“Nabucco” is a special mystery of the essay. History and ethnology
Place and time of action: 578 BC. e., Jerusalem and Babylon.
Characters:
Nabucco (baritone), Abigail (soprano), Zachariah (bass), Ishmael (tenor), Fenena (mezzo-soprano).
Act I. "Jerusalem"
The troops of the Assyrian king Nebuchadnezzar (Nabucco) besieged Jerusalem. Residents of the city and high priests gathered in the main temple - the Temple of Solomon and pray to God to protect them. The High Priest of the Jews, Zechariah, calms the people. Rescue is still possible, because Nabucco's daughter Fenena is in the besieged city. The girl is in love with the commander Ishmael, the nephew of the Jerusalem king Zedekiah. Fenena sympathizes with the Jews.
Ishmael runs into the temple, he brings terrible news - Jerusalem has fallen under the onslaught of Nebuchadnezzar. The people are in confusion, only the high priest does not lose his composure. Zechariah believes in deliverance and joins the hands of Fenena and Ishmael, blessing them. The young people are left alone. They met when the Assyrians and Jews lived in peace and Ishmael was ambassador to Babylon. Since then, the girl stayed with him and even converted to another faith. Fenena is tormented by doubts, because she is the daughter of the enemy of the Jews. At the head of the armed detachment, Abigail appears, who was saved and adopted by Nebuchadnezzar. But for everyone she is the natural daughter of the Babylonian king. She also has a soft spot for the Israeli warrior. Abigail offers Ishmael salvation if he agrees to be with her. If the young man refuses, he will die along with Fenena, who has betrayed the faith of her ancestors. Ishmael proudly rejects Abigail's proposal. People fleeing from Assyrian soldiers run to the temple. Among them are Zechariah and his sister Anna. Nebuchadnezzar enters the city at the head of his troops. He appears in the temple on horseback. The high priest curses the atheist. The Babylonian king threatens the death of all captives and Zechariah himself, but Fenena comes to the defense of the Jews. The king is surprised by his daughter's strange behavior. Zechariah raises a dagger over the girl. He is ready to kill her if the Assyrians do not show mercy to the vanquished. Nebuchadnezzar is confused for a moment, but Ishmael stops the priest, declaring Fenena his wife. The king, enraged by Zechariah's behavior, orders the temple to be razed to the ground and all the captives taken away.
Act II. "Atheist"
Babylon. Abigail is alone. The beauty is indignant; in her hands is a document that testifies that she is the daughter of slaves. Nebuchadnezzar transfers power during his absence to his legitimate daughter, Fenene. The girl feels insulted: both the power and the heart of Ishmael belong to Fenene. Abigail decides to take revenge. The High Priest of Baal calls on the girl to seize the throne. Fenena is too soft-hearted and all the prisoners are still alive. Nebuchadnezzar was defeated and possibly died. Abigail supports the priest's proposal - the slave's daughter should become queen. She will overthrow her sister and take power into her own hands by force.
The prison in which the captive Jews and Zechariah languish. The high priest prays to God to protect the unfortunate and help them find freedom. The clergy curse Ishmael, who married the enemy’s daughter and prevented her death. Only Zechariah’s sister Anna stands up for the young man.
The chief of Nebuchadnezzar's guard, Abdallo, runs to the princess and reports about the conspiracy, led by Abigail. Fenena doesn't want to run. The priests proclaim Abigail the viceroy of Babylon and demand the execution of the prisoners. Unexpectedly, the king himself returns. He accepts his crown from Fenena's hands. The priests and Abigail are forced to retreat. Nebuchadnezzar won a number of important military victories and now considers himself equal to God. In vain does Zechariah warn the king about the inevitable punishment for blasphemy; Nebuchadnezzar does not listen to the priest. Having finally believed in his greatness, the king calls himself the true God. A lightning strike knocks the crown off the head of the triumphant Nebuchadnezzar. He is struck by madness. Fenena tries to help the unfortunate man. Abigail picks up the crown that had fallen from Nebuchadnezzar's head and proclaims herself ruler of Babylon.
Act III. "Prophecy"
Abigail got her way. She rules Babylon. The slaves praise their mistress and the God of Baal. The High Priest calls on the queen not to delay in executing the prisoners. Sister Abigail must also die, because she renounced the faith of her ancestors.
Nebuchadnezzar enters the throne room, accompanied by Abdallo. Consciousness either leaves him or returns again. He is surprised that he does not see his warriors; Abigail does not immediately recognize him. The queen asks to sign an order for the execution of captive Jews. Nebuchadnezzar puts his seal, but immediately realizes that his own daughter is among those condemned. However, Abigail is adamant. She tells her father that he also has a second daughter. Nabucco reminds Abigail of her origins. The queen is furious. The signal to begin the execution sounds. Nabucco again begs to return his legitimate daughter to her father. Abigail orders the arrest of the grief-stricken deposed king.
Captured Jews are awaiting imminent death. Their thoughts are turned to the Motherland. Zechariah prays. In ecstasy he sees the fall of Babylon. He inspires the Jews who have lost hope and instills in them unshakable confidence in the coming victory.
Act IV. "Broken Idol"
Nebuchadnezzar is alone. Memories of victories and punishment for his pride rush through his inflamed brain. A noise can be heard from the square in front of the palace - the captive Jews, along with Fenena, are being led to the place of execution. Desperate and under arrest, Nebuchadnezzar asks the God of the Jews to restore his reason and help him free the captives and his daughter. Nebuchadnezzar asks for forgiveness for his blasphemy. Reason, consciousness and strength return to him again. He orders the prison door to be opened. Warriors led by the devoted Abdallo rush to the king’s aid. The Assyrian commander gives Nebuchadnezzar his sword. The father is determined to save his daughter.
