Aroldo

Abstract Opera in four acts set to a libretto by Francesco Maria Piave after their ear lier opera Stiffelio; first performed in Rimini, Teatro Nuovo, on 16 August 1857. The first performance of Stijfelio, at Trieste in November 1850, had met with severe problems from the local religious censors, particular objection being made to the final scene, which had to be changed radically and Verdi thought-damagingly. The few subsequent revivals also tended to run into trouble, and in 1854 Verdi decided to collaborate with Piave on rescuing the opera by setting it to a different, less sensitive plot. In 1856 they started work, changing the tale of a nineteenth-century Protestant pastor into that of a thirteenth-century Saxon knight returned from the Crusades, Verdi taking the opportunity to make a number of further modifications. The brilliant young conductor Angelo Mariani directed the premiere at Rimini. The revised opera was a huge success; but revivals fared less well, andAroldo soon disappeared from the general repertory, receiving only the occasional performance. In the discussion below, musical detail will be mentioned only if a passage differs substantially from Stijfelio or is new to Aroldo.