After overhearing the conversation, Amonasro gets out of his hiding place and offers the throne and his daughter’s hand to the young commander. Aida begs her beloved to flee to Ethiopia together and after agreeing he discloses details regarding the route the Egyptian army is taking. He then suggests her took advantages of the situation to wring useful information, that might be beneficial to the Ethiopian cause, out of Radames. Radamès and Aida arrange to meet by the Nile’s bank but the rendezvous is discovered by Amonasro that thus becomes aware of his daughter ‘secret love. Pharaoh decides to grant Radamès request and rewards him with Amneris’ hand. Upon triumphantly returning from Ethiopia and accompanied by festive trumpets he asks the pharaoh to pardon the prisoners, among which stands Ethiopian’s king Amonasro and his daughter Aida. However, Amneris is in love with the young captain and gets ballistic at the idea that he has feeling for her slave, whose heart is parted between the love for her home country and that she feels for the young Egyptian.Īmneris tricks Aida into confessing her love for Radamès. Radamès, on the other hand, dreams to be appointed commander of the Egyptian army and to annihilate the Ethiopians infantry in order to be able to claim the hand of Aida, young Ethiopian Pharaoh’s daughter ‘slave. High Priest Ramphis learns from Radamès that Amonasro intends to attack Thebe. Jealousy and passion alongside with betrayal and war will eventually lead to the death of the young slave and her beloved captain. Pharaoh’s daughter Amneris is in love with Radames, instead. Young captain of the guard Radamès finds himself in love with a juvenile Ethiopian slave, named Aida, whose being Amonasro’s daughter he completely ignores. In the Egypt of the pharaohs, Ethiopian king Amonasro threats to attack Thebe and the entire Nile valley. Mystery, intrigue, passion and pain resonate throughout scenes and this musical, known as the 'Grand Opera', leaves audiences captivated and enthralled within its rhapsody. Outstanding performances, powerful arias and lavish mise-en-scene, intertwine, transporting audiences to a space, back in time, amidst the ruins of ancient Egypt. It reaches the depths of emotion, with great highs of love and deep lows of despair, all common components, in magnificent dramas and tragic narratives. Composed by Verdi, this dramatic tale, pivots around a love triangle. (You can watch a summary of the opera here).This opera is recognised as one of the world's most celebrated. You’ll have to watch the opera or the musical to find out how this dramatic story unfolds. To quote from Aida the musical, “Every story is a love story.” The story here is not your typical love triangle, it is a more like a love square where love for country is thrown into the mix: Radames has to make a choice between Aida, Amneris, and Egypt. What complicates this picture is that Radames is in love with Amneris’s servant Aida, and Aida is in love with him. Amneris is in love with the young Egyptian general Radames, who is leading the war against Ethiopia. Aida is an Ethiopian princess captured by the Egyptians and serves as a slave to the Egyptian princess Amneris. Today, 150 years later Verdi’s Aida is still one of the most-performed operas.Īida’s story takes place in Egypt, which is at war with Ethiopia. You can listen to Aida’s overture, which is terrific, here. To this day most performances include the prelude, not the overture. Before a performance in Milan in 1872, Verdi composed an 11-minute overture for Aida, which he then decided not to use. Overtures are usually longer pieces that are played before the opera, as their job to expose the most important motives of what you are about to hear. Preludes are usually played before an act of the opera – not at the beginning of the opera. A prelude is short piece of orchestral music that sets the mood for the music to come. The original Aida came with a five-minute prelude. It was commissioned by the ruler of Egypt to celebrate the opening of the Khedivial (Royal) Opera House in Cairo. Aida was composed by Giuseppe Verdi and premiered in Cairo in 1871. In this exploratory journey of musicals we’ll briefly venture into the adjacent world of opera, as I’ll discuss both Aida the opera and Aida the musical, both based on the same story. This is a continuation of my journey into musicals ( previous musicals).
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