Attila (opera)

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Work data
Title: Attila
Title page of the libretto, Venice 1845

Title page of the libretto, Venice 1845

Shape: Dramma lirico in a prologue in three acts
Original language: Italian
Music: Giuseppe Verdi
Libretto : Temistocle Solera , completed by Francesco Maria Piave
Literary source: Attila, King of the Huns by Zacharias Werner
Premiere: March 17, 1846
Place of premiere: Venice , Teatro La Fenice
Playing time: approx. 1 ¾ hours
Place and time of the action: Aquileia and Rome Area, 452–453
people
  • Attila, King of the Huns ( bass )
  • Ezio ( Aetius ), Roman general ( baritone )
  • Odabella, daughter of the ruler of Aquileia ( soprano )
  • Foresto, knight from Aquileia ( tenor )
  • Uldino, a young Breton, slave of Attila (tenor)
  • Leone ( Leo the Great ), Bishop of Rome (bass)
  • Princes, kings, soldiers, Huns, Gepids , Ostrogoths , Heruli , Thuringians, Quads , Druids, priestesses, people, men and women of Aquileia, women warriors of Aquileia, Roman officers and soldiers, Roman virgins and girls, hermits , slaves ( chorus ) .

Atilla is the ninth opera (original name: "Dramma lirico") by Giuseppe Verdi . It consists of a prologue and three acts. The libretto by Temistocle Solera , completed by Francesco Maria Piave , is based on the romantic tragedy Attila, King of the Huns by Zacharias Werner . The premiere took place on March 17, 1846 at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice and increased Verdi's popularity . Verdi himself spoke in a letter to Countess Maffei, wife of the poet Andrea Maffei , the librettist of Macbeth and I masnadieri , of a “decent success” the day after the premiere.

action

The opera takes place in Aquileia, the Adriatic lagoons and Rome in the middle of the 5th century. The pagan king of the Huns, Attila, who, contrary to historical tradition , already believes in the Germanic gods like Wodan in the literary model , conquers Aquileia, has its ruler killed and wants to attack Rome from here. Odabella, daughter of the ruler of Aquileia, impresses Attila with her courage and beauty, so that he woos her. But the proud young woman wants to avenge the death of her father. Both the Roman general Ezio and Odabella's lover Foresto and Odabella themselves want to free the fatherland from the Hunnic conqueror for different reasons. Like the biblical Judith, she finally stabs Attila.

Historical background

The Hun Attila was the most successful conquerors at the time of migration of peoples . In 452 he invaded Italy with his army and destroyed the city of Aquileia . The inhabitants of Aquileia fled to the Venetian lagoons and thus laid the nucleus of Venice . In the same year Pope Leo the Great was able to persuade Attila to withdraw. Attila died of a hemorrhage on their wedding night in 453 with his last wife, the Goddess Ildikó (Hildico) . According to another, later tradition, he was murdered by Hildico. (In the opera Odabella takes the place of the Gothic woman.) The ambitious Western Roman general Flavius ​​Aëtius , called Ezio in the opera, is initially the negotiator of the Western Roman emperor Valentinian III in the opera . After Aëtius threatened to become too powerful, he was personally murdered by Valentinian in 454.

prolog

First image: Aquileia's main square

Attila celebrates the conquest of Aquileia with his Soldateska . Among the captured warriors, he is impressed by their leader Odabella, the daughter of the slain ruler of Aquileia. Ezio , the general and envoy of the Western Roman emperor Valentinian III. , comes to Attila. But the Hun rejects his suggestion that Attila should rule the Roman Empire and leave Italy to him.

Second picture: The Rio Alto in the Adriatic lagoons

Refugees from Aquileia settle in the lagoons. Their leader Foresto is worried about the beloved Odabella, who is in Attila's hands.

first act

First picture: Forest near Attila's camp near Rome. night

Odabella has joined Attila's army to avenge her father and the supposedly dead lover. While roaming around at night, she meets Foresto, who accuses her of treason. But she can convince him that she wants to free her people following the example of the biblical Judith .

Second picture: Attila's tent

Attila is warned about the campaign against Rome by a dream face.

Third picture: Attila's camp

The Hun does not want to be frightened and calls his troops together to leave. A procession confronts him , in whose leader (Pope Leone ) he recognizes the nocturnal dream figure. At the same time, two figures appear in the sky with threatening, flaming swords. Attila is horrified.

Second act

First picture: Ezio's camp, not far from Rome

Emperor Valentinian has concluded an armistice with Attila and orders his general Ezio back. This does not obey, but relies on Rome's former greatness and joins Foresto, who plans to murder Attila.

Second picture: Attila's camp

The king of the Huns gives a feast to celebrate the armistice. Odabella prevents Foresto's planned murder because she feels cheated of her own deed. She warns Attila about poison in the drinking cup and claims to punish the guilty Foresto himself in order to deprive him of Attila's justice. The touched and grateful king of the Huns announces his marriage to Odabella.

