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- Historical persons (HP) behind the opera characters
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- Performers most liked by Giuseppe Verdi and his wife Giuseppina Strepponi
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Aida
- Opera in 4 acts, Italian
- Libretto Antonio Ghislanzoni
- Based on a story by Auguste Mariette
- Time and place: Old Kingdom of Egypt c. 2686 BC–c. 2181 BC.
Act 2, scene 2. Opera de Paris in 1880. Engraving after the performance.
Radames (Giuseppe Fancelli) and Aida (Teresa Stolz) in act 4, scene 2 of the 1872 La Scala European premiere. Painting by Leopoldo Metlicovitz.
- First performance in:
- Egypt 24 December 1871, World Premiere at Khedivial Opera House, Cairo
- Italy 8 February 1872, Second premiere, the first in Europe, at La Scala Milan
- Argentina: 4 October 1873, Buenos Aires
- United States: 26 November 1873, New York
- Germany: 20 April 1874, Berlin
- Austria: 29 April 1874, Vienna
- Portugal: 12 December 1874, Madrid
- Hungary: 10 April 1875, Budapest
- Poland: 23 November 1875, Warsaw
- Russia: 1 December 1875, St. Petersburg
- Czech. Republic: 11 December 1875, Prague
- France: 22 April 1876, Paris
- Great Britain: 22 June 1876, London
- Brazil: 2 October 1876, Rio De Janiero
- Poland: 26 October 1876, Lemberg
- Romania: November 1876, Bucharest
- Belgium: 15 January 1877, Brussels
- Cuba: 1877, Havana
- Mexico: 1 September 1877
- Portugal: 6 February 1878, Lisbon
- Sweden: 16 February 1880, Stockholm
- Croatia: 1 October 1881, Zagreb
- Chile: October 1881, Santiago
- Switzerland: 15 December 1881, Geneva
- Greece: June 1882, Athens
- Denmark: 4 October 1885, Copenhagen
- Turkey: 1 December 1885, Constantinople
- Netherlands: 1886, Rotterdam
- Finland: 17 September 1896, Helsinki
- Austrailia: 1 June 1901, Melbourne
- Holland: 19 December 1903, Amsterdam
- Norway: 6 November 1909, Christiania
- South Africa: March 1912, Johannesburg
- Bulgaria: 19 May 1914, Sofia
- Japan: Autumn 1919, Yokohama
- Israel: 20 November 1924, Tel-Aviv
- Lithuania: 10 November 1927, Kaunas
- Characters:
- Aida, an Ethiopian princess, soprano
- Antonietta Pozzoni-Anastasi sang in the world premiere in Cairo 24 Dec 1871
- Teresa Stolz sang in the first European premiere at La Scala Milan 8 Feb 1872.
- Teresina (Teresa) Ponchielli
- Virginia Ferni Germano
- Erminia Borghi-Mamo
- Ada Adini
- Adalgisa Gabbi
- Lillian Nordica
- Medea Maria Figner
- Elisabeth Frandin
- Hariclea Darclée
- Isabella Paoli
- Dame Nellie Melba
- Selma Kronold
- Dina Barberini
- Leonilda Paini Gabbi
- Emma Eames
- Elda Cavalieri
- Emilia Corsi
- Fausta Labia
- Maikki Järnefelt
- Solomiya Amvrosiivna Krushelnytska
- Lina Pasini-Vitale
- Emmy Destinn
- Melanie Kurt-Deri
- Rina Emilia Lucia Giachetti
- Elvira Barbieri
- Cecilia Gagliardi
- Rosina Buckman
- Eugenia Burzio
- Hanna Granfelt
- Sofia Vladimirovna Ershova
- Maria Jeritza
- Valentina Bartolomasi
- Claudia Muzio
- Giannina Arangi-Lombardi
- Kirsten Flagstad
- Dagmar Schmedes
- Rosa Ponselle
- Gina Cigna
- Dusolina Giannini
- Maria Caniglia
- Zinka Milanov
- Aulikki Meurman
- Lina Bruna Rasa
- Birgit Nilsson
- Renata Tebaldi
- Maria Callas
- Maaria Eira
- Virginia Zeani
- Galina Vishnevskaya
- Leontyne Price
- Shirley Verrett (both Aida & Amneris in repertoire)
- Montserrat Caballé
- Mirella Freni
- Ángeles Gulín
- Júlia Várady
- Jessye Norman (Her opera debut at Covent Garden 1972.)
- Carol Lee Neblett
- Aprile Millo
- Ángeles Blancas
- The King of Egypt, bass
- Amneris, daughter of the King, mezzo-soprano
- Eleonora Grossi sang in the world premiere in Cairo 24 Dec 1871
- Maria Waldmann sang in the first European premiere at La Scala in 1872. She was Verdi's favorite Amneris.
- Alexandra Pavlovna Krutikova
- Medea Maria Figner
- Ida Sambo
- Leonilda Paini Gabbi
- Virginia Guerrini
- Maria Verger
- Irma Tervani
- Carmela Anna Ponselle (her Metropolitan debut in 1925)
- Maartje Offers
- Helene Sadoven
- Antonietta Toini
- Ebe Stignani
- Aino Sylvia Elenius-Urbano
- Marjorie Florence King
- Giulietta Simionato
- Blanche Thebom
- Ksenija Cindro
- Fedora Barbieri
- Shirley Verrett
- Fiorenza Cossotto
- Radamès, Captain of the Guard, tenor
- Pietro Mongini sang in the world premiere in Cairo, Egypt, on 24 Dec 1871
- Giuseppe Fancelli sang in the first European premiere at La Scala Milan 8 Feb 1872.
