Nabucco (concert performance) (Mariinsky II (New) Theatre, concert) - 20 December 2024 at 19:00

Verdi’s opera Nabucco is based on the Biblical story of King Nebuchadnezzar. In the Bible, this character has a split personality. On the one hand, Nebuchadnezzar is a cruel tyrant, a wicked torturer who sends three Hebrew boys into a fiery furnace. On the other hand, he is a wise ruler, in his own way favouring the captive Hebrew people and selecting as his spiritual interlocutor the prophet Daniel; he has travelled a long spiritual path from extolling material wealth to acknowledging God and making peace with Him. The name of Nebuchadnezzar is connected with the renaissance of Babylon and a renewed attempt to build the Tower of Babel. In the eyes of God, however, the king’s intentions are madness and Nebuchadnezzar is cursed: “King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: the kingdom has departed from you! And they shall drive you from men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. They shall make you eat grass like oxen; and seven times shall pass over you…”
In Temistocle Solera’s libretto the Old Testament motif of self-aggrandisement, punished by insanity and repentance, is woven together with plotlines that are either totally fabricated or borrowed from other sources. To the principal plotline, which afforded the composer the opportunity to depict the scene of the curse and Nabucco’s subsequent state of madness, the librettist joined the motif of collision between two peoples – the Babylonians and the Hebrews – and he added the theme of rivalry between Nabucco’s two daughters as well as including a traditional love intrigue. All of this was intended for the German composer Otto Nicolai, who in the event rejected the opera.
It was now 1840 – the worst year of Verdi’s life. In the course of twelve months his children had died from inexplicable diseases one after another, followed by his beloved wife Margherita. In the summer of 1840 Verdi was left completely alone and, moreover, bound by a contract, he was – supremely ironically – supposed to complete a comic opera (Un giorno di regno, ossia il finto Stanislao). The failure of the opera was the last straw for Verdi’s self-control. His resultant depression led Verdi to swear he would never write another opera.
The appearance of Nabucco – the first truly Verdian opera – occurred against the composer’s will. Despite his resistance, the composer’s destiny and talent forced him to write music. It could be said that it was with this opera that Verdi first appeared as his own self. In Nabucco we have the first truly Verdian hero – or rather heroine: the envious and perfidious Abigaille, daughter of the King of Babylon. It is of no importance that this is an entirely negative role. The important thing is her inner strength, temperament and passion. This was the first time Verdi created a role for a ‘frenzied soprano’ using contrasts in registers to heighten the character’s dramatic characteristics.
But the main dramatis personae in Nabucco are the chorus. The choral scenes are the true gems of this score. Verdi’s new musical intonation was meant to reflect the emotions of the crowd. This was how work on the opera began – the composer’s glance chanced to fall on a page of the open libretto with the words “Va, pensiero, sull’ali dorate…” The chorus of enslaved Hebrews – praying for salvation – and the Biblical hope they portray are, simultaneously, mournful, anxious and powerful, interspersed with the Psalm of David By the Rivers of Babylon, and together they inspired Verdi to create this glorious masterpiece.
Daniil Shutko