Verdi: La battaglia di Legnano ****
Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, 22nd May 2018
It wasn’t until 1859 that the rallying cry of “Viva Verdi!” (standing for “Viva Vittorio Emanuele Re D’Italia”) was taken up, but La battaglia di Legnano (1849) was very much composed with a political purpose. As Charles Osborne wrote, “while parts of Verdi’s earlier operas had frequently been taken up by the fighters of the Risorgimento… this time the composer had given the movement its own opera.” It famously opened the 1961 La Scala season but has rarely been seen since, making Marco Tullio Giordana’s new production at the Maggio Musicale enticing enough for the trip to Florence.
Marco Spotti (Barbarossa)
© Camilla Riccò | TerranovaProject Contrasto
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