Download Aida Teaching Materials, The Metropolitan Opera

Teaching Materials
The Basics: Introducing Your Students to Opera
Introducing Your Students to Opera
What is an Orchestra?
What is Opera?
Introducing a Specific Opera.
Additional Ideas.
What is an Orchestra?
· Brainstorm with your students about what an orchestra is.
· Make a semantic map: put suggested words around the board as the students brainstorm.
· Have students justify their ideas.
· Discuss the instruments and classification of instruments in the orchestra.
· Introduce how the orchestra is arranged, using a diagram for illustration.
· Using words in the semantic map, have students write a composition on what an orchestra is.
What is Opera?
· Brainstorm with your students about what an opera is. What stereotypes have they heard?
· Discuss how opera singers' voices are not amplified and how singers must project.
· Introduce the voice parts and operatic singing.
· Make a chart of the voice parts from high to low.
· Play examples of different voices and have students brainstorm on the character's personality.
· Discuss typical roles of different voice parts. (ie. Soprano is often the heroine, Bass is often evil.)
· With the class, choose a current movie or tv show and assign each character a voice part.
Introducing a Specific Opera
· Start by introducing the characters of the opera and their voices.
· Tell a little bit about the story through the characters.
· Ask students for adjectives to describe the characters.
· Using their adjectives, ask students to write character analyses.
· Using character analyses, have students write their own story before learning the full synopsis.
· Use the students' stories to then introduce the full synopsis.
· Ask students to draw a picture of the opera's setting as it is described in the libretto.
· Have students read the libretto aloud as play. Stop periodically to review what has happened.
· As you progress through the libretto, listen to the music from different sections of the opera.
· Point out how the music highlights the drama.
· How does the music convey characters' emotions?
· Play each character's introductory aria. Does it match their character analyses?
· Have students draw a picture of their favorite character in appropriate costume.
· Have students draw a picture of their favorite scene.
· After studying each act, ask students to predict what will happen next.
· Before teaching them the end of the story, ask students to write their own endings.
Additional Ideas
· After each class, have students summarize the story covered that day.
· Have students research the composer and librettist.
· Have students research the time of the opera (ie., ancient egypt, gypsies, Paris, etc.).
Using Aida to Teach Music
Motivation/Role Play ExercisesExoticism
Two contrasting themes
Exoticism:
Verdi wrote Aida for the dedication of the Suez Canal. The story is set in ancient Egypt and Verdi used a number of exotic melodies and colorations to try
to convey the setting through his music.
Act I, scene ii: This is known as the Temple Scene. Radames has been chosen leader of the Egyptian armies to repell the Ethiopian attack. The scene takes
place in the Temple of Phtah, one of the Egyptian gods. The High Priestess is chanting a hymn ("Possente Ftha") ("Almighty Phtah"). Over an
arpeggiated harp background, she sings an exotic melody with a flatted 2nd degree of a scale, creating a Phrygian mode. Note also the grace note on that
2nd degree of the scale in the third measure (Ex. #1).
She continues with turns and grace notes while a chorus of Priests chants a harmony between her verses. This alternation between the High Priestess and
the Priests occurs three times, after which there is a sacred dance of the Priestesses. Three flutes in harmony lend a unique coloration to the
orchestration while the melody also flats the 2nd note as in the Phrygian mode (Ex. #2).
The sinuous middle section of the dance, with the three flutes in unison, adds to the exotic color (Ex. #3).
These chants reoccur in the Act IV, scene ii as Aida and Radames are entombed while Amneris, the Priests and Priestesses chant above the tomb.
Act II, scene ii: The beginning of Act II also gives us an exotic touch. Amneris, surrounded by female slaves, is being attired for the triumphal celebration
to welcome back the victorious Radames. The harp is plucked, punctuated by a solo trumpet as the slaves sing of the victorious hero in a minor key.
Amneris adds her voice in the parallel major in a chromatic then diatonic descending line (Ex. #4).
