During the composition of Don Carlos Verdi had established a friendly relationship with his librettist Camille du Locle and following its completion du Locle suggested further collaborative projects. One idea arose from du Locle's recent visit to Egypt during which the Khedive had made it known that he wished Verdi to compose an ode commemorating the inauguration of a new opera house in November 1869. Verdi felt disinclined and in the event RigoIetto was performed instead. Behind the Khedive's interest in Verdi was the French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette who wished Verdi, via du Locle, to consider a scenario which he had conceived. Mariette's scenario was hardly new: there were plenty of operas concerning two women as rivals for the love of the same man. However Verdi saw the dramatic potential in Ai'da and Mariette's hint that should Verdi turn it down, he would offer it to Wagner instead, made the Italian composer decide firmly that Ai'da should be his next operatic project.

Du Locle sent the composer a detailed synopsis which Verdi and his wife translated into Italian. Verdi next consulted his publisher Ricordi as to who was most suited to convert this synopsis into a workable libretto. The obvious contender was Antonio Ghislanzoni (1 824 - 93), with whom Verdi had collaborated on the revision of La forza deI destino in 1869 (Piave, the original librettist, was paralysed following a stroke). Ghislanzoni accepted the commission and was handsomely paid for this relatively easy work.

History has tended to overlook Mariette's and du Locle's role in the creation of Ai'da. Mariette, an employee of the Khedive, was given leave to travel to Paris in order to supervise the making of costumes and sets. Although it was initially pleasant visiting family and friends after a long absence, he found himself trapped in Paris, as did du Locle, during the Prussian siege of 1870-1. Du Locle could only correspond with Verdi by means of flying a letter out of Paris by balloon and it was thus that Verdi learned that, due to the lack of workmen in the besieged city, work on the construction of the sets had been suspended and there was no immediate prospect of costumes and scenery being delivered to Cairo. Consequently the date of the premiere (originally set for January 1871) was put back to the following winter.

Verdi's contract stated that should the Cairo premiere not take place on time, he was permitted to stage Ai'da elsewhere six months later. La Scala was interested in mounting the premiere and one leading conductor even indicated to Verdi that the casting for Milan had more or less been decided.

Verdi did not wish to offend the Khedive and agreed to waive his rights in this case, but he showed no interest in supervising the Cairo production and appeared to do his utmost to distance himself from the casting of the premiere, showing a greater interest in the La Scala production due to take place two months later. The double bass virtuoso and composer Giovanni Bottesini conducted the Cairo premiere on 24 December 1871 which was well received. Excitement in Milan was intense and the performance on 8 February 1872 was over-subscribed with many having to share seats!

Sy~zopsis The opera is set in Egypt during the time of the Pharoahs. Egypt is at war with Ethiopia and before the opera begins the Ethiopian princess AYda has been captured and given as a personal slave to the Egyptian princess Amneris. No-one at the Egyptian court is aware ofAidaYs high estate; her father Amonasro has launched a counter-attack in order to rescue her. The curtain rises on a room in the Pharoah's palace. Ramfis, the high priest of Isis, tells the young Egyptian captain Radambs that the Ethiopian army has reached Thebes, a city in the Nile Valley. Ramfis hints that the leadership of the Egyptian army may soon be handed over to a certain brave young captain. Radambs loves Ai'da and although she is the daughter of his enemy, it is she who inspires him to seek further military glory Se quel gtrerriero io fossi! ... Celeste Aiila. His musings are interrupted by Amneris, who is also in love with him, but when Mda enters, it becomes clear to Amneris that she has a rival, although when questioned by Amneris, AYda insists that her thoughts are only of her homeland. The Pharoah enters with a messenger who states that Amonasro's army is at the gates of Thebes. The Pharoah confirms Radambs' leadership of the Egyptian army Iside venerate di nostra schiere irzvitte ... Str! del Nilo al sacro lido and the entire company urge him to return a conqueror ('Ritorna vincitor 7. Everybody leaves, leaving AYda alone. As she echoes their words, she ponders her terrible situation: her lover is going to meet her father on the field of battle.

The scene changes to the interior of the temple of FthA (Vulcan) at Memphis where Radambs receives the god's blessing from Ramfis, the High Priests and Priestesses Possente, possente Fthci.. . Mortal, diletto ai numi.

The opening scene of Act Two takes place in Amneris' apartments. Her slaves sing Radambs' praises for defeating the Ethiopian army. As they dance for Amneris, she longs for his return. As AYda enters, Amneris resolves to discover her true feelings for Radambs. Under the pretence of

friendship F L ~ la sorte dell 'arnti she tells Aiida that Radamks has died in action. Ai'da's grief tells Amneris all she needs to know, and she exults over her rival. As the people repeat the war cries heard earlier, AYda implores the gods' pity on her suffering Numi, pietd del nrio n~artir.

