jan 1, 1842 - Nabucco

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Patriotic unison chorus "Va, pensiero" which became the unofficial Italian national anthem, and a symbol of national unity.

"The most striking effect in the early Verdi operas was the big choral number sung in unison at the start and containing a blazing middle section, in which the chorus suddenly opens out into chordal harmony, fortissimo. As a symbol of solidarity and of concerted action, it could be read as political allegory. No matter what the actual plot of a give opera, no matter in what distant tiem or place it was situated, audiences were able to make connections to their own circumstances and that of their country. The prototype was "Va, pensiero, sull'ali dorate" ("Go, my thought, on golden wings"), the chorus of Hebrew slaves in the third act of Nabucco. Its text is a paraphrase of the famous 137th Psalm "By the waters of Babylon..."). The chorus was an inspired interpolation into what was otherwise a love triangle plot--a prince of Jerusalem vs. two rival princesses of Babylon--set against a background of biblical warfare.

Rossini, struck by the originality of its conception, called "Va, pensiero" "a grand aria sung by sopranos, contraltos, tenors and basses." Indeed the melody was as ornate as a Bellinian cantabile, the noble opening section of a bel canto aria, but with simple phrasing more characteristic of folk and street music. A chorus cast in such a popular form could all the more easily travel back to the street and into the oral tradition, helped on its way by ever-present organ grinders and street singers. "Va, pensiero" became an emblem not only of Verdi as Italy's national composer-laureate but also of the Italian nation itself, the unofficial national anthem. It was sung in 1901 by the throngs surrounding Verdi's horse-drawn hearse on the day of his burial in Milan, led by the augmented chorus of La Scala, under the baton of Arturo Toscanini, who although a conductor rather than a composer eventually inherited Verdi's mantle as national emblem and musical ambassador to teh world.

The scucess fo teh patriotic unison chorus in Nabucco proved a winning formula for Verdi, who made a point of including similar ones in his next two operas, I Lombardi alla prima crociata (The Lombards on the First Crusade)

Dramatic moments in these early operas can approach oratorio in their use of chorus and in their association with national politics. But there was also a new role for singers, especially for the tenor. The great change in the technical training of singers was the institution of the tenore di forza (or tenore robusto),. the "Strength tenor." This new tenor maintained his full, or chest, voice over his entire range--even up to his highest notes, which assumed the vibrant, ringing tone we now associated with leading tenors. Those who have excelled at it--Enrico Caruso, Jussi Bjorling, not to mention the "three tenors" (Placido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, and Jose Carreras), who in the 1990s became the highest-paid classical music act of all time--were the emblematic opera stars of the twentieth century.

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