After two verses, a few young Moorish slave-boys perform a jolly dance. Orchestrated with triangle, cymbals and piccolo, the music gives off an exotic
Turkish flavor (Ex. #5). There is then a third rendition of the music for Amneris and her slaves.
Act II, scene ii: During the triumphal scene, after the victorious Egyptian soldiers and welcomed by the people and the priests, there is an exotic series of
dances known as the Ballabile. This contains various segments in various rhythms. One particularly exotic melody contains decorative grace notes and
features the flutes and piccolo (Ex. #6).
Act III: The opening of this act paints an exotic picture on a hot summer night on the banks of the Nile. The opening measure has the violins playing four
octaves of staccato Gs (Ex. #7a). Soon the flutes join in hollow fifths while hovering between major and minor (Ex, #7b). From the partially hidden
temple come chants invoking the goddess Osiris.
Later in the scene Aida enters, waiting for her planned rendezvous with Radames. A sinuous oboe melody, not unlike that of an Arab snake charmer,
provides an exotic introduction to her big aria, "O patria mia" (Ex. #8).
Act IV, scene i: As the priests put Radames on trial they sing an unmetered a cappella chant in unison evoking an exotic Gregorian chant-like flavor (Ex.
#9).
Two contrasting themes:
The opening Prelude of the opera points out the two contrasting themes which permeate the entire opera. They are:
1) Aida herself and her unrequited love for a soldier she can never have.
2) The rigidity of the Priests and rules of the state and the Egyptian gods. These two themes are introduced in the Prelude. First is that of Aida, in a soft,
rising, yearning, chromatic melody (Ex. #10), played first by the strings but soon joined by a flute and clarinet, rousing emotions of pity and love for
Aida.
A soft descending melody played first by muted cellos introduces the Priests' theme. This melody is imitated by the higher strings and then the
woodwinds (Ex. #11)
As it reaches its crescendo, Aida's theme returns in counterpoint to the Priests' theme immediately juxtaposing these two irreconcilable demands.
Aida's theme next occurs as a clarinet solo as she makes her first appearance in the opera in Act I, scene i. Amneris harbors suspicions that Radames
loves Aida and not her. After she wishes Radames a victorious return, Aida, in a monologue, expresses her conflicting emotion. Should she hope for
victory for Radames her lover? But that would mean defeat for her father and her Ethiopian people. During this aria, her melody is sung for the first
time.as she sings of her beloved (Ex, #12).
In Act II, scene ii, Amneris confronts Aida and tricks her into admitting that she loves Radames. Once again, Aida sings her melody as she expresses her
tormented love for Radames (Ex. #13).
The last appearance of this Aida melody occurs in the Nile scene in Act III. Aida has come to meet Radames. Before her great "O patria mia" aria, she
enters cautiously to her melody, underscored by a restless string figure which creates a mood of doubt as she struggles with her conflicting emotions.
After the Prelude, the next appearance of the Priest's theme occurs during the Triumphal Scene of Act II, scene ii. After the people of Egypt have sung a
hymn in praise of their gods, the priests intone their theme in the form of a fugue in four parts. Each segment of the Priests enter three measures after
the previous until all four groups have entered. Verdi continues the fugal portion in the form of a stretto where each voice then enters only two beats after
the other (Ex. 14).
The final use of the Priests' theme occurs in the Judgment Scene in Act IV, scene i. Radames has been unwilling to accept Amneris's offer of marriage and
submits himself to trial by the Priests. Their theme is first heard in a very subdued manner in the low strings. However, when they invoke the spirits of
justice in a unison chant, the orchestra peels forth tutta forza with low brass, woodwinds and strings to emphasize the rigidity and finality of the Priests'
word and the strict rule of law.