The following scene takes place at an avenue at the gates of Thebes where the Egyptian people sing praises to their king as they take their places for the triumphal procession Gloria aN'Egitto, ad Iside. As the victorious army enters accompanied by trumpet fanfares, dancing girls perform a ballet. The climax of the procession is Radamks on his horse-drawn chariot, surrounded by the spoils of war. The Pharoah salutes his general Salvator della patria, io ti saltrto and as Radamks kneels to receive the victor's crown from Amneris he is offered anything he wishes Ora a me chiedi. Radamks has the prisoners brought on, among whom is Amonasro who is recognised by AYda. The Ethiopian king begs his daughter not to reveal his rank, and asks the Pharoah for his fellow prisoners to be freed Ma tzr, re, tu signore possente, a call taken up by the Egyptian people and supported by Radamks 0 re, pei sacri numi. Despite the priests' objections, the Pharoah frees the prisoners, insisting though that Ai'da and Amonasro remain in captivity. The Pharoah sets the seal on Radamks glory by offering him the hand of Amneris. To the background of the general hymn of praise can be heard several conflicting emotions: AYda bemoans the hopelessness of her situation Qua1 speme oinaipiir restanzi; Amneris now has her prize Dall 'inatteso giubilo; Fate has dealt Radamks a bitter blow D 'avverso nzrnze il folgore; whilst Amonasro swears to be avenged on the Egyptians Fa cor: della tua patria.

Act Three takes place on the banks of the Nile near the temple to Isis. As priests and priestesses sing in the distance 0 tu cke sei d'osiride, Ramfis tells Amneris to pray to Isis on the eve of her wedding Vierzi d'lside a1 tentpio. As they go into the temple, AYda enters cautiously, having been sent a message to meet RadamQ Qui Radanlb v e d . She laments that she will never again see her homeland 0 patria n?ia nzai piir ti rivedrd. Suddenly Amonasro appears Ciel! n7io padre! Using emotional blackmail Rivedrai le foreste inlbalsanzente he forces his daughter to discover the Egyptians' military plans from Radamks Str dtmque! sorgete, egizie coorti! As Radamks approaches, Amonasro hides among the palm trees. Aida and Radam6s are caught up in a loving embrace Pz1r ti riveggo, mia dolce Ai'da. Then Aida suggests they run away together Ftrggianz gli ardori inospiti. With her father's warning vivid in her memory, AYda asks for the safest route for their flight which will reveal the whereabouts of the Egyptian army. Not only does Radamks

give away the army's secret location, but he tells her its planned route Le gole di Ndpata. Having overheard his enemy's plans, Amonasro comes out of hiding, announcing that he is not only Ai'da's father, but the king of Ethiopia as well. Horrified at what he has done, Radamks stands transfixed Tir! Amonasro! tu! il re! ... l o son disonorato. Amonasro encourages him to change sides and flee to Ethiopia, but Radamks stays rooted to the spot. Amneris and Ramfis denounce Radamks as a traitor and he is arrested, whilst Ai'da and Amonasro escape in the confusion.

Before the final act opens the Ethiopians have once again been defeated and Amonasro has been killed. AYda has not been seen. The final act begins in a hall in the Pharoah's palace. Amneris still loves Radamks despite his betrayal and his obvious love for her rival. She halts the procession taking him to trial, telling the disgraced general that she may yet be able to save him if he can offer some plausible explanation for his actions. Radamks refuses her help Gih. i sace~doti ad~inansi. As he is led away, Amneris is tormented at her part in his downfall in handing him to the authorities OhinzB! morir mi sento. Ramfis leads the interrogation and since Radamks remains silent, he is condemned to be buried alive. Nothing Amneris says has any effect upon Ramfis and as the priests leave, the princess rains down curses upon their heads.

The final scene shows a split stage: above is the temple of Fthii; below is the crypt where RadamQ has been entombed. As he contemplates his fate, he sees f i da in the darkness beside him La fatal pietra sovra me si chiuse. She tells him how she crept into the crypt by stealth so that she could share his fate Presago il core. As the priests and priestesses sing in the temple above, the lovers anticipate happiness in heaven 0 terra, addio. Amneris, in mourning, appears above the tomb and prays for Radamks' soul.

This recording, using then state of the art technology, was made at the Sofiensaal in Vienna in September 1959. The producer was John Culshaw and the recording engineer James Brown. Consistently hailed as the benchmark recording of Ai'da, it was correctly predicted by Andrew Porter in Granzophone to be 'a landmark in the art of capturing grand opera on disc'.

