Soloists:Hung St Opera - VERDI: Trovatore

Giuseppe Verdi(1813-1901): Il Trovatore (Highlights)Verdi's very successful career as the leading composer of Italian operaof his time spanned a period of some fifty years, culminating in theShakespearean operas of his old age, Otello and finally, in 1893, Falstaff.The opera Il Trovatore was written in 1852, ten years after hisfirst great success with Nabucco, and first performed at the TeatroApollo in Rome on 19th January the following year. The text by the conservativeSalvatore Cammarano was based on the play Il trovador by the Spanishromantic writer Antonio Garcia Gntierrez and was completed, after Cammarano'sdeath in July 1852, by Leone Emanuele Bardare. The opera was given in Paris inItalian in December 1854 at the The?�tre des italiens and in January 1857 aFrench version was mounted at the Paris Opera. In order of composition IlTrovatore follows Rigoletto and precedes La traviata, onwhich Verdi was working during the final stages of the composition of IlTrovatore.SynopsisAct I: The Duel[1] The scene is the courtyard of the palace of the Count di Luna. It isnight and Ferrando, a captain of the Count's guard, tells his companions to bealert (All'erta! All'erta!), since the Count is jealouslywatching for his unknown rival in the love of Leonora, the mysterioustroubadour. Ferrando goes on to explain how the old Count had two sons (Didue figli vivea padre beato) and how the younger, Garcia, had beenkidnapped. One day a swarthy gypsy woman had been found near the child's cradle(Abbietta zingara, fosca vegliarda!) and had bewitched the boy,who fell ill. The old gypsy woman was seized and burned to death, but the woman's daughtersurvived and seems to have stolen the child, whose charred body was found wherethe witch had been burned. The ghost of the gypsy still haunts the place, it issaid, during the night.[2] In the palace gardens, Leonora lingers, remembering the unknownknight whom once she had crowned champion of the tournament, but who haddisappeared when civil war broke out. Once, Leonora tells her attendant, Ines,in the silence of the night, the sound of a lute was heard from her garden andthe sad song of a troubadour (Tacea la notte placida e bella in ciel sereno).This is the one she loves.[3] In spite of the misgivings of Ines, Leonora goes on to tell how shewill live and, if she must, die for this love (Di tale amor che dirsi).They go together into the palace.The Count comes into the garden. The sound of the troubadour's song isheard and he shudders in jealousy and wraps his cloak around him, as he hearsLeonora approaching. She, thinking him the troubadour, seeks to embrace him,while Manrico, the troubadour, exclaims on her apparent perfidy.[4] The moon emerges from behind the clouds and the troubadour, his facecovered by a visor, comes forward. Leonora realises her mistake (Qual voce!)and throws herself at his feet, declaring her love for him, to the Count'sjealous rage. At the Count's urging, Manrico reveals himself as a follower ofthe r