Verdi Alzira

Day 4

Verdi Alzira

Orchestra de las Suisse Romande

Fabio Luisi

The first Verdi opera I saw was La Forza del Destino which I saw (in German) at Koblenz when we were all taken to see it as part of the Norwich Student Orchestra exchange visit to the city. The only thing I remember about it was that the overture was played between the first and second act and not at the beginning!

The first Verdi opera I got to know well - and the first I acquired on records - was Falstaff which I still rate as one of the greatest of all operas. Since then I have seen most of the major Verdi operas and heard most of the rest but there were still gaps and Alzira was one of them.  It has the reputation of being Verdi's worst opera - indeed he himself said of it that it was 'downright bad'. So I was intrigued to see whether its low standing was deserved.

The first surprise was that it had a full length overture, We tend to associate Verdi with short preludes or going straight into the action but here there was a proper overture which would certain be a good piece to start a concert with. I don't think that you would imagine that the opera which follows would be a melodrama because the overture is relatively light and breezy, but on its own terms highly entertaining. It turns out that the overture was a late addition, written at the request of the theatre impresario because the opera was too short without it. 

I thoroughly enjoyed the opera. Yes there is quite a lot of blood and thunder and what might be described as rum-ti-tum convention but there was also some real quality to the score.  I pick out in particular the duet in Act two Scene One but most of all the finale where the music has a depth and grandeur which foreshadows some of the great Verdi scenes which were to come in operas such as Simon Boccanagra and Don Carlos. 

When I studied music at university there was still a faint element of Verdi being considered slightly too crude and (dare I say) entertaining to be worthy of proper study - particularly in comparison to Wagner. Thank goodness all of that nonsense as gone and we can now see Verdi for what he truly was - a true master of opera as drama (with no apologies for the Wagnerian reference...).   

Perhaps by the end of this year I can knock the remaining few unheard Verdi operas from my list. If they are all as enjoyable as Alzira it will be no hardship whatsoever.