The funeral procession stops at a mountain dedicated to Baal. Zechariah calls on those condemned to turn to God with their final prayer. Suddenly Nebuchadnezzar's soldiers rush in. The king stabs the high priest to death and orders his soldiers to destroy the idol of Baal. Zechariah's prophecy came true. Jews receive freedom and can safely return to their homeland. Abigail takes poison. Dying, she asks Fenena and Ishmael to forgive her. Jews and Assyrians praise the power of God.
“This is the opera that truly launched my artistic career.”, - Verdi will write in his autobiography. During one of the composer’s chance meetings with Merelli, the impresario persuaded him to pay attention to Solera’s libretto “Nebuchadnezzar,” which Nicolai rejected, considering it unsuitable for musical implementation. The text made a strong impression on the composer. An abundance of interesting exciting scenes, bright characters, prayers, prophecies, curses - all this suited Verdi. But, nevertheless, he refuses to set poetry to music. The devoted Merelli promises, if the composer changes his intentions, to achieve the production of the opera. The biblical story about the Babylonian king who repented of his sins and came through suffering to the true faith, the suffering of the unfortunate Jews, the treachery of Abigail, who strives to achieve power at any cost, gradually truly excited Verdi and, note by note, he creates the entire opera.
The premiere, which took place on March 9, 1842 at La Scala, created a sensation. To the credit of the impresario, who had extraordinary patience and sincerely believed in Verdi, he overcame all the difficulties associated with the production, was not afraid of risks (the premieres of three famous maestros were taking place at the same time) and did not make a mistake. Verdi became famous overnight. Gaetano Donizetti, whose fame was then at its zenith, highly appreciated the new creation of his young colleague, paying tribute to both the novelty of the plot and the courage of its musical embodiment. “Nabucco” is a mature work by Verdi, in which he managed to realize many of his new creative ideas.
Despite the fact that the composer was captivated by the libretto, he considered it necessary to make changes to it at his own discretion. As a result of this, the famous prophecy of Zechariah appeared in the finale of Act III about the liberation of the Jews from captivity, replacing the duet of Fenena and Ishmael. The duet, Verdi believed, reduced the dramatic tension and sublime biblical spirit that permeates the entire opera. It will now become a rule for the composer to control the work of the librettist; He will build some scenarios himself, but the poet will only have to replace the prose proposed by Verdi with poetry.
In his opera, Verdi develops the heroic line of Rossini’s “Moses” and, as Markgraf points out, Donizetti’s opera “Belisarius” (1836). Zechariah's prophecy is closely related to the prayer of Moses from Rossini's opera of the same name. The musical embodiment of related ideas is also similar: bass solo with choir, gradual increase in dynamics and expansion of texture, and finally, which symbolizes faith in future salvation, the transition from minor in the main section to the final major. The heroic episodes in Bellini's operas did not pass without a trace. For example, the popular duet of Richard and George “Sound the Trumpet” from the opera “The Puritans”. But neither Rossini nor Bellini had the same intensity of power and energy that distinguishes Nabucco. Their formation took place at a different time, in a different political situation. Verdi is an ardent patriot, a direct participant in the struggle for Italian freedom. With his work, Italian musical theater entered a new scale of embodiment of heroic ideas, reflecting the scope of mass movements. This is what happens in the opera Nabucco. The Italians turned the Nabucco performances into demonstrations. Any thought about enslavement, such as the captivity of the Jews by the Assyrians, was perceived as a reminder of the modern situation of the Motherland. However, no matter what feelings opera evokes among freedom-loving Italians, in addition to the glorification of heroic aspirations, it contains many other ideas.
For the first time, religious motifs appear in Nabucco, which will be important in other operas by the composer. Verdi was a truly religious man, and this was reflected in his work. Apart from the brilliant Requiem, Christian themes are subsequently reflected in “The Lombards”, “Joan of Arc”, “Alzira”, “Stiffelio”, “Force of Destiny”, and, finally, in his last opus - in the cycle “Four Spiritual Works” for choir and orchestra.
The central image of the opera is the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar (Nabucco), a biblical figure (Bible, 4th book of Kings - 23, 24). In the opera, he and his subjects worship the Assyrian idol Baal, the god of war. In the first two acts, the Assyrian king is shown as a barbarian, ready to sacrifice even his own daughter. He insults the faith of the Jews, condemns them to slavery, curses his daughter, and proclaims himself God. God's punishment deprives him of his reason; only after going through suffering and gaining forgiveness, he turns to the true faith and frees the Jews. The spiritual evolution of Nabucco is revealed consistently in the sphere of musical language. At the beginning of the opera, he is characterized by a poster-heroic strong-willed melody and march rhythm, but in the finale of Act II a cantilena melody appears (when the king is overtaken by heavenly punishment), and the heroic pathos in his part recedes.
The next stage in his evolution is the scene with Abigail in Act III, where the king appears as a father begging his adopted daughter, who has seized the throne, to save Fenena. The marching rhythms, commanding intonations and characteristics of Nebuchadnezzar are transferred to Abigail's part, because now she is the queen and he is the prisoner. The culmination and real turning point in Nabucco’s consciousness occurs in Act IV, when he begins to realize the meaning and result of his actions. Verdi masterfully reveals the hero's state of mind. Only here, at the moment of his spiritual rebirth, the composer gives him an aria. The orchestral prelude to the aria, which uses themes from previous acts related to various stages of the fate of Nabucco, has an important generalizing meaning. They pass like a memory: first, madness is heavenly punishment for sacrilege (theme from the finale of Act II); image of Fenena; entry into Jerusalem (I act); insult to Zechariah and the Jews (finale of act I). All reminiscence themes are separated by pauses - the king has difficulty recalling visions of the past.
The sounds of a funeral march can be heard from the square - preparations are underway for the execution. Among those convicted, Fenena is the king's daughter and heir. Nebuchadnezzar comes to his senses: he is obliged to save Fenena and punish the rebels. The musical characteristics again return to marching rhythms, and then a heroic cabaletta with a choir appears. The king regained his lost strength. Nabucco inspires the soldiers and urges them to save the princess. The appearance of the king on the square is accompanied by the theme from the finale of the first act. It sounds in a transformed form - this time Nabucco brings freedom to the Jews.