- Giuseppe Capponi Capponi was chosen for the Scala premiere 8 Feb 1872, but became ill.
- Emilio Clodovaldo Naudin
- Antonio Aramburo
- Luigi Bolis, Sr.
- Italo Campanini
- Lodovico Giraud
- Leopoldo Signoretti
- Jan Mieczysław Reszke
- Francesco Innocenzo Tamagno
- Francesco Marconi
- Władysław Floriański
- António d'Andrade
- Agustarello / Gustarello Affre
- Fernando De Lucia
- Francesco Signorini
- Angelo Angioletti
- Francisco Viñas Dordal
- Gino Martinez-Patti
- Ivan Vasiliyevitch Ershov
- Luigi Colazza
- Giovanni Peirani
- Florencio Constantino
- Antonio Paoli
- Georg Maikl
- Enrico Caruso
- Leo Slezak
- Cantor Gershon Sirota
- Giovanni Zenatello
- Giuseppe Anselmi
- Noe Vitomir Matošić
- Alfred Piccaver
- Giovanni Martinelli
- Arnoldo Lindi
- Beniamino Samuele Benedetto Gigli
- Giacomo Lauri-Volpi
- Julius Patzak
- Jan Peerce
- Jussi Björling
- Richard Tucker
- Mario Del Monaco
- Mario Lanza
- Franco Corelli
- Giuseppe di Stefano
- Carlo Bergonzi
- Timo Callio (Mustakallio)
- Carlo Cossutta
- Luciano Pavarotti
- Plácido Domingo
- José Carreras
- Roberto Alagna
- Amonasro, King of Ethiopia, baritone
- Antonio Cotogni
- Ivan Aleksandrovich Melnikov
- Adriano Pantaleoni
- Niels Juel Simonsen
- Victor Maurel
- Giuseppe Kaschmann
- Antonio Magini Coletti
- Mattia Battistini
- Francisco d'Andrade
- Mario Ancona
- Giuseppe Pacini
- Maurizio Azulay Bensaude
- Francesco Maria Bonini
- Antonio Scotti
- Eugenio Giraldoni
- Giuseppe De Luca
- Titta Ruffo
- Pasquale Amato
- Giuseppe Danise
- Amleto Barbieri
- Carlo Galeffi
- Mario Carmelo Basiola
- Leonard Warren
- Gino Bechi
- Tito Gobbi
- Paolo Silveri
- Giuseppe Taddei
- Robert Merrill
- Ettore Bastianini
- Rolando Panerai
- Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
- Piero Cappuccilli
- Tom Gunnar Krause
- Renato Bruson
- Walton Grönroos
- Ramfis, high Priest, bass
- Paolo Medini sang in the world premiere in Cairo, Egypt, on 24 Dec 1871
- Ormondo Maini sang in the first European premiere Feb 8, 1872 at La Scala.
- Antonio "Selva" Scremin
- Pol Plançon
- Edward Reszke 's operatic debut in Paris 1876 under Verdi's baton.
- Francesco Navarrini
- Andres Perello de Segurola
- Luigi Manfrini
- Yrjö Somersalmi
- Boris Christoff
- Fernando Corena
- Nicolai Ghiaurov
- Ezio Domenico Flagello
- Martti Talvela
- Ruggero Raimondi
- Matti Salminen
- A messenger, tenor
- Aida, an Ethiopian princess, soprano
- Conductors:
- Giovanni Paolo Bottesini conducted in the first premiere in Cairo 24 Dec 1871
- Franco Faccio conducted in the first European premiere at La Scala Milan 8 Feb 1872
- Emanuele Muzio
- Arturo Toscanini
- Egisto Emilio Tango
- Tullio Serafin
- Sir Thomas Beecham, 2nd Baronet
- Gabriele Santini
- Sir John Barbirolli, CH (ao. Covent Garden 1953 with Callas)
- Fausto Cleva
- Herbert von Karajan
- Gianandrea Gavazzeni
- Sir Georg Solti
- Claudio Abbado
- Zubin Mehta
- Riccardo Muti
- James Lawrence Levine
- Riccardo Chailly, OMRI (2006 with Zeffirelli, Decca)
- Stage directors:
- Dr. Sandor Hevesi , née Alexander Hoffmann Unforgettable Verdi performances 1910-1930 with conductor Egisto Emilio Tango
- Herbert von Karajan
- Franco Zeffirelli ao. with Chailly
- Jean-Pierre Ponnelle (controversial production at Covent Garden London 1986)
- Luca Roncóni (Teatro alla Scala di Milano 7 Dec 1985; Live film 1985 with Chiara, Dimitrova, Pavarotti; Maazel)
- Giancarlo Del Monaco (Cologne, Nice, Orange Festival, Oslo, Stuttgart)
Last act. Cover of a very early vocal score, c. 1872.