A sophisticated example of Italian Romanticism, Giuseppe Verdi’s Aïda has retained its appeal since it premiered in Cairo in 1871. Set in The Old Kingdom (3rd millennium BCE), the opera centers on the Ethiopian princess Aida, now an Egyptian slave, torn between loyalty to her native country and the love she shares with the Egyptian commander Radames, while caught in a fatal love-triangle with the Egyptian princess Amneris. In this course, we’ll study a video of the opera from a live performance at La Scala, Milan, as well as excerpts from historic recordings by operatic legends. The use of bilingual (Italian-English) video-subtitles and libretti will introduce and/or reinforce salient aspects of the beautiful Italian language, while deepening appreciation of that interrelationship between the music and the language which is unique to opera. The instructor will host an optional trip to the Metropolitan Opera’s stunning new production, starring Angel Blue and Elīna Garanča as the rival princesses, against a spectacular backdrop of towering pyramids, gilded tombs, intricate projections, and dazzling animations. (April 27, 3:00 p.m.). Other hosted trips will include a local production of Verdi’s Il Trovatore by Boheme Opera NJ, under the baton of Maestro Pucciatti, as well as Opera Philadelphia’s production of Don Giovanni (May 4, 2:00 p.m., Academy of Music).

Text: All required materials will be supplied by the instructor.  
Recommended Texts (available on-line from Amazon): Seven Verdi Librettos: English and Italian Edition (William Weaver, W. W. Norton & Company: 1977), ISBN-10: 0393008525 / ISBN-13:978-0393008524; Langenscheidt Universal Dictionary Italian: Italian-English / English-Italian (Pons Gmbh, Bilingual edition: 2017), ISBN-10: 3125140374 / ISBN-13: 978-3125140370.