The image of Abigail receives significant development in the opera. Abigail is the daughter of slaves. In an effort to rise, she tries to achieve the throne at any cost. By entrusting the role of Abigail to the mezzo-soprano, Verdi opened a whole gallery of strong female characters dangerous rivals: Gulnara (“Corsair”), Federica (“Louise Miller”), Eboli (“Don Carlos”), Amneris (“Aida”). From the image of Abigail, a direct path leads to the image of Amneris. "Aida" also anticipates story line“Nabucco” (with a significant difference in concepts): this is a love triangle - two rival princesses and a commander; the rejected heroine is a mezzo, burning with revenge; the selfless devotion to each other of Ishmael and Fenena, Radames and Aida (tenor and soprano); the willingness to give life for a loved one, the cruel power of the priests of Baal and Isis.
The role of Abigail became a new word in Italian opera. It is characterized by melodies with wide leaps of a huge range, strong-willed, in some places akin to Nabucco’s parts. The girl's two main passions - love for Ishmael and the desire to rise - are revealed already in the terzetto of the first act. An amazing cantilena at the moment of love confession conveys a sincere feeling, but then the decisive nature of the melody convinces that her hatred is as strong as love (the rejected woman swears revenge). These states - the desire for power and love - are reflected in Abigail's aria from Act II. In the scene with Nebuchadnezzar from Act III, Abigail mocks the maddened king, and royal intransigence, cruelty and harshness awaken in her. Her part in the duet is based on the intonations that were in the part of Nabucco at the beginning of the opera. Typical Italian melodiousness and melodic beauty appear in Abigail's part in the same way as in Nabucco's - at the moment of the highest spiritual uplift, in the final scene. Before her death, she asks Fenena and Ishmael for forgiveness. Abigail's death scene is one of the most heartfelt in the opera. Verdi finds precise intonations that reproduce the speech of the dying woman - short phrases alternate with expressive pauses. In the future, the composer will continue to search for musical means in such scenes, giving a feeling of enlightenment, genuine catharsis, because in almost all of his operas the main characters complete their journey by dying.
A special place in “Nabucco” is occupied by choirs, the importance of which is no less great than the main ones. characters. The dramaturgy of "Nabucco" is structured in such a way that the chorus appears in all important scenes. Not a single action can take place without the participation of the choir and extensive choral episodes. Monumental choral scenes frame both individual acts and the entire opera. This gives “Nabucco” an oratorio quality and conveys the sublime biblical character that permeates the work. The religious conflict between the two peoples subordinates the lyrical line associated with the love “triangle” with its significance. It is no coincidence Verdi abandoned the duet of Fenena and Ishmael, depriving them of solo characteristics. It would not be a great exaggeration to note that the action in the opera develops from choir to choir. Of the 16 numbers, in eight the dominant role is given to the choir, which determines the compositional features of the structure of all four acts.
Almost every turn of events (with the exception of the duet of Abigail and Nebuchadnezzar) receives a positive or negative assessment of the choir or occurs with its direct participation: the siege of Jerusalem, the unsuccessful choice of Ishmael from the position of the high priests, the blasphemy of Nebuchadnezzar, the return of the Assyrians to the fold true faith etc.
Nabucco's choirs are very diverse. The prayer of the Jews from the introduction is distinguished by sublime severity, and the choral scene of the capture of Jerusalem is imbued with anxiety and anxiety. Fury and fanaticism are expressed in the chorus from Act II, when the Jews attack Ishmael, who has taken Nabucco's daughter as his wife. The most popular is the chorus of Jews languishing in captivity from Act III “Va pensiero...” (“Fly, golden-winged thought”), the verses of which were the first to attract Verdi’s attention. Many years later, the melody of this famous choir was sung by a crowd of thousands, seeing off the great composer on his last journey. It concentrates the characteristic features of Verdi's choral writing of this period - enlarged contours of the melody, a combination of marching and wide chanting, four-part division of the meter and triplet accompaniment, imparting smoothness and length to the melody.
Not only the melody of this famous chorus is impressive, but also its location in the opera - compositionally it is located at the point of the golden doctrine, plotting the prophecy of Zechariah. The final chorus of Jews and Assyrians, glorifying God, truly crowns the opera, with grandiose grandeur.
Closely connected with the choral scenes is the image of Zechariah, which has the largest number of solo characteristics - three. All of them, including the well-known prophecy, symbolize one thought - the correctly chosen path and faith in true ideals will certainly lead to success and salvation.
If in Oberto Verdi follows tradition, then in Nabucco he creates his own. Here he managed to overcome the main drawback of early operas - the inability to create dramatic buildup. In Nabucco, Verdi strives to combine individual numbers into scenes, alternating number composition with cross-cutting development. Despite the fact that “Nebuchadnezzar” is a larger-scale work than the composer’s first dramatic opera, “Oberto,” the number of numbers in it is smaller - 16 (in “Oberto” - 19).
Thanks to the abundance of ensembles and choirs, smoothly transitioning from one scene to another, development is never interrupted. The solo numbers are located at the beginning of the act, so they do not stop the action, but only provide the necessary impulse. The ensembles, impressive with the power of emotional impact, demonstrated the excellent polyphonic skill of the young composer, who studied the best examples of the work of Palestrina and Monteverdi.
The technique of contrasting intrusions is widely used in opera, when one event suddenly interferes with the course of another, directing the action in a different direction. The duet of Fenena and Ishmael is interrupted by the arrival of Abigail and goes into terzetto. To Abigail, dreaming of Ishmael, the priest brings the news that Nabucco's troops are defeated, and the princess's thoughts rush to the crown and scepter. Abigail, who has led the rebellion and is ready to take the crown, is thwarted by the unexpected return of Nebuchadnezzar. The king, at the moment of his triumph, is struck by madness. The abundance of melodramatic effects that create the brightness of a stage performance is one of the principles of dramaturgy in opera, along with the prevailing through development, the use of reminiscence themes and a new interpretation of the chorus.
