A Sit-Down With Verdi's Aida
The Best Moments
Aida, opera in four acts (1871)
I'm Verdi, and what follows are the best moments of my opera Aida. You'll listen to the passages of this ancient Egyptian love story that won over audiences from Cairo to New York within five years, and they're easily worth a few minutes of your day. On this site, my fellow composers and I also teach you to recognize our pieces the moment they play, so give the Trainer a try when you've finished listening.
---
Trumpets Made to Order
I open the Triumphal March with six trumpets that I had specially built, because after studying ancient Egyptian instruments I wasn't willing to settle for the ordinary kind. They ring out so brightly at the start of Act II that you know at once someone important is arriving, a bit like a doorbell that announces the whole street.
A General Daydreams
If you step back to Act 1, before any parade, I let Radamès sing "Celeste Aida" all by himself, and I want you to notice what's on his mind. He's an Egyptian general who has just learned he may lead the army, yet he spends the whole aria thinking about Aida, which tells you where his priorities are.
Homesick on the Riverbank
I begin Aida's "O patria mia" in Act 3 on the banks of the Nile, and I give her a quiet, lonely moment that sounds like a long sigh in the dark. She's an Ethiopian princess far from home, and I wanted you to feel that ache before her father, Amonasro, turns up and makes her evening much more complicated.
---
When I look back on Aida, I'm still struck by how far it traveled without me. I wasn't in Cairo on 24 December 1871 when it was first performed, and Giovanni Bottesini conducted in my place. Within five years of that evening, the opera had been staged in European capitals and in New York. It seems the story of an Ethiopian princess and an Egyptian general found listeners wherever it went. Did you enjoy this little tour through the best moments of Aida? I hope the six trumpets and Radamès and his daydream gave you a good feeling for the opera. Still, we've only opened the door, and there's much more of Aida to explore. Aida herself sings "Ritorna vincitor" and, in Act 3 by the Nile, "O patria mia", and both show a very different side of her than the parade does. Then there's the chorus "Gloria all'Egitto", and the closing duet "O terra addio", where the music grows quiet and the grand spectacle gives way to something very tender. If you'd like to keep listening, please click on the links below. They'll take you further into the opera, and I'd be glad to have you along.