Verdi's Opera Choruses: Songs That Rallied a Nation

Author(s): Lila Rhodes

Source: The Choral Journal , NOVEMBER 1997, Vol. 38, No. 4 (NOVEMBER 1997), pp. 9-
11, 14-16
Published by: American Choral Directors Association

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/23551609

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 Verdis
Verdis Opera Choruses:
Songs That
Rallied a Nation
by Lila
Lila Rhodes
Rhodes

Historically, Italian city states have rarely been able to band Great the banks of Jordan,
together, even against foreign enemies. At various times, por- and Zion's toppled towers . . .
tions of Italy were held by France, Spain, and the Holy Roman Oh my country so lovely and lost!
Empire. When Milan first staged a Verdi opera in 1839, Aus- Oh remembrance so dear and so
tria controlled much of northern Italy. Genoa and Turin were fraught with despair!1
feuding, as were Sicily and Naples. Milan and Venice each
wanted total independence. Italians had to overcome this po- Verdi abetted the popular appropriation of his chorus by giving
litical chaos, inherited from medieval times, to win freedom it a single melody line. Local opera companies, touring compa
from foreign domination. nies, barrel organs, and the populace carried the Hebrews'
chorus, "Va, pensiero," down the peninsula. It nearly achieved
Nabucco the status of a national anthem.
To Verdi, his countrymen's plight was similar to that of the Verdi's success with Nabucco brought him into co
Hebrews enslaved by Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon. In 1841 he prominent members of society at Milan's leading salo
set Temistocle Solera's libretto for Nabucco (a singable nick- Countess Clarina Maffei entertained not only import
name for Nebuchadnezzar) and armed the slaves with vigorous ers and philosophers but also members of Young It
melodies. The Austrian censors could hardly squelch a Bible secret society of youth, recruited by a Genoese named
story. They passed the libretto, and the manager of La Scala Mazzini, worked for the unification and liberation of
squeezed Nabucco into the 1842 season in early March. At the the betterment of the masses. The patriots of
opera's première, the audience showered Verdi with paper and appropriated "Va pensiero" and accepted the compo
blossoms from the four tiers of balcony and boxes. Nabucco was of their own. The rebels saw the value of Verdi's
so successful it played to sold-out houses into late fall. urged him to write more operas trumpeting the ca
The people of occupied Italy identified with the enslaved
Hebrews in Babylon and sang along (Figure 1): I Lombdrdi
Writing patriotic operas put Verdi squarely in opposition to
Fly, thoughts, on wings of gold; the Austrian censors. He and librettist Solera sidestepped con
Go, settle upon the slopes and the hills, frontation with the authorities by setting their next opera
Where, soft and mild, the sweet airs during the First Crusade, a European project. I Lombardi alia
of our native land smell fragrant! prima crociata follows Lombards to Palestine. So does Giselda,
the otherwise respectable daughter of a Milanese noble. Giselda
Lila Rhodes is a freelance author living in Lynnwood, is captured by Muslims. She falls in love with her captor's son
Washington. and converts him to Christianity. After the crusaders take
Antioch, Giselda finds her beloved mortally wounded a

NOVEMBER 1997 PAGE 9

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baptizes him. The imperial censors op- as Saracens. When the chorus answered