Third act

Forest near Attila's camp

Foresto and Ezio are ready to attack Attila. Foresto is full of indignation and jealousy and believes Odabella has betrayed himself. She fled Attila's camp and protests to Foresto that she is innocent and loyal. Attila falls into an ambush looking for Odabella. Foresto tries to pierce him, but Odabella gets ahead of him and stabs Attila to avenge her father: Padre! ... ah padre, il sacrificio a te (father! ... ah father, I offer him to you).

layout

Instrumentation

The orchestral line-up for the opera includes the following instruments:

Music numbers

Verdi: Attila. Teatro Massimo, Palermo 2016

prolog

  • No. 1. Preludio
  • No. 2. Introduction
    • Choir: Urli, rapine, gemiti, sangue (choir) scene I
    • Scene: Eroi, levatevi! (Attila) Scene II
    • Choir: Viva il re delle mille foreste (choir) scene II
  • No. 3. Scene and Cavatine
    • Scene: Di vergini straniere (Attila, Uldino, Odabella) Scene III
    • Cavatina: Allor che i forti corrono (Odabella) Scene III
    • Tempo di mezzo: Bella è quell'ira, o vergine (Attila, Odabella) Scene III
    • Cabaletta con coro: Da te questo or m'è concesso (Odabella, Attila, choir) Scene III
  • No. 4. Scene and duet
    • Scene: Uldino, a me dinanzi (Attila) Scene III-IV-V
    • Duet: Tardo per gli anni, e tremulo (Ezio, Attila) Scene V
    • Tempo di mezzo: Ma se fratern * vincolo (Ezio, Attila) Scene V
    • Cabaletta: Vanitosi!… Che abbietti e dormenti (Attila, Ezio) Scene V
  • No. 5. Scene and Cavatine des Foresto
    • Scene: Qual notte!… - Quai voci!… (Eremiti, Aquileiesi, Foresto) Scene VI-VII
    • Cavatina with choir: Ella in poter del barbaro! (Foresto, choir) Scene VII
    • Tempo di mezzo: Cessato alfine il turbine (Eremiti, Foresto) Scene VII
    • Cabaletta with choir: Cara patria, già madre e reina (Foresto, choir) Scene VII

first act

  • No. 6. Scene and romance
    • Scene: Liberamente or piangi… (Odabella) Scene I
    • Romance: Oh! nel fuggente nuvolo (Odabella) Scene I.
  • No. 7th scene and duet
    • Scene: Torment suon di passi! - Donna! - Gran Dio !!… (Odabella, Foresto) Scene I-II
    • Duet: Sì, quell'io son, ravvisami (Foresto, Odabella) Scene II
    • Tempo di mezzo: Va '. - Racconta al sacrilego infame (Foresto, Odabella) Scene II
    • Cabaletta: Oh t'inebria nell'amplesso (Foresto, Odabella) Scene II
  • No. 8. Scene and aria
    • Scene: Uldino! Uldin! (Attila, Uldino) Scene III
    • Aria: Mentre gonfiarsi l'anima (Attila) Scene III
    • Tempo di mezzo: Raccapriccio! Che far pensi? (Uldino, Attila) Scene III
    • Cabaletta: Oltre quel limite (Attila) Scene IV
  • No. 9. Finale I.
    • Scene: Parla, imponi - Chi vien? (Choir, Attila, Leone) Scene V-VI
    • Finale: No!… Non è sogno (Attila, Uldino, Leone, Odabella, Foresto, choir) Scene VI

Second act

  • No. 10. Scene and aria
    • Scene: Tregua è cogli Unni (Ezio) Scene I
    • Aria: Dagli immortali vertici (Ezio) Scene I.
    • Tempo di mezzo: Chi vien? - Salute ad Ezio - Che brami tu? (Ezio, choir, Foresto) Scene I-II-III
    • Cabaletta: È gettata la mia sorte (Ezio) Scene IV
  • No. 11. Finale II
    • Choir: Del ciel l'immensa volta (Choir) Scene V
    • Scene: Ezio, ben vieni! (Attila, Ezio, Druidi) Scene VI
    • Choir: Chi dona luce al cor?… (Sacerdotesse) Scene VI
    • Seguito del Finale: L 'spirto de' monti (Choir, Foresto, Odabella, Ezio, Attila, Uldino) Scene VI
    • Scene: Si riaccendan le quercie d'intorno (Attila, Foresto, Odabella) Scene VI
    • Stretta: Oh, miei prodi! un sol * giorno (Attila, Odabella, Foresto, Ezio, Uldino, choir) Scene VI

