Programs · Episode

VERDI: Nabucco

Program: At the Opera
Aired: Saturday, October 7, 2017 @ 6:00 pm
Hosted by Lisa Simeone

The composer's first big hit, Nabucco is one of many of Verdi operas in which patriotic audiences found timely a political agenda woven into an exotic, historical context — and its emotional chorus "Va, pensiero" eventually became a sort of unofficial, Italian national anthem. On At the Opera, host Lisa Simeone presents Nabucco in recordings featuring singers including Placido Domingo, Nicolai Ghiaurov, Matteo Manuguerra and Renata Scotto.

FEATURED RECORDINGS:

Giuseppe Sinopoli, conductor

Orchestra and Chorus of the German Opera, Berlin

CAST: Pierro Cappuccilli (Nabucco); Ghena Dimitrova (Abigaille); Placido Domingo (Ismaele); Lucia Valentini Terrani (Fenena); Evgeny Nesterenko (Zaccaria); Kurt Rydl (High Priest)

(DG 410512)

Riccardo Muti, conductor

Philharmonia Orchestra, Ambrosian Opera Chorus

CAST: Matteo Manuguerra (Nabucco); Renata Scotto (Abigaille); Veriano Luchetti (Ismaele); Elena Obraztsova (Fenena); Nicolai Ghiaurov (Zaccaria); Robert Lloyd (High Priest)

(EMI 47488)

Daniel Oren, conductor

Tokyo Symphony Orchestra

CAST: Renato Bruson (Nabucco); Maria Guleghina (Abigaille); Fabio Armiliato (Ismaele); Elena Zaremba (Fenena); Ferruccio Furlanetto (Zaccaria); Carlo Striuli (High Priest)

(Naïve 5158)

MORE ABOUT THE OPERA:

If we can believe Giuseppe Verdi, if it weren't for one chance encounter early in his career, he might never have written a single great opera — and his country might have lost a unique, musical moment of national inspiration.

Verdi's second opera, King for a Day, premiered in 1840 at Milan's historic opera house, La Scala. The piece was a dismal failure, and it came at a time when the composer's emotional health was already fragile. His wife had died earlier that year, and the couple had recently lost both of their children. Following the failed opera, and in the throes of depression, Verdi decided to give up music altogether.

Then, the composer later reported, he unexpectedly ran into La Scala's impresario, Bartolomeo Merelli, on the streets of Milan. Merelli had a new libretto on his hands — called Nabucco — and he talked a reluctant Verdi into looking at it.

Verdi, as the story goes, took the libretto home and put it aside, finally reading it late one night when he had trouble sleeping. He happened to open the pages to the words of a now-famous chorus: "Va, pensiero, sull' ali dorate " — "Go, thoughts, on wings of gold." Drawn in by those words, he agreed to compose the opera, which became his first unqualified hit.

It's a great story — though Verdi did have a tendency to exaggerate tales of his early career. He once recalled the busy years after Nabucco somewhat bitterly as his "years in the galley," and while he certainly composed feverishly during that period, he was hardly working for slave wages.

In fact, the tremendous success of Nabucco propelled Verdi to a series of triumphs that made him one of the most famous men in Europe. The now-familiar chorus "Va, pensiero" also includes the words "my country, so beautiful and lost," and in some circles it became a sort of unofficial anthem — inspiration for the "Risorgimento," the Italian movement for unity and independence.

In the process, Verdi became a true Italian hero. And, if his remarkable creative life began with Nabucco, we might say it ended with it as well. When Verdi died in 1901, the immense crowd that gathered for his funeral procession joined a massed choir to sing "Va, pensiero" — a melody that helped launch one of music's most celebrated careers.

On At the Opera, host Lisa Simeone takes us through Verdi's Nabucco with highlights from three recordings, all featuring distinguished international casts, with performers including sopranos Maria Guleghina and Renata Scotto, baritones Renato Bruson and Matteo Manuguerra, tenors Veriano Luchetti and Placido Domingo, and bass Nicolai Ghiarov.

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