Aida
Opera by Giuseppe Verdi
Cover of a very early vocal score, c. 1872
Librettist	Antonio Ghislanzoni
Language	Italian
Premiere	24 December 1871 (1871-12-24) Khedivial Opera House in Cairo

Aida (or Aïda, Italian: [aˈiːda]) is a tragic opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni. Set in the Old Kingdom of Egypt, it was commissioned by Cairo's Khedivial Opera House and had its première there on 24 December 1871, in a performance conducted by Giovanni Bottesini. Today the work holds a central place in the operatic canon, receiving performances every year around the world. At New York's Metropolitan Opera alone, Aida has been sung more than 1,100 times since 1886.^[1] Ghislanzoni's scheme follows a scenario often attributed to the French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette, but Verdi biographer Mary Jane Phillips-Matz argues that the source is actually Temistocle Solera.^[2]

Isma'il Pasha, Khedive of Egypt, commissioned Verdi to write an opera to celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal, but Verdi declined.^[3] However, Auguste Mariette, a French Egyptologist, proposed to Khedive Pasha a plot for a celebratory opera set in ancient Egypt.^[3] Khedive Pasha referred Mariette to theatre manager Camille du Locle, who sent Mariette's story idea to Verdi. Eventually, Verdi agreed to compose an opera based on that story, for 150,000 francs.^[3]

Because the scenery and costumes were stuck in the French capital during the Siege of Paris (1870–71) of the ongoing Franco-Prussian War, the premiere was delayed and Verdi's Rigoletto was performed instead. The first opera performed at the Khedivial Opera House, Aida eventually premiered in Cairo on 24 December 1871.^[5]

3 flutes, 3 flûtes d'amour, (3rd also piccolo), 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, cimbasso, timpani, triangle, bass drum, cymbals, tam-tam, harp, strings; on-stage banda: 6 Egyptian trumpets ("Aida trumpets"), military band, harp^[35]

The libretto does not specify a precise time period, so it is difficult to place the opera more specifically than the Old Kingdom.^[36] For the first production, Mariette went to great efforts to make the sets and costumes authentic. Considering the consistent artistic styles throughout the 3000-year history of ancient Egypt, a given production does not particularly need to choose a specific time period within the larger frame of ancient Egyptian history.

The 1942 Egyptian music film Aydah, starring Umm Kulthum in the title role.^[39] It incorporates the opera into a contemporary Egyptian context.^[40]

The 1952 Broadway musical My Darlin' Aida, set on a plantation in Tennessee in the first year of the American Civil War, is based on the opera and uses Verdi's music.^[41]

The opera has been adapted for motion pictures on several occasions, most notably in a 1953 production which starred Lois Maxwell as Amneris and Sophia Loren as Aida, and a 1987 Swedish production. In both cases, the lead actors lip-synched to recordings by actual opera singers. In the case of the 1953 film, Ebe Stignani sang as Amneris, while Renata Tebaldi sang as Aida.

The opera's story, but not its music, was used as the basis for a 1998 musical of the same name written by Elton John and Tim Rice.

The opera has been portrayed in the 2001 Italian animated film Aida of the Trees (Aida degli alberi). The characters are seen as anthropomorphic creatures between the fictional kingdoms of Alborea and Petra as the star-crossed lovers must find a way to unify their worlds while facing off against the evil high priest Ramfis.

The 2022 version choreographed by the Royal Opera House (directed by Robert Carsen) set the opera in a modern, Soviet-style, totalitarian state.^[42]

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Aida (opera).

English Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Aida

• Aida: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
• Aïda : an opera in four acts, 1900 publication, English, digitised by BYU on archive.org
• Opera Guide, Synopsis – libretto – highlights
• "Synopsis, libretto" Archived 2021-11-28 at the Wayback Machine, Naxos Records
• Complete libretto of the opera
• Piano reduction, William and Gayle Cook Music Library, Indiana University School of Music
• Aria Database list of arias
• Further Aida discography
• Libretto in Italian and English, Online Library of Liberty
• Synopsis, commentary, music analysis, anecdotes, opera-inside.com