On the 12th she lists Aida among the works Massenet has plundered (103.0321; see Hérodiade).

Not this work

070.0122 "Aida" is a racehorse in a newspaper clipping.

Sources

• Wikipedia, "Aida".
• La Scala libretto (Internet Archive) and IMSLP, linked above.