“Il trovatore” (The troubadour) is a four-act drama on a libretto by Salvadore Cammarano based on the Spanish drama El trovador by Antonio García Gutiérrez. It was performed for the first time at the Teatro Apollo in Rome on January 19, 1853, two years after “Rigoletto” and two months before “La Traviata”, and was a resounding success, destined to grow in the following years and throughout the nineteenth century.
Themes of obsession, revenge, family and civil war are conveyed through fiery dramatic contrasts. The towering character is the gypsy Azucena, a social outcast. Verdi, who by this time had trespassed the belcanto traditions, pushed the dramaturgy of this opera to the very brink of current taste, so that some critics ridiculed the plot as confused and hardly plausible. Yet the music is transcendent. Leonora’s “Tacea la notte placida” in Act I, the Anvil Chorus and Azucena’s ballad “Stride la vampa” in Act II, the cabaletta “Di quella pira” for Manrico in Act III are among the highlights of this dark masterpiece.
The opera will be proposed in the staging co-produced in 2010 by the Fondazione Teatro La Fenice with the Fondazione Teatro Regio di Parma, conductor Daniele Callegari, directed by Lorenzo Mariani, sets and costumes by William Orlandi and lights design by Christian Pinaud.
Website: www.teatrolafenice.it
Location: La Fenice Theatre, Venice
Schedule: Friday October 2 – Sunday October 4, 2020
Hour: Fri 7 pm – Sun 3.30 pm
Ticket: up to € 240