PSfprh3¡!| »T™'n™m!X As Verdi's music brought ,h"al1 °>"ms,

cractea cheiratrenrion from the battle cries 0 audience echoed, Si! guerra! g
thacfollow him Wealth and fame, he P»1™ watched helpleaaly as th
The audience at the operas premiere J manee erupted into a political rally.
(February 11, 1843) recognized on stage , • /, / , /
the landmarks of Milan tney had passed COVLtlTL 116Cl tO SOUYICI trJ6 E
on their way to the opera house. They . . , . ,, . r., , ,
identified with their ancestors, the home-
sick Lombards in Palestine, singing (Fig- war
ure 2): attempt to compose an opera on Victor
Hugo's play Hernani
O fresh breezes blowing o er the fair Verdi gives these e
brooklets of Lombardy s fields! , r ,, . . . , ,, r . . , r , .
Eternal springs! Crystalline lakes! O mel°dy> lowing "
vineyards shining gilded by the and "The Holy Land today
sun} extension, his audience cast the Austrians the story sounded like current affairs.
Ernani, a political outlaw, lives in the hills
CANTABILE
[271 CANTABILE tutti sotto voce . of Spain like the guerrillas then living in
it Ju * . k k, j ^ k h i r Í *1 i l i Italy's Apennines. Italian rebels from
0" 1 "i i j msuir 'a - lijiu 11I* j,ji
tt V - t J'. J) — küfl r *'• .3=~= J f f K, ^ —A „ U„A a~A
* —^^3 Naples, Romagna,
do - ra - te; Va, ti into the Apennines in 1842 after the Aus
Va, pen-sie - ro, sull' a - li do - ra - te; Va, ti
and

trians discovered their rebellion plot.

As the third act opens, Ernani and a

ffivj jiahjijijj > j'ju

po-sasuicli
po-sa suicli - sui
- vi, Vi,col-li,
sui col-li,
«MlJ
o - ve e-telez~za
O - ve e-lez-za-no - mol
- pi-dee no te
- li -
few others meet in the tomb of

pi - de e mol - li Charlemagne and conspire

Charles V. They sing the chorus "Si ridesti
Figure 1. Nabucco "Va, pensiero" y leon Castiglia" (Figure 3):
Figure 1. Nabucco "Va, pensiero"

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page 10 CHORAL JOURNAL

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 Let the lion of Castile reawaken, Thou hast armed the hatred of the near the head of the Adriatic. He gazes
let every mountain, every region of oppressed resolutely at the shanty town and into the
Iberia With the oppressor's sword.6 distant future and sings:
form an echo from its terrible roar,

as they did one day against the The next scene depicts Foresto and his Dear homeland,
Moor oppressors. band of refugees arriving on the mud flats and queen
We are all a single family,
n , assai staccato e assai staccato
sotto voce e sotto voce
we will right with our arms, our i==-jl_3 ! r 3
breasts;
we will be unavenged slaves and
neglected no longer
while the heart has life.4

Substituting "Italia" for "Castile," Young

let
let -- ti
ti de'-pra
de'-pra --ti
tilom
lom- -bar
bar- -di!
di!fon-ti e - ter - ne!.
fon-tie-ter ne! pu - rissimi
Italy adopted this chorus as its theme sotto
sotto voce
voceajfatto
ajfatto
song.

Attila
Ej& fJ' 7 ^^ 7 I i] 7" j j i] 7"
ghi! oh vi - gne - ti in - do-ra - ti dal sol!
As Verdi's music brought him wealth
Figure
and fame, he continued to sound the2.pa-
I Lombardi
Figure alla
2. /prima crociata,
Lombardi coro
alia di Crociatie
prima Pelleg
crociata,
triotic trumpet. For the Venice carnival
season of 1846, Verdi and Solera chose
fOL K—te ii #A "— *=3
> —
ft h ~ fr=\
i

Zacharias Werner's drama Attila, Konig

der Hunnen. Odabella, a warrior ||>fr
maid, Hi '—" —.—
a~ •LL»J " a J ,

stabs to death the king of the Huns for

killing her parents. Solera changed the
a A n a I r U -- U hi J . T J
heroine from Hildegone of Burgundy to
Odabella of Aquileia in order tobecreate p f pppir J' -j> ^'r p; pr
- ria o - gni mon - te, ogni li - to e - co for - mi al tremen - do rug ■
the parts of Foresto and the refugees of
[\IS\
> > >> >
> >> >

