The orchestra and choirs of the Nice Opera are conducted by Philippe Auguin, with a very classic staging by Yoshi Oida, featuring main roles by Hasmik Papian, Javier Palacios, Franck Ferrari, a former student of the Conservatoire National de Région de Nice, Orlin Anastassov, Laura Brioli, Luigi Roni, and Marie-Paule Lavogez.
During the general rehearsal this Wednesday, everyone appreciated a real orchestral and choral direction that made this work a triumph.
Nabucco tells the story of the Jewish people exiled in Babylon, prisoners of King Nebuchadnezzar, singing about their lost homeland. It was during this exile that the true Jewish nation was formed. The people of Milan, occupied by the Austrians, quickly compared their situation to that of the Jews in Verdi’s opera. From that point on, Verdi became a symbol of resistance against the occupiers. The famous “Va pensiero” immediately became the anthem of a homeland reduced to slavery, awaiting its liberation.
With Garibaldi, Cavour, and Victor Emmanuel, Verdi would overnight become one of the founding fathers of the Risorgimento. He would become a member of parliament, play a political role, and become one of the two greatest opera composers in the world.
THE CREATION OF NABUCCO
Verdi had just suffered a failure with his opera “Un giorno di Regno” and was seriously considering giving up his career as an opera composer. However, the director of La Scala in Milan entrusted him with a script about Nabucco, short for Nebuchadnezzar. The libretto was by Temistocle Solera. Giuseppe Verdi turned it into a masterpiece and a global success. On March 8, 1842, eight performances were scheduled, and in reality, it was performed sixty-five times, a record never equaled at La Scala in Milan.
With Nabucco, Verdi achieved popular fame thanks to a few choruses, including the famous, “Va pensiero sull’ali dorate” (Fly, my thoughts, on golden wings), which would be sung throughout Italy. When he composed Nabucco, Verdi was in a deep depression. He had just lost his two children and his young wife and had not recovered from the fiasco of “Un giorno di Regno.”
But Verdi met the most famous diva of the time, Giuseppina Strepponi, who would create the role of Abigaille. She would become his mistress and, many years later, Verdi would marry her.
THE LIBRETTO
Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, has conquered the Hebrews and now reigns over Jerusalem. Fenena, his beloved daughter, is taken hostage by the high priest of the Hebrews, to blackmail Nebuchadnezzar into freeing his people.
The king of Jerusalem’s nephew, Ismael, is in love with Fenena and attempts, unsuccessfully, to free her from the clutches of the high priest. Meanwhile, Nabucco’s presumed daughter, Abigaille, power-hungry and jealous of Fenena, spreads rumors of the king’s death and claims the throne. She threatens to execute all the Hebrews, including Fenena. In the long wait for death, the Hebrews sing a hymn to freedom, the famous “Va pensiero.”
Nabucco, in a moment of madness, proclaims himself God and tries thus to retake his place, but without success. Abigaille imprisons him. Nabucco prays to Jehovah to help him. He will save his daughter Fenena and the Hebrews at the last moment. Defeated, Abigaille begs forgiveness from her father and sister before taking her own life. Thus, the prophetic fall of Babylon is accomplished.
TODAY
The message of lost freedom is the theme of this impressive work. Few lyrical works of this scale evoke it with such emotion. Through his opera, Verdi, with energetic vigor, expresses his patriotism. Let us not forget that the opera is performed in an occupied country. It is more than a cry; it is a call. “Va pensiero” is, for Italians, the equivalent of “La Marseillaise” for the French, and Nabucco knows no borders, for as Edouard Herriot said, “Those who have conquered freedom have conquered it for all.”
Garibaldi and Verdi conquered it for us.
Christian Gallo
© Le Ficanas ®
Nice Opera
Tuesday, May 29 at 8 PM
Thursday, May 31 at 8 PM
