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Nabucco (Italian pronunciation: [naˈbukko], short for Nabucodonosor [naˌbukoˈdɔːnozor, -donoˈzɔr]; English: "Nebuchadnezzar") is an Italian-language opera in four acts composed in 1841 by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Temistocle Solera. The libretto is based on the biblical books of 2 Kings, Jeremiah, Lamentations, and Daniel ...
Synopsis. In Verdi's retelling of the Old Testament stories of King Nebuchadnezzar II's religious conversion, King Nabucco's hubris and ambition almost result in him losing his beloved daughter as well as his kingdom. With the Assyrian army surrounding Jerusalem, the Israelites fear that their city will be taken.
Plot. Act I. In Jerusalem, the Israelites gather together in the Temple of Solomon to pray for help as Nabucco, the King of Babylon, comes to attack their city. Zaccaria, the high priest, enters the Temple with Nabucco’s daughter, Fenena, who has been taken hostage, and assures his people that the Lord will not forsake them ('D'Egitto là sui ...
Apr 1, 2024 · The Story Behind Verdi’s Opera. Giuseppe Verdi’s Nabucco tells the story of the Babylonian King who conquered Jerusalem and sent the Jewish people into exile. The work premiered at Teatro alla Scala in 1842 and resoundingly set Verdi’s career as a composer into motion. As a character, Nabucco represents the historical and biblical figure ...
- Jane Fitzpatrick
- The Online Opera Guide and Synopsis on Nabucco
- Verdi’s Crisis and Opportunity
- The Libretto
- The New Verdi – The “Tinta Musicale” of “Nabucco”
- «Tinta Musicale»: The Noise
- «Tinta Musicale»: The Role of Abigaille
- «Tinta Musicale»: The Role of The Choir
- «Tinta Musicale»: The “Verdi Bariton”
- Verdi and The Church
- The Premiere
Nabucco was Verdi’s first work for Olympus. After the bitter years of 1838-40, overshadowed by crises, it was Verdi’s return to the light. Verdi displayed a gigantic wealth of ideas in “Nabucco” and the work became a sensational success. He later called the seventeen-year creative frenzy that set in “his galley years”. Content ♪ Synopsis ♪ Comment ...
The existence of the opera Nabucco would be unthinkable without the then director of La Scala, Bartolomeo Merelli. After the failure of Verdis second opera, he gave Verdi his trust and provided him with the libretto to “Nabucco”. On the one hand he believed in the young, 26-year-old Italian, and on the other hand he was looking for new composers, s...
Temistocle Solera was commissioned by Merelli to write a libretto of Nebuchadnezzar. Solera took various biblical psalms as well as the historical figure of Nebuchadnezzar (605-662 B.C.) as a basis and added a series of further events. Solera’s imagination led to a confusing number of individual scenes, marches, lamentations, madness scenes, prayer...
Despite its formal conservatism, Nabucco was a significant musical innovation. Never before had one experienced the almost brutal and elemental power of music as in Nabucco, which sounds “like a sansculotte invading a living room” (Gori, Guida al Teatro d’opera). This is manifested in the role of Abigaille, the role of the baritone, the orchestra a...
The orchestra already attracts attention at the beginning with its volume and the metallic, hard sound. Verdi wrote a noisy music for Nabucco. He loved the sharp accents, which he presents to the listener in this work unrestrained and in a dramatic way.
Abigaille’s music captivates with its obsession, which Verdi documents with wild leaps in tone. Verdi is a Romantic composer and does not stand above his art with classicistic reserve like Rossini, but is a participant; an affected person of the stories he sets to music.
The choral and mass scenes do not miss their effect on the listener. Contemporary listeners were used to the fact that the choir played a subordinate, accompanying role in the belcantist opera. And now Verdi composes an opera in which the choir has the presence of a leading actor, becomes an important carrier of the dramatic plot and with “Va pensi...
Another characteristic element of Nabucco is the absence of a tenor protagonist, whose role is filled by Nabucco, a baritone. The “Verdi Baritone” appears for the first time, a role that must develop great dramatic power and is characterized by high vocal flexibility for passages in higher registers. Nabucco does not have to play a tenor in love, b...
Zaccaria, the high priest of the Hebrews, plays an important role in Nabucco. Reason enough to make religion a theme in Verdi’s life and operas: “Giuseppe Verdi and religion – that is a difficult chapter. The great opera composer had little love for the church. ‘Stay away from priests’, he once advised his cousin. For his funeral he forbade the pre...
Scala director Merelli did not have many funds available for the premiere of the work, and the set design had to be painstakingly assembled from other productions. Nevertheless, Nabucco was a great success at its very first performance, which was balm for Verdi’s soul. The role of Abigaille was sung by his soon-to-be partner and later wife Giuseppi...
Other articles where Nabucco is discussed: Nebuchadnezzar II: …basis of Giuseppe Verdi’s opera Nabucco, while his supposed madness is the theme of William Blake’s picture “Nebuchadnezzar.”
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Dec 3, 2022 · From Nabucco in 1842, he wrote no less than 17 operas until 1853, including such titles as Ernani, Attila, Macbeth, Luisa Miller, and the three most played Rigoletto, Il Trovatore, and La Traviata. Premiere – March 9, 1842, Teatro alla Scala, Milan, Italy. Composer – Giuseppe Verdi. Librettist – Temistocle Solera.