Aquileia who fortified the lagoon near —fln

pi
la1 |J ** —j- p p
m • 1« V

the head of the Adriatic in 452 AD. >

'
V— M 4=
+=
Verdi asked Solera to write the kind of " gi
gi -- to,
to, co
co -- me
me un
un di
di con
con -- tro
tro ii Mo
Mo -- ri
ri op
op - près
pres - sor.
rabble-rousing lyrics he had provided for
Figure 3. Ernani, "Si ridesti il león di Castiglia"
Nabucco. Solera went off to Spain, leav- Figure 3. Emani, "Si ridesti il león di Castiglia"
ing the libretto for Piave to finish, but he

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In the first scene of the prologue, Attila ■■■■Ir j>)
meets armor-clad Odabella and asks what
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Fighting on the reeking field of
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battle.5
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NOVEMBER 1997 PAGE 11

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 monograph &
Bibliographies
now a ruin, a desert, a desolation, streets,
In American Music over which reigns silence and of the o
Number 15 gloom; drove out an army of fifteen thousand,
but from the seaweed of these The Milanese were delirious with jo
billows, Verdi seemed pleased as well, writing to
Source .^
#f- like a new phoenix arisen, Piave:
thou shalt live again more proud

Readings 5 . "w » ft
and more lovely, Honor to these brave men! Honor
the wonder of land and sea.7 to all Italy, which at this moment
In n£-'
is truly great. Be assured, her hour
È $< ¡Jém of liberation has struck. It is the
American Macbeth and Jevusalettl people that will it, and when the
bgs&jrf1.1
Next Verdi joined Piave in making an people will there is no absolute
Choral opera of Macbeth. During the scene in power that can resist.8

Music England, Verdi and Piave seized the op

portunity to insert a chorus of Scottish
Composers' Writings,
Writings,
in ouili <£ ) Z. OH
exiles weeping over the misrule in their La battaglia di Legnano
Cloth $25.00
Interviews
Interviews& Reviews
& Reviews
homeland. With Milan freed from foreign cen
Compiled & Annotated by Paper $15.00
Paper $15.00
Compiled & Annotated by
The end of the year found Verdi in sorship, Verdi and Salvatore Cammaran
David P. DeVEnney
David P. DeVennev
Paris, where he reworked I Lombardi into embarked on an explicitly patriotic oper
f £ wmm
a French opera called Jerusalem. Conse- about Italy. They recounted an Italian vic
quently, he watched the 1848 revolt in tory at Legnano in 1176. At that tim
11ie
The CollegeCollege
Musk: Society Music Society
Paris set up the second republic and ten towns in northern Italy had formed
202
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FAX: (406) of a republic for a united Italy. the Lombard League to drive out
721-9419
[-mail:
E-mail: cms@music.org
cms@music.otg Meanwhile, enraged by Austrian rule, Barbarossa, an invading German Em
the people of Milan barricaded their narrow peror. La battaglia di Legnano (1845)

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PAGE 14 CHORAL JOURNAL

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 m
Ü] GRANDIOSO
GRANDIOSO
Tenori

1: 1 1- 1 t

HJ
i

If" * j =P P
I * ! i'

A S=H
opens with a chorus promoting Italian
1

A
- —

unity (Figure 4):

a voci sole Vi - va I - ta - lia! Sa - cro un pat - to tut - ti
dim.
Long live Italy! > por
A holy pact binds all her sons
f— —ftd -ff-H

together. — * 1 J 'P1 N 1=1

At last it has made of so many strin ge
- i ge i fi - gli suoi: es - so al - fin di tan - ti ha
a single people of heroes!
£f
> — "—t *—jh
>

Long live Italy, strong and united r Ás bh ^

by the sword and by the spirit!9 iM
fat - - to un sol po - po - - io d'e - roi!
The opera's heroes, Arrigo ofFigure
Verona
4. La and Figure
battaglia 4. La "Viva
di Legnano, battaglia
Italia"
Rolando of Milan, sing an emotional ap
peal to the men of Como to join their
league. These hold-outs of FURMAN
Como, more UNIVERSITY
than Barbarossa, are the villains in this
opera.
La battaglia di Legnano avoids the pit
falls of propaganda pieces because it links
the war firmly to a love triangle. It does
not caricature Barbarossa, and Verdi's pa
triotism comes from his soul. The opera
does not, however, avoid considerable sen
timentality. When the trumpet sounds,
Arrigo leaps from his beloved's balcony to
join the death riders, crying out not her
name but "Viva Italia!" As Arrigo is dy
ing, the chorus exclaims:

Ah! that banner . . .