One final note to those who used the opening motivation of father and daughter. This is the great duet between Amonasro and Aida in Act III. Amonasro
has come to confront his daughter just before her meeting with Radames. Although the Ethiopians lost the last battle, the prisoners were freed and they
plan to mount another attack. He tries to prevail upon his daughter to find out from Radames what route the Egyptian army will take. This confrontation
is in three parts.
1) Gently pleading. At first he tries to gently convince her why she must betray her lover for the sake of her homeland. They can return together to their
homeland and live in peace as a family (Ex. #15).
When she refuses​...
2) Violent outburst. He then tells her how the rivers will flow with Ethiopian blood if she refuses to help her country (Ex. #16).
He says that even her mother pleads with her from her grave. He finally announces that she is not his daughter but a slave of the Pharoahs and throws
her to the ground. 3) Calm comfort. When she reluctantly agrees, he comforts her in a soaring cantabile melody saying that she alone has the power to set
them free once more (Ex. #17).
Using Aida to Teach Humanities
Questions for Discussion and Writing
Projects and Further Study
A. SETTING THE STAGE
Amneris is assailed by cruel doubts at Rhadames's coldness. A rival is certainly contending for Rhadames's heart. Who is it? Aida, the Ethiopian slave
who fell into the hands of the Egyptians after a recent victory, appears at the rear of the stage. An ardent look from Rhadames, a long sigh from Aida
threaten to reveal everything. Some instinct tells the princess that her rival is the slave she sees before her ...
(Mariette Bey, from the original scenario of Aida submitted to Verdi)
... I have read the Egyptian outline. It is well done; it offers a splendid mise-en-scene, and there are two or three situations which, if not very new, are
certainly very beautiful. But who did it? There is a very expert hand in it, one accustomed to writing and one who knows the theatre very well ...
(Verdi, letter to co-scenarist du Locle)
Make the characters say what they must say without concerning yourself about the musical form.
(Verdi, letter to librettist Ghislanzoni)
As for the words themselves, Verdi insisted that they be "parole sceniche [dramatic words] ... carving out a situation or a character ... He was also quick
to reject any word or phrase that he found awkward or unsuitable, and in this his instincts were more reliable than those of his librettists.
(Robert Craft)
Aida is a special case. It has a good libretto, with a simple, credible, clearly shaped plot and all motives accounted for ... The stiff conflicts of love and
patriotism, the exoticism, the princes, priests, warriors, and disguised slaves are all delightfully typical of the schematic drama of the eighteenth century.
But unfortunately this was exactly the wrong sort of "good libretto" for Verdi, who was striking out into unformalized, immediate, present-day emotions
and approaching the psychological precision of the spoken play. "Real" life, "realist" life, will not fit into so conventionalized a separation of deeds and
feelings ... The result in Aida is, in my opinion, an almost constant disparity between the particular glib simplicity of the libretto and the alarming
complexity of the musical expression ... Only Amneris comes to life; Aida is thoroughly confused; Rhadames seems like a throwback ... there is a curious
falsity about Aida which is quite unlike Verdi ...
(Joseph Kerman)
Doubtless the precise value to be attached to this libretto will depend primarily on the importance given to theatrical effectiveness for its own sake. As
already stated, the characters do not lack humanity; they are real enough -- in the case of Amneris, at any rate, exceptionally so. There is little pretense,
however, of subtle psychology; the emotions portrayed are broad, elementary, usually dependent on violent conflict. Thus Aida is torn between her love
for Radames and her obligations to her father and her country; Radames has to choose between his love for Aida and his duty as a soldier; Amneris
passes from moods of ardent love, in which no sacrifice seems too great, to moods of jealousy in which everything seems permissible ... This is the
libretto of a grand rather than a tragic opera.
It will be noted that all Verdi's efforts were concentrated on obtaining simple and direct effects, on the finding of le mot juste which should portay a
situation in a nutshell ...
There are blemishes. For instance, the continued concealment of Amonasro's identity after Aida has recognized him as her father seems scarcely
credible, while nobody has ever explained how or when Aida found her way into the crypt where Radames was to be buried alive. But, as a whole, the
libretto of Aida is a very fine piece of work if not actually the best specimen extant of its period and class.
