Verdi, Triumphal March from Aida

Shortly after the Jedive (a sort of governor) of Egypt, Ismail Pasha, asked Giuseppe Verdi to write an opera to be performed in Cairo in 1871, the project had to be abandoned because of the Franco-Prussian war. It was a pity since the Jedi had offered the great Italian master, almost sixty years old, the not negligible sum of 150,000 francs. Nor could he be offered less, since Giuseppe had long enjoyed international fame and celebrity, as well as financial independence, all of which sponsored the quiet enjoyment of his life on the Sant'Agata estate, where he had been living for twenty years in the company of his second woman, the soprano Giuseppina Strepponi.

Verdi gets excited
It had been two years since the Jedive Opera House had been opened with Rigoletto, so the governor considered it fair and necessary to insist on the proposal. As Verdi learned that the governor had also talked to Gounod and Wagner, he hastened to read the libretto based on a story by the French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette, which turned out to be to his complete liking, finally accepting the commission, in June 1870.

Premieres
The majestic opera Aida opened in Cairo on December 21, 1871, to an overwhelming success. Verdi did not attend the performance, but later he was delighted to learn that the audience had been filled with dignitaries, great personalities and critics but not ordinary audiences, as was the custom in his beloved Italy.

For this reason, Giuseppe would consider later that the true premiere of the work took place at La Scala in Milan, in February 1872. On that occasion, the role of Aída was entrusted to the soprano Teresa Stolz, Verdi's mature passion which, fortunately, mattered little thanks to the patience and dignified conduct of Giuseppina.

Aída, opera in 4 acts
In just over two and a half hours, the play tells the story of Aida, an Ethiopian princess captured and taken as a slave to Egypt. Radames, an Egyptian military man, would fall in love with her, who then must struggle between his love for Aida and his loyalty to the pharaoh, whose daughter, Amneris, to make matters worse, is crazy about Radames.

The most famous opera episode occurs in Act II, when the Egyptian people celebrate the victorious return of Radames after defeating the Ethiopians, singing the famous Triumphal March.

About 500 singers and 60 musicians are performing in the concert version presented here. It was recorded on the occasion of the 2010 International Choral Festival Gala, which is held every two years in the Swedish town of Lund.