The opera program in Valencia, testimony of the importance of Verdi in the Unification of Italy

He will not give his life to the revolution, but it will be his flag. Giuseppe Verdi , icon of the patriotic movement, will set to music the liberated desitjos of the Italian people. It will define nationalism through a score. I will complete the series that has just arrived with Rigoletto , a masterpiece that is part of the opera program in Valencia for this year 2019. The Risorgimento will adopt this figure of bel canto as the standard of the seua luita. An emblem, the international fame of which is going to achieve both historical melodrames that exalt the yearnings of the country in the face of Austrian tyranny. Acostar-se a la seua producció is fer-ho to the history of Italian unification.

Giuseppe Verdi, champion of Unification

Le Roncole (Busseto), a ducat minso from Parma, will bear witness to its birth in 1813 . The author, who will sign some of the most unforgettable musical pages of all time, will die in Milan in 1901. He will begin to preserve his reputation as a very young man. The example that best illustrates this first genius is a biography published by Bermani . Esbossos sobre la vida y obres del maestro Verdi va veure la llum quan el protagonist encara no hay 34 anos.

On those days, these operas monopolize the cries of criticism and the public. Això yes, to achieve that condition of idol, you will have to digest some failures . A new day of birth , which opened in 1840, is going to be quite a shock.

It connected with the public deeper than the musical beauty

This discouragement is supported by the recent deaths of his wife and daughter due to meningitis. A devastating malaltia trencava in a thousand trossos the composer's heart. And it will be that pain that he will help to recompose those fish through the music. The rage sustained by their creations will connect with the general public. The last operas engulf some spectators who will support the great fury in favor of the recovery of the Italian greatness .

'Nabucco', El poble jueu, on the other coast of the espill

The awakening of music will not arrive at any time after fatal deaths . It will be the businessman Giovanni Merelli who will light the change in a desolate Verdi. It is worth noting that the composer set music to the famous book of the poet Temistocle Solera. The artist's irritation, enveloped in an atmosphere of turmoil and disconsolation, leads him to violently throw the plec into the sun. The work is going to be done, and it is going to be left open on a page at once. With the only explanation of chance, Verdi will arrive: “ Va, pensiero, sull'ali dorate ” (“ See, think about the dark days ”).

A single sentence will paralyze the anger. Four paraules are enough because Italy is obsessed with Nabucco . Of course, since it is daylight, I have connected the book with details. He will finally arrive three times a night, leaving in the gutter the nostalgia that his heart sends. The keys will begin to express the irritation of the people in front of the oppressor. And the tragedy of Solera served in safata les eines.

In this work, based on a story from the Ancient Testament , the sotmés poble is the game. The biblical argument is based on the history of the captivity of Babylon, with Nebuchadnezzar exercising sobirà.

The long-awaited premiere

One day after that revealing night for the composer, Milà Nabucco was premiered at La Scala. The exit on March 9 could only be defined as “unique.” The revolt will be such that in that 1842 it will be escorted 64 times on the stage “ Oh my country, so beautiful and lost ”. These verses are meant to be an authentic revolutionary hymn for lovers of liberal ideals.

Censorship of an opera icon

Verdi encenia l'patri pride. This fervor will lead to a wave of celebrations to illustrate the idiosyncrasy of the Risorgimento. The musician will face both professionalism and ideological commitments that will begin to grow. The applause is also going to multiply, but the author of Aida or La traviata is going to have an enemy: censorship. Per sort, Verdi is going to sort it both out. This will be achieved thanks in part to the invaluable collaboration of Comtessa Maffei and her intellectual salon.

The first encounter with the Austrian censorship bodies occurred in 1843 , after the inn in the scene of I Lombardi alla prima crocciata . A letter from the cardinal and archbishop of Milà, Gaetano Gaisruk, sent a letter to the police chief. This intended Verdi to modify certain passes considered inappropriate by all oppressors. Gaisruk's threat went further, because if his request was not executed, he would write to the emperor . The composer is going to deny and the policeman is not going to contradict the wishes of the musician.

Political experience

More importantly, the artist will continue to honor his public interest in works with Attila (1846) . Here the Huns occupy the Italian territory. Later, in Macbeth , the pain of humiliations will also be illustrated with music. But it is not enough to bring the victims' sight to the scene. He will participate in political life and will become a deputy of the first Italian Parliament.

It will only be a parenthesis, because Giuseppe Verdi will return to composition in 1865. He will continue to criticize the Church, which he defined as cruel and ambitious. From this era (1867) is Don Carlo , another of his unforgettable operas.

The Italian troops will occupy Rome three years after that premiere. The Risorgimento is true and the new State will appoint Verdi as a senator for life, thus recognizing the Tasca legacy.

This composer is going to establish, sens dubte, as a libertarian symbol in 19th century Italy. But not to talk about the unique abilities to grasp the psychological complexity of the human being.

Image source: © webandi