Renata Tebaldi (1 922-2004) studied in Parma, malting her debut in 1944. Having sung Desdemona in Trieste (1 946), she was invited to appear at La Scala's reopening concert, singing the Prayer scene from MosB iii Egitto conducted by Toscanini (who famously described her voice as angelic). She

sang at La Scala regularly between 1949 and 1954, and again from 1959 (her absence allegedly due to the management's favouritism towards Callas: the press made much of her supposed rivalry with Callas but each soprano often praised the other). In 1948 she made successful debuts in Florence and Naples and in 1950 began her international career in earnest performing at Covent Garden and in San Francisco. She concentrated her repertoire on the mainstream spinto Fach, focussing on Verdi, Puccini, Giordano, Cilea and Catalani. In 1955, as her appearances in Europe grew less frequent, she began long associations with the Met and Chicago, singing at the former until 1973 and the latter until 1969. She was a rare visitor to the UK, singing again at Covent Garden in 1955 but thereafter only sporadically in concert, although this did not diminish the affection in which she was held: 700 people turned up for a signing session in 1991. Tebaldi suffered a vocal crisis during the 1960s and refrained £rom singing for a year when her voice re-emerged intact but darker in colour.

Carlo Bergonzi (b1924) studied in Parma initially as a lyric baritone and made his debut 194718. He sang Figaro, Malatesta, Enrico Ashton, Alfio, Sharpless, Rigoletto and Germont but never felt entirely happy singing as a baritone; low notes below B flat were non existent and he strained to sing Fs and F sharps above the stave, In 1950 he decided to experiment and discovered he had a top C! Retraining was not unusual: Bergonzi considered it a shrewd move since many tenors left Italy for lucrative contracts in the Americas. At short notice he sang Andrea ChCnier (195 1) and several Verdi roles in RAI broadcasts. Following his La Scala debut (1953) he sang Alvaro at London's Stoll Theatre and Radamhs and Cavaradossi in Buenos Aires. His career continued to flourish after he appeared in the USA (Chicago 1955, the Met 1956) where roles included Don JosC, Edgardo, Don Carlo, Alfredo, Manrico and Turiddu. His first recital record for Decca (available on Regis) was recorded in 1957 and he was signed up to record several complete operas. Although a dependable recording artist for several labels, he often lost out to more 'exciting' singers such as Del Monaco and Corelli. He made a belated Covent Garden debut in 1962 but sang there regularly thereafter until the mid 1980s. On stage he was an uninspiring (indeed slightly comical) performer but vocally he acted superbly and his diction was second to none. In retirement he has coached many young singers and manages his restaurant I Due Foscari in Busseto.

Although Giulietta Simionato (b1910) made her debut in the 192718 season, it was some years before she was established as a leading mezzo. She made her La Scala debut in 1936 and sang

small parts in HMV recordings of Cav and Andrea Chenier before her big break in 1947 with performances of Mignon in Genoa and La Scala. That year she appeared at Edinburgh and from 1953-65 sang regularly at Covent Garden, also being seen throughout America and Europe. Renowned for her professionalism and generosity, her mezzo easily encompassed the coloratura, lyric and dramatic repertoire from Handel to Richard Strauss but especially Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti and above all, Verdi. She retired in 1966 but continued to teach. Her large discography includes many classic interpretations as well as less likely fare such as the notorious Anytl~ing You Can Do with Bastianini.

Cornell MacNeil (b 1922) studied with Friedrich Schorr and was a member of a summer stock company when he auditioned for Menotti for whom he created the role of John Sore1 The Conszrl (1950). He sang Germont with New York City Opera (1953) and performed in San Francisco (1955) and Chicago (1957) before making his Met debut in 1959 as Rigoletto. Later that year he triumphed at La Scala as Don Carlo Ernani. His career centred on the Met, a house well suited to his huge, well-rounded voice: his low G was the envy of many basses and his top As scared numerous tenors (notably Corelli, who whilst a loyal friend offstage, was deeply suspicious of MacNeil onstage). MacNeil was unafraid of a challenge and when booed by the notorious Parma claque (he refused to buy them off beforehand), he left the audience in little doubt as to his feelings. The management advised him to take his family out of town until things cooled down! His acting skills were rudimentary but effective. He retired in 1988.

Arnold Van Mill (1921-96), possessor of a truly distinctive bass voice, studied in Rotterdam and The Hague, where he made his debut as Wagner Faust (1941). Aprize-winner in Geneva in 1947, he joined the Antwerp ensemble, later moving to Wiesbaden and Hamburg where he remained from 1953 until his retirement in 1976. Aregular visitor to Bayreuth, he also guested at the Glyndebourne, Aix and Holland Festivals. He was most noted in Mozart and Wagner but was also a superb bzgffo bass (collectors should seek out his superlative Philips recital LP). He later taught in Hamburg.