The shortcomings of the opera include some abuse of march-like rhythms and, at times, rough melody, which, nevertheless, successfully paints a portrait of Nebuchadnezzar. Bizet’s words come to mind: “When the temperament is passionate, frantic, even rude, when someone like Verdi gives art a work of life, molded from gold and dirt, bile and blood, let us not say to him in cold blood: “But, sir, this lacks taste, it is not elegant!” Exquisite! Are Michelangelo, Homer, Dante, Shakespeare, Beethoven, Cervantes, Rabelais really exquisite?"(Bizet J. Letters, Conversations about music. - M., Muzgiz, 1963, p. 327)
The energy and fiery power of the young Verdi's opera opened a new page in the history of Italian opera and marked the beginning of the composer's worldwide triumphs. Wanting to consolidate the success that accompanied the premiere of "Nabucco", he creates another opera based on Soler's libretto, called "Lombards in the First Crusade".
A. Platonov
The opera “Nabucco” was written in 1841 and staged at La Scala in 1842. The third of the twenty-five operas created by Verdi, for us “Nabucco” is a truly mysterious work, for in Russia this opera was staged only in 1851 in St. Petersburg , and since then has not been resumed on the Mariinsky stage, and has never been performed at the Bolshoi Theater at all.
We owe the creation of Nabucco to pure chance. If Verdi had not encountered the libretto of Temistocle Soler, had not dropped it from his hands, had it not opened right on the page with the text for the choir of captive Jews, we would not have had anything written by Verdi, except for the first two operas. It was only in order to set a biblical story to music that Verdi changed his decision not to compose any more. But it was “Nabucco” that turned the composer’s fate around and made him forget the failure of his first two works.
Verdi did not create anything similar to Nabucco, except, perhaps, Requiem. Nabucco is an epic work, reminiscent of an oratorio, associated with the previous Italian and German tradition of writing operas on biblical themes (Rossini's Moses or Kaiser's Nebuchadnezzar).
But perhaps Verdi needed the Bible not in order to follow the existing musical tradition, but in order to break this tradition. "Nabucco" combines a rather archaic way of constructing a plot with a completely new intensity of feelings, a very effective image of passion.
It is no coincidence that the elegant Nicolai, who refused to compose an opera based on the same libretto, wrote: “Verdi became the first modern Italian composer... But his opera is absolutely terrible and humiliates Italy.” In Nabucco, contemporaries were attracted by the power of passions and offended by their frankness.
The passions in this opera are not yet fully personified. The heroes embody not individual, but epic emotions. But the very fact of the possibility of passions of such power appearing on the opera stage is significant!
Even among Verdi's early operas, Nabucco is a clear phenomenon. It is no coincidence that critics called Nabucco a “drama for a choir” and even a “choral fresco”; the choir plays such an important role in the opera. The choir of the captive Jews from Nabucco became the second national anthem. It was he who sounded at the opening of La Scala after the war. At the funeral of Verdi himself and at the funeral of Toscanini, people sang it.
Nabucco combined new and old theatrical genres. Within the framework of one opera, before the eyes of the audience, the previous forms of operatic performance collapsed, and a new theatrical style was created, the type of operatic temperament that determined the development of Italian musical theater until the 10s of the twentieth century crystallized. Here Verdi created a universal and new image of an opera hero, perhaps corresponding to the new human type of pre-revolutionary Europe.
The Italian public at that time enjoyed the boiling of pagan passions. After composing Nabucco, Verdi began to be called the “maestro of the revolution.” But the music of this opera is imbued not so much with calls for struggle as with fear of inevitable bloodshed. In her melodies, Verdi managed to convey the bloodlust that gripped Europe before 1848, and the trembling horror of what was to come.
Not only the premonition of 1848 gave birth to the music of “Nabucco”, but also another revolution that was taking place at that time, the revolution of historical thought and archeology.
At that time, the attitude towards history suddenly changed. From a boring university science, it has become the main discipline, studied not in theory, but in practice. History was everywhere, created by life itself, and people were excited by the living breath of change. At the same time, the ancient past suddenly opened up and began to emerge from the ground.
In the same year that Verdi staged his opera at La Scala, the archaeologist Botta, the French consul in Mosul, who was engaged in entomology and was not so much a scientist as a successful treasure hunter, began excavating an ancient settlement near Nineveh. Following the first discovery, others followed. The ancient Babylonian civilization was acquiring certain features. What seemed only a biblical parable, an untrue myth, suddenly became an obvious reality.
Excavations in Mesopotamia shook up the whole of Europe and opened up the historical consciousness of Europeans. Cuneiform writing, deciphering the ancient language, winged bulls and lions, the city of Babylon with its gates and gardens, surrounded by a triple ring of walls, the famous ziggurat, and King Nebuchadnezzar himself entered the world of the 19th century.
But even before archeology was able to survive and comprehend its great discoveries, biblical antiquity was returned by Verdi to the world musical horizon under the sign of new emotions, new forms of theatrical performance, new vocal requirements. Although Nabucco lacks ethnographic flavor, the opera achieves archaeological precision in the scale of its conveyance of passions. The enlargement of human emotions creates the effect of great antiquity, of remoteness from us.
The new historical direction in the opera house of the second half of the 19th century arose from the desire to feel at home at any time. Opera began to rediscover plots covered by previous styles in a different way in order to create a new style on their basis. As if taking a deep breath, the opera plunged into the depths of history, and from there began a new ascent. In 1842 (the same year as “Nabucco” at La Scala), Glinka’s opera “Ruslan and Lyudmila” was staged, which, following Verstovsky’s “Askold’s Grave,” rediscovered Russian historical operatic plots. It went back to the origins of Russian history, to Kievan Rus. Verdi also addressed the ancient, biblical past in Nabucco.
