Attila

Abstract Dramma lirico in a prologue and three acts set to a libretto by Temistocle Solera (with additional material by Francesco Maria Piave) after Zacharias Werner’s play Attila, Konig der Hunnen; first performed in Venice, Teatro La Fenice, on 17 March 1846. The cast at the premiere included Ignazio Marini (Attila), Natale Costantini (Ezio), Sophie Loewe (Odabella), and Carlo Guasco (Foresto). Leaders, kings and soldiers, Huns, Gepids, Ostrogoths, Heruls, Thuringians, Quadi, Druids, priestesses, men and women of Aquileia, Aquileian maidens in warlike dress, Roman officers and soldiers, Roman virgins and children, hermits, slaves Setting Aquileia, the Adriatic lagoons and near Rome, in the middle of the fifth century Verdi had read Werner’s ultra-Romantic play as early as 1844, and initially discussed the subject with Piave. However, for his second opera at La Fenice (a highly suitable subject, dealing with the founding of the city of Venice) the composer eventually decided on Solera, the librettist with whom-at least until then-he seems to have preferred working. Solera set about preparing the text according to his usual format, with plenty of opportunity for those grand choral tableaux found in Nabucco and/ Lombardi; but the progress of the opera was beset with difficulties. First Verdi fell seriously ill, and then Solera went off to live permanently in Madrid, leaving the last act as only a sketch and necessitating help from the ever-faithful Piave. Verdi instructed Piave to ignore Solera’s plans for a large-scale choral finale and to concentrate on the individuals, a change of direction of which Solera strongly disapproved. The premiere was coolly received, but Attila went on to become one of Verdi’s most popular operas of the 1850s. After that it lost ground although recent times have seen several important revivals. In 1846 Verdi twice rewrote the Romanza for Foresto in Act 3: the first time for Nicola Ivanoff, the second for Napoleone Moriani.