Aida, Opera by G. Verdi
With a libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, Aida is one of Giuseppe Verdi's later operas and widely regarded as among his best. This staging at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino offers audiences the chance to see Aida performed by top-quality vocalists and musicians in a stunning venue. The opera premiered on 24 December 1871 at the Cairo Opera House. Its first performance, slated to coincide with the opening of the Suez Canal, was delayed because scenery, props and costumes for it were trapped in Paris which was under siege by Prussian forces at the time. A success in its day, Aida has continued to be produced around the world on a regular basis ever since.
Aida tells the tale of an Ethiopian princess who has been reduced to the rank of handmaiden after falling into slavery by the Egyptians. She is a servant to Amneris, the daughter of the Egyptian Pharaoh. Meanwhile, Aida's father, King Amonasro, is preparing to march on Thebes with an army in an attempt to free his daughter from slavery. Against this dramatic backdrop, the title character is torn, however. She is loyal to her father and her homeland but has also fallen deeply in love with the head of the Egyptian army, Radamès. As such, audiences could be forgiven for thinking that the plot has too many clichés to raise it above the standard of Italian melodrama. What makes Aida different is the scale of its storytelling and the dramatic orchestration that Verdi brings to the opera.
A four-act opera, Aida switches scenes frequently. The first act is set in the king's palace and an Egyptian temple, for example, while the third act's action takes place by the banks of the Nile. When Radamès is imprisoned in the final act, the staging becomes a feature of the storytelling with many productions opting for a split stage so audiences can see what is going on in two places at the same time. In the final part of the opera, Aida must decide where her love for Radamès will lead her. Consequently, Aida has one of the most dramatic finales in the Italian operatic tradition.
This production of Aida at Florence's Teatro del Maggio offers drama at every stage with music scored by Verdi at the height of his compositional powers.