Six years before Rigoletto, Giuseppe Verdi had already composed a gripping drama about love and revenge: Ernani – his breakthrough as a composer. The opera was also based on a play by the French author Victor Hugo, whose text inspired Verdi's unique style with moving arias, stirring choruses and scenes of high drama.
Three men driven by revenge and the love for a woman: The outlaw leader Ernani seeks revenge when he finds out that his father died at the hands of Spanish King Carlo – and even more so when Carlo declares his love for Ernani’s beloved Elvira. She, however, is supposed to marry Silva; a wedding that Ernani wants to prevent. On the other hand, Silva and Ernani share a common wish: revenge on King Carlo. As soon as the latter is elected as the new emperor at Aachen Cathedral, he orders the conspirators to be punished. It is only thanks to Elvira that he pardons them and even agrees to her wedding with Ernani. Then however, a hurt and angry Silva remembers a promise his rival once gave him and ruthlessly spins the wheel of revenge once more.
PREMIERE 19 July 2023 – 7.30 p.m.
Opera in four acts (1844)
Libretto by Francesco Maria Piave based on Victor Hugo’s (1830) drama Hernani ou l’Honneur castellan