(Francis Toye)
You can look at Aida as an Egyptian opera, a French opera or an Italian opera. For most people, perhaps, it is the Egyptian aspect that predominates.
Aida is the Grand Opera of all Grand Operas, the great operatic spectacular: tunes, choruses, trumpets; vast crowds, monumental sets; armies, temples,
Egyptian priests, Ethiopian slaves, horses, camels, elephants -- the lot ...
... the popular idea of ancient Egypt is to a great extent encapsulated for us in this most successful of all Verdi's works. Clearly the archeological
framework of the subject was one of the things which first tickled Verdi's imagination: it was something new, something different, which he felt would
get him out of the rut of the usual operatic settings, and from the beginning he was much concerned about the historical details of the scenario ...
It is in the first two acts, with their religious and triumphal ceremonials, that the historical details are most in evidence, reaching a climax in the visual
and musical splendours of the Triumph Scene, the biggest and best of many such scenes in nineteenth-century French and Italian opera. For Mariette,
with his romantic vision of the grandeur of the Kingdom of the Pharaohs, this was an essential scene, in which all the elements of ancient Egyptian
greatness could be paraded in a monumental setting with glittering ceremonial and a vast panoply of musical effect. For Verdi, however, once he had
worked himself into his subject, the archeological trappings began to assume less importance, and became simply a background against which he was
able to concentrate on the human situations which were the real stuff of the drama. (As he said in another context: "To copy reality can be a good thing,
but to invent reality is better, much better.")
... whatever the implications of Egyptian nationalism as an allegory of the contemporary situation in Italy, there is no doubt that the true drama of Aida
originates in quite another quarter ... the entry of Amonasro makes it perfectly clear where Verdi's sympathies lie: whatever the musical seductions of
Pharaonic grandeur, the emotional impetus of the opera comes from Ethiopia, and its ultimate protagonist is not Radames, or Amneris, or Ramfis, or the
King, but Aida herself. In the end, Verdi was nearly always on the side of the underdog ... Italy was herself the underdog: but by the time of Aida,
however, the new Italian state no longer saw itself like that and Verdi, who was proud of his country and its achievement, was prepared to celebrate the
new spirit ... there is in Aida a confusion of patriotic feeling, a double tug at the national heart strings ...
(Michael Rose)
... all of Verdi's usual Risorgimento themes are present: the aria "o patria mia," the chorus calling for war, the antagonism between king and priests, and
the oppressed people. But they are slightly distanced by the non-European setting, and time has begun its process of obscuring topical allusion to leave a
drama more purely artistic ... In the 1840's and 1850's ... members of the audience would have thought: yes, yes, that is how it is. In the 1870's and
1880's, the older members recalled, that is how it was.
(George Martin)
... this dream Aida is more a Christian than a Nubian. Her chivalrous Radames is Christian as well. The only Egyptian is the lofty Amneris, the pharoah's
daughter. Her violence, her dignity and her anger are Egyptian. The mournful lamentations during which she has thrown herself on the floor of the
temple are Egyptian. Animal-headed gods dwell in Amneris ...
Opposite the strong, savage Amneris is Aida, black, weak, and gentle, a slave. In the long history of ancient Egypt there were two very real conflicting
women like the two, Amneris and Aida, in conflict in this single opera. The Egyptian queen Hatshepsut, the king's wife who went through two successive
husbands, calmly took the supreme power for herself, wearing the false beard and two crowns of Egypt. Nefertiti was the betrayed wife of Akhenaton, a
resigned and passively exiled woman, who died deserted in the High Castle deep in an abandoned city. Her husband, Akhenaton, was the ancestor of
monotheism, wishing to destroy the many gods who watched over Egyptian life. In his wish to impose a single sun God, western intellectuals of today
delight in finding the future figure of a Moses (like Freud) or a Christ. But he condemned his wife to banishment. Hatshepsut, on the other hand, leaned
on polytheism to establish her power; like any good pharaoh she built temples so the gods would guarantee, as they did every year, the flooding of the
river Nile and the fertility of the land ... Aida and Amneris ... are somehow the heiresses to the two greatest figures of women that Egypt has left us. But
one of these, Hatshepsut, ruled powerfully, in a world where gods lived and took care of both everyday life and the wonderfully prepared life on the other
side of mortal shores. The other, Nefertiti, the beauty with the bent neck, paid the price of her royal husband's monotheistic madness with her freedom ...
