Aida’s command to Radames - “Ritorna vincitor!” - comes at a price. This new perspective entails a number of bold creative choices that do not make use of the traditional staging imagery associated with Aida. A tide of sentiment runs like the Nile through Verdi’s music for the occasion, flowing from the bombastic to moments of extraordinary tenderness.īritish director Phelim McDermott offers the audience a new take on the culture of the people of Ancient Egypt in Aida, one that allows us also to question the world in which we live. Radames, obviously, only has eyes for Aida, who is torn between the love for her country and her passionate desire for the Egyptian hero. To make matters worse, Aida is in love with the Egyptian general Radames, the conqueror of Ethiopia and Amneris’ love interest. Aida, an Ethiopian princess taken as a captive slave after the defeat of her kingdom at the hands of Pharaoh’s armies, is both a war trophy and lady-in-waiting to Princess Amneris. One of the greatest hits of opera history was born : almost everybody can whistle Aida’s triumphal march.Īida takes place in a very recognizable but completely unhistoric Ancient Egypt the opera says more about the relationship between Egypt and Europe at the end of the 19th century than of the Kingdom of the Pharaohs. That year, the viceroy of - nominally Ottoman - Egypt made a point of building a grand opera house in Cairo and commissioned Verdi for a new work with an Egyptian theme for its opening. His commitment to this cause made him a living legend, much like Garibaldi, and other countries took their inspiration from the slogan “Viva VERDI” to forge their nationhood.
In 1869, Italy is on the brink of unification after several decades of bloody conflict in for territorial hegemony as much as for the idea of a homeland, to which Giuseppe Verdi had dedicted his talent and inspiration.