The Khedive of Egypt commissioned Verdi to write this opera to celebrated the opening of the Suez Canal and after some haggling and other noises, Verdi agreed. Due to the Siege of Paris (Franco Prussian War), the opening night was delayed and eventually happen in Cairo on Christmas Eve 1871.
The plot follows the Egyptian kidnapping and enslaving ofAïda, an Ethiopian princess. The Egyptian King’s military commander, Radamès falls in love with Aïda and is conflicted between his loyalties to the king and his love for her.
The King’s daughter Amneris is in love with Radamès, just to make it more complicated. Eventually Radamès is sealed in a vault in the Temple of Ptah to be buried alive – Aïda has secretly got there before him so that they might died together.
Today’s choice comes from the second scene of Act 2, where the Egyptians celebrate Radamès’s victory over the Ethiopians at the grand gate to the city of Thebes. During this scene Radamès asks for the freeing of the Ethiopian slaves (at this point they do not know that Aïda is a princess), and the King states that Radamès will become King after him, and marry Amneris.
This is one of Verdi’s most famous works – the trumpet melody especially. The translation of the text is:
Glory to Egypt and Isis which the sacred soil protects;
To the King, who rules the delta, sing festive hymns!
Come, o avenging warrior, come and rejoice with us;
On the path of heroes the laurels and the flowers pour!
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