Perhaps it is no coincidence that the golden decade of Nabucco productions coincided with the era of great archaeological discoveries in Babylon. Until the mid-50s of the last century, Nabucco was performed in almost all major European theaters. And then, for almost half a century, this opera was forgotten. But interest in “Nabucco” faded not because previously hidden imperfections were discovered in the score, but because humanity had lost the ability to perceive events as living reality ancient history. Other subjects and other feelings became close to him. "Nabucco" quenched the sudden thirst for antiquity, and historical opera turned to less ancient subjects.
Nabucco is often remembered in our century. In 1946, the revival of La Scala was celebrated with the performance of fragments from the opera Nabucco. In 1987, Riccardo Muti, having conducted Nabucco, became music director of the Milan theater. David Pountney's production at the Bregenz Festival became famous, in which the plot of the opera was presented as an action story about the Nazis and Jews.
NABUCCO (Nabucco) - musical drama by G. Verdi in 4 hours, libretto by T. Solera based on the drama by A. Anise-Bourgeois and F. Corney “Nebuchadnezzar” and the ballet of the same name by A. Cortesi. Premiere: Milan, Teatro alla Scala, March 9, 1842; in Russia - Odessa, by the Italian troupe, season 1847/48; St. Petersburg, Bolshoi Theater, by the Imperial Italian Opera, December 15, 1851 (under the title “Nino”; G. Ronconi - Nabucco).
The opera was a turning point in the composer's work: he found himself as a patriotic artist. Verdi turned to the images of the Bible, since a direct depiction of Italy's struggle for freedom under Austrian domination was impossible. But patriotic listeners and spectators recognized their own thoughts and feelings in biblical images.
The action takes place in the 6th century. BC e. Jerusalem is besieged by the troops of the Babylonian king Nabucco (the unpronounceable name Nebuchadnezzar is shortened and Italianized in the libretto). The powerful choirs of the people, the calls of the high priest (in fact, the prophet) Zechariah convey anxiety, courage, and determination to meet the enemy. The nephew of the king of Jerusalem, Ismael, is loved by Fenena, the daughter of Nabucco, who is in the besieged city as a hostage, and Abigail, the illegitimate daughter of the king of Babylon from a relationship with a slave. Ismael loves Fenena and Abigail vows revenge. To the sounds of a solemn march at the head of the army, Nabucco enters Jerusalem.
Nabucco threatens to kill Fenena if the king is cruel to the prisoners, but Ismael frees the girl and returns her to her father. The Jews curse Ismael as a traitor. The ambitious Abigail, breathing hatred for Ismael, Fenene and Nabucco, who rejected her, accepts the offer of the high priest of the Babylonian temple of the god Baal to overthrow Nabucco and take the throne herself. Fenena converts to his faith out of love for Ismael. Abigail orders Fenena, Ismael and the prisoners to be imprisoned. Intoxicated with victory, Nabucco declares himself an earthly god. He loses his mind when struck by lightning. Power in Babylon passes to Abigail. She locks Nabucco like a madman in his chambers and intends to execute Fenena and the prisoners. Zechariah supports the hope of his fellow tribesmen for victory. Realizing that his beloved daughter Fenena is in danger of death, Nabucco turns to God for help, and a miracle happens: his reason returns. With weapons in his hands, he rushes to the aid of Fenena and at the last minute, when she is to be sacrificed to the gods, he kills Abigail, returns freedom to the prisoners, unites Fenena with Ismael and, recognizing the greatness of the new god, orders the idol of Baal to be overthrown.
There are many shortcomings in the script dramaturgy of Nabucco. The degeneration of the king is unjustified, the role of the heroes fighting for the freedom of their homeland is passive. But Verdi's music, full of powerful energy, passionate drama, and heroism (especially in the choral scenes), takes the opera beyond its usual forms. Despite the fact that there are weak, inexpressive episodes in this work by the young composer, overall “Nabucco” leads to the future, to Aida. The overture is built on the contrasting theme of the homeland and its oppressors. While maintaining rounded numbers, Verdi also constructs large dramatic scenes. This is the introduction - choirs, calls of the priest, taken up by the people. The ensembles are full of drama (terzetto in the finale of the first movement). Arias and choruses - powerful, tragic, pathetic, mournful, joyful and anthemic - are associated with the theme of freedom, the fight against tyranny and victory over it. The composer managed to truthfully express the thoughts and feelings of the people. Therefore, the chorus “Fly, thought, on golden wings” turned into the anthem of Italian patriots. In 1901, at Verdi’s funeral, it was performed by a huge crowd of nine hundred singers under the direction of A. Toscanini. Later it became the anthem of the fighters against fascism in Italy.
Soon after the premiere, which brought Verdi fame and put him in first place among Italian opera composers (Rossini had long since stopped composing, and Donizetti had to recognize the victory of his young rival), Nabucco was staged in Vienna (1843), Berlin (1844), Paris (1845). This work was later supplanted by other Verdi operas. More often it is performed in the composer’s homeland and in Germany. In recent years, performances at the Bregenz Festival (1993, directed by D. Pountney) and at the Arena di Verona (1996) should be noted. The first production on the domestic stage was carried out at the Moscow Bolshoi Theater in 2001 (conductor M. Ermler).
"Nabucco" is an opera by Verdi based on a biblical story...
NABUCCO
La Scala (2013)
Leo Nucci, Aleksandrs Antonenko, Vitalij Kowaljow, Liudmyla Monastyrska, Veronica Simeoni
The only work by G. Verdi (1813 - 1901) on a biblical story was made in the style of a grand opera, the libretto of which was not required to have historical accuracy. So in this case, the poet T. Solera shoved into the text such clichés steeped in Italian tradition as a love triangle, madness and enlightenment of one of the main characters, etc.