Third act

  • No. 12. Scene and romance
    • Scene: Qui del convegno è il loco… (Foresto, Uldino) Scene I-II
    • Romance: Che non avrebbe il misero (Foresto) Scene II
  • No. 13. Trio
    • Terzetto: Che più s'indugia?… (Ezio, Foresto, Odabella, choir) Scene III-IV
  • No. 14. Quartet Final
    • Quartet: Non involarti, seguimi (Foresto, Odabella, Attila, Ezio, choir) Scene V-VI

Work history

Emergence

Like the Greek tragedy, the literary model by Zacharias Werner already worked with commenting choirs . When Verdi got to know the piece in 1844, he saw it as suitable operatic material. In a letter to the librettist Francesco Maria Piave, with whom he had already worked on Ernani , Verdi presented the synopsis of an opera with a prologue and three acts, where he also suggested changes to the plot.

After the failure with Alzira , however, Verdi turned to the librettist Solera, who had already written the texts for Verdi's early successes such as Nabucco , I Lombardi alla prima crociata and Giovanna d'Arco . Solera processed the patriotic feelings of the Italian unification movement ( Risorgimento ) in the libretto and made many political allusions in the opera.

Verdi started composing immediately after he had a large part of the libretto. However, after Solera's wife, the singer Teresa Rosmina, broke her contract at La Scala in Milan, Solera moved with her to Madrid and left the last act unfinished. Finally, Verdi turned to the librettist Francesco Maria Piave, to whom he gave further dramaturgical instructions. When the libretto was completed, Verdi sent it to Solera for his approval. Solera was horrified and called the end of the opera a “parody”, but finally gave his approval. The rift between Verdi and Solera persisted and they never worked again.

reception

Performance at Her Majesty's Theater London, 1848

With Nabucco and the Lombards (I Lombardi alla prima Crociata), Verdi had already composed two choir operas that were enthusiastically received by the Italian unification movement. After the failure with Alzira, Verdi's Attila tied again thematically to the efforts at unification ( Risorgimento ) in divided Italy. There are many patriotic allusions in Attila .

For this reason, too, the work quickly conquered the opera stages in Italy. At the second performance in the Teatro La Fenice , the enthusiasm for the duet Ezio - Attila in the prologue knew no bounds. In one line of text, during the negotiations with Attila, Ezio sings:

"Avrai tu l'universo, resti l'Italia, resti l'Italia a me."

"You may have the universe, but leave Italy to me."

The sentence falls in the final line of the singing verse and is repeated fourteen times in the last minute of the duet. The audience in Venice , ruled by the Habsburgs , understood the meaning of these words.

The opera was re-enacted on many Italian theaters. In 1864 the London impresario Benjamin Lumley , who had premiered Verdi's opera I masnadieri in his theater in 1846 , wrote that perhaps none of Verdi's works had sparked more enthusiasm in Italy.

In 1964 the West German premiere of the opera in Italian took place in the Stadttheater Bremerhaven under the musical direction of General Music Director Hans Kindler with Anita Salta as Odabella. On the occasion of the reopening of the Bremerhaven Theater in 2000, there was a successful new production by Peter Grisebach . Since then, the opera has been performed more often: in 2013 a production followed in the Theater St. Gallen , in 2016 a production by Peter Konwitschny in Vienna and by Bruno Klimek in the Pfalztheater Kaiserslautern, and in 2017 a production by Dietrich W. Hilsdorf in the Theater Bonn .

Discography (selection)

literature

  • Julian Budden: Attila. Analysis in the supplement to the CD, recording by Philips 1972.
  • Heinz Wagner: The great manual of the opera. 2nd edition, Florian Noetzel Verlag Wilhelmshaven 1995, p. 736 f.

Web links

Commons : Attila (opera)  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Lyric Drama in a Prologue and Three Acts, CD supplement, Philips 1972, p. 1 and p. 77.
  2. ^ German translation of the libretto, supplement CD Philips 1972, p. 147.
  3. ^ Peter Ross: Attila. In: Piper's Encyclopedia of Musical Theater. Volume 6: Works. Spontini - Zumsteeg. Piper, Munich / Zurich 1997, ISBN 3-492-02421-1 , p. 408.
  4. ↑ Letter Verdi, cf. Budden: Attila. 1972, p. 31 f.
  5. ^ Budden: Attila. 1972, p. 34.
  6. ^ Information from Budden: Attila. 1972, pp. 35-37.
  7. ^ Budden: Attila. 1972, p. 34 and p. 89.
  8. ^ Budden: Attila. 1972, p. 38.
  9. ↑ There were performances in German translation or in Italian in German-speaking areas in the middle of the 19th century, first in Stuttgart in 1854, without the work being able to achieve greater popularity outside Italy at the time. That was u. a. on the extremely difficult part of Odabella.
  10. ^ Johannes Jacobi: Attila. In: Die Zeit of December 11, 1964, No. 50, p. 16