This year (and probably part of next year), I’m listening to the operas of Giuseppe Verdi. I’ve heard some of his operas and have seen Macbeth and Simon Boccanegra. But I’ve been curious about his several others. So, I decided to purchase the 2013 75-CD set of Verdi’s operas (and additional music), and then listen in order. For reference I'm reading Charles Osborne, The Complete Operas of Verdi (New York: Knopf, 1979).
The composer famously referred to his “years in the galley": the several years where he wrote 13 operas between “Nabucco” in 1842 and “Rigoletto” in 1851. He probably referred to the labor-intensive work of a galley slave on a ship. Alzira and Attila are considered among Verdi’s lesser operas even of this early period of his compositions. I did enjoy listening to them, although recognizing that they aren’t nearly as memorable as his grater works.
This recording is conducted by Lamberto Gardelli, with the Royal Philharmonie Orchestra, the Ambrosian Singers, and the Finchley Children’s Music Group. Ruggero Raimondi, Sherrill Milnes, and Charlo Bergonzi are among the cast. Attila premiered at Teatro La Fenice in Venice Mary 17, 1846
The story is based on a German play about Attila the Hun. The opera premiered in Venice, where the Venetians loved the depiction of the heroic Italians. Charles Osborne notes that Verdi’s health wasn’t good during this period. In fact, he took six months of complete inactivity during 1846. This may account for the fact that Alzira and Attila are not among even his middling works.
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