The first action takes place in Jerusalem at the moment of the defeat of the Jewish army under the walls of the Holy City. The troops of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar (abbreviated as Nabucco) came here with a very specific and fair goal: to free the daughter of their ruler Fenela, captured by the Israelis. However, the girl, while in captivity, not only fell in love with the nephew of the local ruler Ishmael (which is true Jewish name!), but also converted to Judaism. Her rival and half-sister Abigail loves the same young man, therefore, overwhelmed by jealousy, she contributes to the defeat of Judea. The first act includes Nabucco's victorious appearance in Jerusalem, his orders to destroy the First Temple and take the Jews away from their homeland as prey.
In the next three acts, events unfold in Babylon, and the intrigue develops around the life of the captive Jews. They sit in dungeons and pray for salvation, led by the high priest Zechariah. Meanwhile, Abigail, supported by the priests of the pagan god Baal, is preparing a conspiracy against the ruler of the country. The calculation is simple: the king’s illegitimate daughter receives power, and the priests receive the lives of slaves. The situation is aggravated by the fact that Nabucco, who returned from another victorious campaign, became arrogant and proclaimed himself God. Instant punishment followed in the form of a lightning strike and the blasphemer lost his mind. Taking advantage of the moment, Abigail appropriated the crown and seized the throne. The fate of the Jews and her rival Fenela was decided. However, in the last act, when the victims walked to the place of execution, Nabucco saw his daughter among the doomed. With a prayer of repentance, he turned to God, who mercifully restored his reason. Then everything ended well: love and goodness triumphed, and vice was punished.
The accumulation of inconsistencies in the plot shows that Verdi at that time was still in captivity of cliched plots, but as a composer, his level of talent was immeasurably higher than the drama models who worked for him. It can be said that he deeply felt the suffering of Jews deprived of their homeland, which in his perception was linked with the situation of his compatriots living in a fragmented, semi-independent country. A number of fragments of the opera impress with their expressiveness and harsh beauty. These include the popular chorus of captive Jews from the third act.
Opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi; libretto by T. Solera based on the tragedy of Anise-Bourgeois.
First production: Milan, Teatro alla Scala, March 9, 1842.
Characters:
Nabucco, King of Babylon - baritone
Ishmael, leader of the army of the Jews - tenor
Zechariah, Jewish High Priest - bass
Abigail, Nabucco's eldest daughter - soprano
Fenena, Nabucco's youngest daughter - mezzo-soprano
High Priest of Baal - bass
Anna, Zechariah's sister - soprano
Abdallo, Babylonian general - tenor
Babylonian and Jewish warriors, Levites, priests, people.
The action takes place in Jerusalem in 587 BC. e.
Act one.
Nebuchadnezzar's troops besiege Jerusalem. The inhabitants of the city gathered in Solomon's temple. The High Priest of Jerusalem, the prophet Zechariah, trying to strengthen faith in salvation in his flock, says that the daughter of Nebuchadnezzar Fenena is in the hands of the besieged. She loves the nephew of the king of Jerusalem, Ishmael, accepted the faith of his people and sympathizes with the inhabitants of the city with all her heart. Ishmael appears and reports the terrible defeat of the troops of Jerusalem. The people in horror offer up futile prayers to God. Only Zechariah has an unshakable belief in deliverance. He joins the hands of Fenena and Ishmael and blesses them.
The people leave the temple. Fenena and Ishmael, left alone, indulge in memories. Ishmael was once Jerusalem's envoy to Babylon. In those days he and Fenena fell in love with each other. But how far away is that happy time? What awaits them now, what will happen to their love? Suddenly, Abigail, the illegitimate daughter of Nebuchadnezzar, born of a slave, appears in the temple. She came accompanied by Babylonian soldiers in disguise. Abigail curses Fenena and Ishmael and threatens her sister with revenge for betraying the faith of her ancestors. At the same time, conflicting feelings are boiling in Abigail’s soul. The young warrior herself passionately loves Ishmael and is ready to save him if he belongs to her. Ishmael proudly rejects this path to salvation.
The temple is again filled with a crowd of people, among whom is Zechariah and his sister Anna. Everyone waits in fear for Nebuchadnezzar to appear. Here is the king of Babylon himself, surrounded by his warriors. Zechariah fearlessly curses the conquerors. Fenena throws himself between Nebuchadnezzar and Zechariah. Nebuchadnezzar is amazed and angry at his daughter's behavior. Meanwhile, Zechariah threatens to stab Fenena if the ruler of Babylon shows cruelty to the vanquished. But Ishmael decisively stops him, declaring Fenena his wife.
General confusion. Nebuchadnezzar orders the destruction of the temple and the captivity of the vanquished. Prisoners are put in chains...
Act two.
Babylon. Abigail's chambers. Knowing that she is illegitimate, Abigail is filled with anger and hatred: it was not her, but Fenena, who was appointed by Nebuchadnezzar to rule during his absence. The High Priest of Babylon enters. Just like Abigail, he is outraged by what is happening - the prisoners are still alive, and Fenena, who sympathizes with them, will give their enemies freedom. The priest calls on Abigail to overthrow Fenena and take the throne of Nebuchadnezzar herself. “You must rule Babylon!” he exclaims. A conspiracy against Fenena emerges.
In prison, in the dungeon of the palace, Zechariah is praying frantically, calling on God. The rest of the captives languish in the same dungeon. The priests of Jerusalem curse Ishmael, accusing him of treason for preventing the death of Fenena. Ishmael tries in vain to justify himself. Anna stands up for him. Alarmed by the noise, Fenena appears. Following her, Abdallo, the faithful chief of Nebuchadnezzar’s guard, runs in. He hastens to warn of danger: a conspiracy has been uncovered, and the conspirators will be here now. Abdallo begs Fenena to escape. But it’s too late - threatening with weapons, the conspirators surround the prisoners and Fenena. Abigail enters, with the priests and warriors. They demand the death of the captives and proclaim Abigail the viceroy of Babylon. But at this moment Nebuchadnezzar appears, returning from a victorious campaign. He puts a crown on his head, which Abigail was ready to capture. Intoxicated with victories, Nebuchadnezzar ecstatically proclaims himself a god. Suddenly, a lightning strike knocks the crown off Nebuchadnezzar's head, and the king of Babylon loses his mind. Triumphant, Abigail raises the crown. Her dream came true - now she is the ruler of Babylon...
