Lyric Opera 2022-2023 Issue 1-Ernani

31 | Lyric Opera of Chicago by a bandit. For us, when we go on Netflix, we see villains everywhere. It’s normal. But for the people of the time, this was revolutionary. ANDRE Absolutely. Because remember, this is 1844, so you have the whole unification movement, Il risorgimento , happening in Italy. To have anything about political unrest with a king not being the main character, but a person outside the law, that’s very modern. This is his first Hugo source, and the next would be Rigoletto , also for La Fenice in Venice. The point is that this is a big moment for Verdi, when he’s first getting a wide reputation. It’s a real milestone. To take this into Venice is a big deal. MAZZOLA Absolutely. I understand Verdi really had a hand in all aspects of the premiere of Ernani , including working closely with librettist Francesco Maria Piave. ANDRE Piave eventually becomes his most frequent collaborator, and this sort of starts that important relationship. There’s a definite fondness, and when Piave died, Verdi helped his widow and family. I get the sense there’s a deep friendship there, but in the letters Verdi wrote to Piave, you can see that Verdi can be tough. He’s always pressing, saying things like “Come on, do something better. I’m not even a librettist and I can do better than that.” There are all these versification rules that went with la solita forma [the conventions of the scene structure for arias, duets, and other elements during the first half of the 19th century]. And Verdi’s always wanting fewer words. Here is a Enrique Mazzola,Lyric’s Music Director,and Dr.Naomi Andre,the newly appointed David G.Frey Distinguished Professor in Music at UNC-Chapel Hill Jean-Baptiste Millot