History of Opera Aida Egypt – The Captivating and Controversial
Opera Aida is saturated with tragedy and desire. The majesty of the ancients is explored in Aida along with the brilliance of an orchestra.. Furthermore, Aida has remained ripe in the public consciousness for well over a century. Accordingly, this has become a monument for Egyptian Culture. Opera Aida Egypt is one of the most regular opera performances around the globe. Additionally, this opera has captured Egypt time and time again on stages worldwide.
Opera Aida Egypt History
Aida is a timeless tale of desperation against backdrop of war. This opera has been reference point for countless theater explorations since it started in 1887. Aida tells the story of 2 star crossed lovers in the throes of their affair, Aida an enslaved Ethiopian princess held captive in Egypt. The opera is a calculus of conflict-internal and external , investigating the ideas of national identity, personal loyalty, and romantic suicide. Aida has an anesthetic as well as an informative effect on European audiences. Aida was little more than the Eurocentric ideations of men unfamiliar with Egypt as a whole.
Verdi’s own sentiments simply serve to reinforce this aggressive allegation. The Guardian reports that he has no admiration for Egypt.. When working on Aida, he has recorded as having confessed if anyone had told him he would write for Cairo two years ago, he would have considered them a fool. Verdi was swayed in with promises of a grandiose, fabulous staging and thus Verdi agreed.
For Egyptians, the opera remains well loved, and regularly played at festivities across Egypt. The current president of the Cairo Opera house believes there is modern significance to Aida, and it’s very important to the history of Egyptian Military.
Travesty or tragedy? What Egypt thinks of Verdi’s Aida
Aida premiered in Cairo 150 years ago, set in an exoticised ancient Egypt and written by a man who refused to visit the country for fear of being mummified, the beloved opera has left a complex legacy in the country.
A concrete structure with an impersonal appearance stands in the Centre of Cairo and runs along one side of a sizable roundabout with lush landscaping. If you peer upwards, you will see it labelled between rows of air-con units in Arabic and English. It reads ” Opera Office Building and Garage” As monuments to past cultural glories go, its not a thing of beauty. This block makes the site of the Opera House, a venue erected in 1869, and which, on December 24 1871, staged the first performance of a new Opera by the world’s then most famous composer Aida.
Today, Aida is one of the most regularly performed Operas across the globe. Furthermore, its’ ancient Egypt setting is loved by directors and audiences alike. Yet in recent years Aida’s overt exoticism has attracted controversy. It was thought that this was just another product of European imperialism. This Opera has had an anesthetic effect on European audiences. Not the familiar story of Aida’s popularity on the main stages of Europe and North America, but the Opera’s fate here in the Egyptian capital.
Few civilizations have had the same impact on European culture as ancient Egypt.. Since the 19th century archeologists scrambled to unearth monuments and bag treasures dating from pharaonic times. Aida’s setting was designed to capitalise on the fashionable world of Pyramids and mummies. The opera’s historical spectacle drew its audience’s attention away from contemporary Egypt and instead focused minds on the country’s glorious past.
Cairo Opera House
Opera Aida Egypt consists of 4 acts that embody conflict between duties and passion through telling the love story of the Ethiopian prisoner Aida and the Commander of the Egyptian Army Radamis. The Commander is sentenced to death after Pharaoh knows that he is trying to escape with Aida to Ethiopia.
Manuscripts of Opera Aida were found in the Nile Valley. Written by the French Egyptologist who was commissioned by Khedive Ismail Pasha. The Opera Aida was composed in 1870, while the Opera House was built in only 6 months to host the opening of the Suez Canal celebrations.
Due to the late arrival of the decorations and clothes of the performance from Paris, the show was not held. Instead, Opera Rigoletto was performed in the celebrations by an international Italian troupe. There is popular belief that, at the beginning, Verdi refused the offers commissioned to compose Aida. It is also believed that it was changed after that commission was offered to another composer.
Although Aida is based on a love story that took place in the Egyptian Pharaonic era. It has successfully attracted opera fans from all over the world.
Conclusion
Opera Aida Egypt has unique human and historical values that led international opera community to hold this opera in special regard.
Aida shows how love can be forbidden when the beautiful Ethiopian Princess Aida gets stuck between her love for the Egyptian leader Radamis and between her love for her father and country.