It is the last prayer of a dying heart.

THE SIXTH
Italy is saved! 10

Unfortunately, Milan hesitated in its

revolt. When Piedmont invited Milan to
form a pact, the delegation from Milan
introduced so many quibbles that the Aus
trians had time to retake the city. By the
CHORAL
time La battaglia di Legnano was ready,
Milan was once again under foreign rule INSTITUTE
and unable to stage such a work.
Meanwhile, Pius IX lost his popularity
when he stated that a pope could not
Furman University
in the renewal
back Italians against Austrians is pleased
of this highly
because acclaimedtosummer
present
choralrenowned
festival June conductor
14-28, Robert Shaw
1998. Mr. ShawCatholic.
both sides were predominantly will lead a chorus of 60 singers with full scholarship in two
Discord escalated until on November
weeks of intensive score study,24,
analysis, rehearsal and performance. In addition,
1848, the pope was forced to flee,
a limited number of leaving
non-singing workshop participants will be accepted.
Rome uncontrolled.
For further information and an application, contact:
Amidst this turmoil, The Battle of
The Robert Shaw Choral Institute, Furman University
Legnano premiered. The crowd for this
3300 Poinsett Highway, Greenville, SC 29613
political-rally-as-opera included Roman
Telephone: and
revolutionaries, liberals, moderates, 864/294-2086 Facsimile: 864/294-3035
World Wide Web: http://www.furman.edu/shawinstitute
refugees from the Italian armies defeated
in the north. People wore cockades and
carried streamers. They all cheered the
JUNE
patriotic arias and choruses. At every14 - 28, 1998
performance the audience demanded a

NOVEMBER 1997 PAGE 15

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 PRACTICAL ~ VERSATILE ~ LITURGICAL

repeat of that the last act. Verdi was called

on stage over and over to cheers alternat
USIC ing "Viva Verdi" and "Viva Italia."

NOTES
w 1 Temistocle Solera, Nabucco, trans. Peggie
Cochrane, London LP 5956, liner notes.
2 Temistocle Solera, I Lombardi alia prima
OCP 'Publications is an international
crociata, trans. Lionel Salter, Philips LP pu
of sacred music written6703, in linervarying
notes. styl
3 Ibid.
well-known liturgical composers.
4 Francesco Maria Piave, Ernani, trans.
OOP's Choral Review Service allows
William Weaver, RCA Victor LSC 6183, sub
to review new choral music
liner notes. with record
5 Temistocle Solera, Attila, trans. Lionel
of each octavo at great savings.**
Salter, LP Philips 600 056, liner notes.
'Subscriptions are US: $30; Canada: $40 US funds;
f> Ibid. Foreign $50 US funds. Limited
one subscription per church, school or dealer. (Specialty editions may be excluded.
7 Ibid.
"A subscription to the OCP Choral Review Service equates to over $100 worth of
music resources
8 Charles Osburne, Verdi: A Life in the
Theater (New York: Alfred A. Knopf,
discover a rapidly growing repertoire 1989), p. 81
of fine liturgical music 2 Salvatora Cammarano, La Battaglia di
Legnano, trans. Julian Budden, Philips LP
To subscribe to the OCP Choral Review Service or to obtain a complete6700, liner notes.
catalog of
OCP's choral octavos call 1-800-LITURGY (548-8749) and ask for Customer
10 Ibid. Service.

OCP Publications ^ 5536 NE Hassalo ^ Portland, OR 97213

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