Act three.
Among the hanging gardens of Babylon, Abigail revels in power. Singing women glorify the god Baal. Captive residents of Jerusalem are being escorted away in the distance. The High Priest of Baal brings the death sentence to the prisoners and Fenene into the throne room. Nebuchadnezzar is brought in. Under the power of the disease, his consciousness either clears up, then again plunges into the abyss of madness. Taking advantage of the moment, Abigail allows the king to sign his death warrant. In a moment of enlightenment, Nebuchadnezzar repents, threatens Abigail, promising to reveal the secret of her birth, and begs to call his beloved daughter Fenena. But the cruel Abigail is adamant. The trumpet sounds - this is the signal to begin the execution of prisoners. Abigail gives the order to arrest Nebuchadnezzar.
The prisoners await execution in anguish. Their singing is full of sublime sorrow. With their thoughts they are carried away to their distant homeland. Zechariah calls on his compatriots to be strong in spirit. He predicts the imminent fall of Babylon.
Act four.
The room in the palace where Nebuchadnezzar is kept under arrest. Outside the window you can hear the noise of a huge procession. This leads to the execution of prisoners and Fenena. In a fit of despair, the king turns to God in prayer, and a miracle occurs: reason returns to him. Nebuchadnezzar is again full of determination and energy. Warriors devoted to him, led by the faithful Abdallo, run into the room. Together with them, Nebuchadnezzar rushes to save his beloved daughter... The place of execution is at the foot of the idol of Baal. At the head of the procession of the condemned are Zacharias and Fenena. At this moment shouts are heard: “Glory, Nebuchadnezzar!” The king of Babylon appears with his soldiers. With his sword he strikes the high priest in the chest and breaks the idol of Baal. Fenena is saved, the captive inhabitants of Jerusalem are freed. Defeated, Abigail commits suicide.
Opera "Nabucco" by Giuseppe Verdi
Irina Kotkina
Opera in four acts; libretto by F. Solera. First production: Milan, Teatro alla Scala, March 9, 1842.
Characters: Nabucco (baritone), Abigail (soprano), Zachariah (bass), Ishmael (tenor), Fenena (mezzo-soprano).
The action takes place in Jerusalem in the 6th century BC.
Act one.
The troops of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar (Nabucco) besiege Jerusalem. The inhabitants of the city gathered in Solomon's temple. The High Priest of Jerusalem, the prophet Zechariah, trying to strengthen faith in salvation in his flock, says that the daughter of Nebuchadnezzar Fenena is in the hands of the besieged. She loves the nephew of the king of Jerusalem, Ishmael, accepted the faith of his people and sympathizes with the inhabitants of the city with all her heart. Ishmael appears and reports the terrible defeat of the troops of Jerusalem. The people in horror offer up futile prayers to God. Only Zechariah has an unshakable belief in deliverance. He joins the hands of Fenena and Ishmael and blesses them. The people leave the temple. Fenena and Ishmael, left alone, indulge in memories. Ishmael was once Jerusalem's envoy to Babylon. In those days he and Fenena fell in love with each other. But how far away is that happy time? What awaits them now, what will happen to their love? Suddenly, Abigail, the illegitimate daughter of Nebuchadnezzar, born of a slave, appears in the temple. She came accompanied by Babylonian soldiers in disguise. Abigail curses Fenena and Ishmael and threatens her sister with revenge for betraying the faith of her ancestors. At the same time, conflicting feelings are boiling in Abigail’s soul. The young warrior herself passionately loves Ishmael and is ready to save him if he belongs to her. Ishmael proudly rejects this path to salvation. The temple is again filled with a crowd of people, among whom is Zechariah and his sister Anna. Everyone waits in fear for Nebuchadnezzar to appear. Here is the king of Babylon himself, surrounded by his warriors. Zechariah fearlessly curses the conquerors. Fenena throws himself between Nebuchadnezzar and Zechariah. Nebuchadnezzar is amazed and angry at his daughter's behavior. Meanwhile, Zechariah threatens to stab Fenena if the ruler of Babylon shows cruelty to the vanquished. But Ishmael decisively stops him, declaring Fenena his wife. General confusion. Nebuchadnezzar orders the destruction of the temple and the captivity of the vanquished. Prisoners are put in chains...
Act two.
Babylon. Abigail's chambers. Knowing that she is illegitimate, Abigail is filled with anger and hatred: it was not her, but Fenena, who was appointed by Nebuchadnezzar to rule during his absence. The High Priest of Babylon enters. Just like Abigail, he is outraged by what is happening - the prisoners are still alive, and Fenena, who sympathizes with them, will give their enemies freedom. The priest calls on Abigail to overthrow Fenena and take Nebuchadnezzar's throne herself. “You must rule Babylon!” he exclaims. A conspiracy against Fenena emerges. In prison, in the dungeon of the palace, Zechariah is praying frantically, calling on God. The rest of the captives languish in the same dungeon. The priests of Jerusalem curse Ishmael, accusing him of treason for preventing the death of Fenena. Ishmael tries in vain to justify himself. Anna stands up for him. Alarmed by the noise, Fenena appears. Following her, Abdallo, the faithful chief of Nebuchadnezzar’s guard, runs in. He hastens to warn of danger: a conspiracy has been uncovered, and the conspirators will be here now. Abdallo begs Fenena to escape. But it’s too late - threatening with weapons, the conspirators surround the prisoners and Fenena. Abigail enters, with the priests and warriors. They demand the death of the captives and proclaim Abigail the viceroy of Babylon. But at this moment Nebuchadnezzar appears, returning from a victorious campaign. He puts a crown on his head, which Abigail was ready to capture. Intoxicated with victories, Nebuchadnezzar ecstatically proclaims himself a god. Suddenly, a lightning strike knocks the crown off Nebuchadnezzar's head, and the king of Babylon loses his mind. Triumphant, Abigail raises her crown. Her dream came true - now she is the ruler of Babylon...
