Princess Amneris, the daughter of the pharaoh, is madly in love with Egyptian army captain Radames. This love is not mutual. Radames secretly has a love affair with Aida, Amneris' slave girl. However, no one in Egypt knows that Aida is in fact the daughter of Amonasro, the king of Ethiopia. Not even Radames. When Ethiopia declares war on Egypt, he is chosen by the goddess Isis to lead the Egyptian army. Aïda, torn between her love for her father and her homeland and her love for Radames, sees no way out but death.
Who? What? Libretto lecture?
Read Evelyne Coussens' review in Etcetera on Silla revisited, libretto reading #12.
Once a year, WALPURGIS takes out an opera classic to fillet the music from the text out of sheer curiosity and pleasure so that its content can resonate in a new way for us and our times.
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