On Vittorio Gui's recommendation Fernando Corena (1916-84) studied in Milan and made his official debut as Varlaam in Venice (1947), performing in Milan and Florence in 1948. At first he sang the dramatic bass-baritone repertoire (Cetra-RAI recorded his Gessler William Tell in 1952) but gradually he assumed bzCffo roles, making his Edinburgh debut as Falstaff in 1953 and singing

Leporello at the Met in 1954. For many years he was the Leporello, Bartolo, Dulcamara, Pasquale, Mustafh,, Sacristan, Fra Melitone and Benoit of choice. Despite a somewhat faulty technique he was a gifted actor popular with colleagues and audiences alike.

Eugenia Ratti (b1933) made her La Scala debut in 1955 and sang in the premiere of Les dialog~res des Carnzklites (1957). She appeared in Edinburgh as well as the Holland Festival (1955, 196 1, 1970) and at Glyndebourne (1973, 1976). Renowned for the clarity of her pure coloratura, she can also be heard in several La Scala sets and in Don Giovanni (RCA 1961). For observant collectors of opera recordings and visitors to Italian opera houses over the past fifty years, the name of Piero de Palma (b1916) will be as familiar as those of Tebaldi, Callas, Bergonzi, Di Stefano et a1 for de Palma was the conzprimario tenorpar excellence.

Seemingly more interested in beauty of sound than in drama (not however in this classic performance), no classical musician has divided opinion like Herbert von Herbert von Karajan (1908-89) studied in Salzburg and Vienna, making his debut conducting Fidelio in 1927. Up to and including the war he conducted in Ulm, Aachen and Berlin and in 1946 he was selected by Legge to conduct the newly formed Philharmonia in London with whom he recorded prolifically until 1960. He succeeded Furtwangler as Music Director of the BPO in 1954 whilst holding concurrently a number of other prestigious posts, which included at various times Artistic Directorship of the Salzburg Festival (1958-60 and from 1964) and Vienna State Opera (1956-64). His repertoire, both orchestral and operatic, was vast as was his discography and he latterly directed many operas. O 2009 James Murray (mv.kerno.cvclassics.co.uk)

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13. March 14. Vieni, o guerriero vindice 15. Salvator della patria, lo ti saluto 16. Che veggo! .. .Egli?. ..Mi0 padre! 17. Quest'assisa ch'io vesto vi dica 18. Ma tu, Re, tu signore possente

CD Two !72:07) Act Two (Concl.) 1. 0 Re: pei sacri Numi 2. Gloria all'Egitto, ad Iside Act Three 3. 0 tu che sei d'osiride 4. Qui Radames verrB! ... 0 Patria mia 5. Ciel ! mio padre! 6. Pur ti riveggo, rnia dolce Aida 7. Fuggiam gli ardori inospiti 8. Tu.. .Amonasro! ... tu! ..il Re? Act Four 9. L'aborrita rivale a me sfuggia 10. GiB I Sacredoti adunansi 1 1. Ohimk . . . morir mi sento ! 12. Radames ! Radames ! Radarnes ! 13. La fatal pietra 14. Presago il core della tua condonna 15. 0 terra, addio; addio valle di pianti

Produced by Tony Watts Final Master by Hilton Grove, London

I ~ ~ a r a j a n was helped by having a Viennese orchestra & chorus UUL lrluar Irlqpurrrlla UI rum is the muskd teamwork of his sololots. Bergonzl emerges as a model antong tQnoro, wlth a rare feeling for the shaping of phrases and afbentlcln fo detall, C O r ~ l l M M d l tm3 is splendid. T6tbaldl's creamy bnecolwr rides bsau0fully o w tha phra- and sha too

I acquires new dapth of Imaginati on... Sirdonato prorides ons of the finest portrayah Qf Amnwis." (Pbnguln Gulda 3 stars)

Aida Itenah Tebaldi Amneris Giulietta Simimato h d a m a Calo Bergmi Atnomwo Cornell MacNail Rampfis Amold van Mill King of Egypt FerndoCcmm Messenger Piero de Palma Priestess Eugenia Rani 8 [- With the Singvexin &s Gesellschafl k Mmikhlmde and the V i e m Phihmonic Orchmtra / Herbert van Karajm. 1959

CD One (77:56): Act I; A d TI (Part One) CD Two ( 7 2 : O f ) Act fP [Concl.) Act f Izj Act I'CC

Prodlrced by Tony Watts; F h d Master by Hilton Grow, London Q & @ 2614 M d t a l Contepi~ wwwmrpslealconeepts,net