Act three.
Among the hanging gardens of Babylon, Abigail revels in power. Singing women glorify the god Baal. Captive residents of Jerusalem are being escorted away in the distance. The High Priest of Baal brings the death sentence to the prisoners and Fenene into the throne room. Nebuchadnezzar is brought in. Under the power of the disease, his consciousness either clears up, then again plunges into the abyss of madness. Taking advantage of the moment, Abigail allows the king to sign his death warrant. In a moment of enlightenment, Nebuchadnezzar repents, threatens Abigail, promising to reveal the secret of her birth, and begs to call his beloved daughter Fenena. But the cruel Abigail is adamant. The trumpet sounds - this is the signal to begin the execution of prisoners. Abigail gives the order to arrest Nebuchadnezzar. The prisoners await execution in anguish. Their singing is full of sublime sorrow. With their thoughts they are carried away to their distant homeland. Zechariah calls on his compatriots to be strong in spirit. He predicts the imminent fall of Babylon.
Act four.
The room in the palace where Nebuchadnezzar is kept under arrest. Outside the window you can hear the noise of a huge procession. This leads to the execution of prisoners and Fenena. In a fit of despair, the king turns to God in prayer, and a miracle occurs: reason returns to him. Nebuchadnezzar is again full of determination and energy. Warriors devoted to him, led by the faithful Abdallo, run into the room. Together with them, Nebuchadnezzar rushes to save his beloved daughter... The place of execution is at the foot of the idol of Baal. At the head of the procession of the condemned are Zacharias and Fenena. At this moment shouts are heard: “Glory, Nebuchadnezzar!” The king of Babylon appears with his soldiers. With his sword he strikes the high priest in the chest and breaks the idol of Baal. Fenena is saved, the captive inhabitants of Jerusalem are freed. Defeated, Abigail commits suicide.
The opera “Nabucco” was written in 1841 and staged at La Scala in 1842. The third of the twenty-five operas created by Verdi, for us “Nabucco” is a truly mysterious work, for in Russia this opera was staged only in 1851 in St. Petersburg , and since then has not been resumed on the Mariinsky stage, and has never been performed at the Bolshoi Theater at all.
We owe the creation of Nabucco to pure chance. If Verdi had not encountered the libretto of Temistocle Soler, had not dropped it from his hands, had it not opened right on the page with the text for the choir of captive Jews, we would not have had anything written by Verdi, except for the first two operas. It was only in order to set a biblical story to music that Verdi changed his decision not to compose any more. But it was “Nabucco” that turned the composer’s fate around and made him forget the failure of his first two works.
Verdi did not create anything similar to Nabucco, except, perhaps, Requiem. Nabucco is an epic work, reminiscent of an oratorio, associated with the previous Italian and German tradition of writing operas on biblical themes (Rossini's Moses or Kaiser's Nebuchadnezzar). But perhaps Verdi needed the Bible not in order to follow the existing musical tradition, but in order to break this tradition. "Nabucco" combines a rather archaic way of constructing a plot with a completely new intensity of feelings, a very effective image of passion.
It is no coincidence that the elegant Nicolai, who refused to compose an opera based on the same libretto, wrote: “Verdi became the first modern Italian composer... But his opera is absolutely terrible and humiliates Italy.” In Nabucco, contemporaries were attracted by the power of passions and offended by their frankness.
The passions in this opera are not yet fully personified. The heroes embody not individual, but epic emotions. But the very fact of the possibility of passions of such power appearing on the opera stage is significant!
Even among Verdi's early operas, Nabucco is a clear phenomenon. It is no coincidence that critics called Nabucco a “drama for a choir” and even a “choral fresco”; the choir plays such an important role in the opera. The choir of the captive Jews from Nabucco became the second national anthem. It was he who sounded at the opening of La Scala after the war. At the funeral of Verdi himself and at the funeral of Toscanini, people sang it.
Nabucco combined new and old theatrical genres. Within the framework of one opera, before the eyes of the audience, the previous forms of operatic performance collapsed, and a new theatrical style was created, the type of operatic temperament that determined the development of Italian musical theater until the 10s of the twentieth century crystallized. Here Verdi created a universal and new image of an opera hero, perhaps corresponding to the new human type of pre-revolutionary Europe.
The Italian public at that time enjoyed the boiling of pagan passions. After composing Nabucco, Verdi began to be called the “maestro of the revolution.” But the music of this opera is imbued not so much with calls for struggle as with fear of inevitable bloodshed. In her melodies, Verdi managed to convey the bloodlust that gripped Europe before 1848, and the trembling horror of what was to come.
Not only the premonition of 1848 gave birth to the music of “Nabucco”, but also another revolution that was taking place at that time, the revolution of historical thought and archeology.
At that time, the attitude towards history suddenly changed. From a boring university science, it has become the main discipline, studied not in theory, but in practice. History was everywhere, created by life itself, and people were excited by the living breath of change. At the same time, the ancient past suddenly opened up and began to emerge from the ground.
In the same year that Verdi staged his opera at La Scala, the archaeologist Botta, the French consul in Mosul, who was engaged in entomology and was not so much a scientist as a successful treasure hunter, began excavating an ancient settlement near Nineveh. Following the first discovery, others followed. The ancient Babylonian civilization was acquiring certain features. What seemed only a biblical parable, an untrue myth, suddenly became an obvious reality.
Excavations in Mesopotamia shook up the whole of Europe and opened up the historical consciousness of Europeans. Cuneiform writing, deciphering the ancient language, winged bulls and lions, the city of Babylon with its gates and gardens, surrounded by a triple ring of walls, the famous ziggurat, and King Nebuchadnezzar himself entered the world of the 19th century.