They are both locked up in the temple, both Amneris and Aida. The Egyptian is condemned to live, an authoritarian queen, defeated by the opera; and
the Nubian woman is condemned to die. The first one finds herself back with the Egyptian gods, the second carries out her death, thanks to heaven.
(Catherine Clement)
Finally, listening to Aida with ears freshened by Shakespeare [Antony and Cleopatra], I was after many years alive again to its dramatic ironies. The fact
that Aida has concealed her royal identity during her enslavement in Egypt affects every character and situation in the opera, from beginning to end. In
the opening scene Radames thinks he can hope to marry a slave only if he wins unparalleled glory in battle -- knowing it is Aida's country, but not
knowing it is her father, he must fight. In the closing scene, Amneris, kneeling on the stone that has sealed the fate of the man she loves, does not and
will never know that her rival was by birth not a slave but a princess like herself. Neither does she know that that rival has died with her beloved in the
darkness below and is even now entering the realm of light with him. To know that, Amneris would have to look not to Egypt with its cruel, chanting
priests and its impassive god Ptah; for that she must Ôfind new heaven, new earth.' These may be small dramatic points compared to Shakespeare's, but
as Verdi's vaporous "O terra, addio" ebbs away, there is little question that the Bard's imagery has found its match in the composer's imaginative music.
(Owen Lee)
B. QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION AND WRITING
1. As in many other operas, a main issue in Aida is the conflict between public and private life. What is the exact nature of this conflict here? What do
you think of the decisions the characters make when faced with this conflict? Would you make similar decisions? Specifically, should private loyalties
(such as romantic love) take precedence over public ones (such as service to one's country)?
2. How does the "grand" backdrop of crowd scenes, dances, ceremonies, elaborate costumes and scenery serve the more intimate central plot of the
drama? Do the two support each other, or get in each other's way? Are they equally important?
3. Consider Verdi's famous comment about "inventing reality." What does he mean?
4. Is Aida a tragedy in the traditional, Aristotelian sense of the term? If not, what elements of tragedy are missing, or how else does it differ from "true"
tragedies? if it is (in Toye's distinction) a grand opera but not a tragic one, does that make it a lesser work than if it were a "proper" tragedy?
5. The term "patria" in Italian has echoes of both "father" and "country." Explore the implications of this for an understanding of Aida.
6. A major element in Aida is religion: Egypt is a theocracy, and the priests are powerful. Think about such historical theocracies as the Massachusetts
Bay Colony in the seventeenth century or Iran and Afghanistan today. What can we learn from Aida, and from these examples, about the nature of
theocracies? What does Verdi's attitude seem to be towards theocracy and religion?
7. Other issues in Aida are race and slavery. How does Aida relate to the American experience of slavery? What are the similarities? The differences?
Which seem more notable?
C. PROJECTS AND FURTHER STUDY
1. "Grand opera" is a technical term applicable to certain stage works popular in nineteenth century France; Aida is one of the last such works. Read
about and listen to other grand operas, and find out what makes them tick.
2. Research the historical and political circumstance of mid-nineteenth century Italy, including the Risorgimento and unification, and how Aida can be
seen to reflect these circumstances.
3. How true to ancient Egyptian history and culture is Aida? How is our understanding of ancient Egypt different today from what it may have been in
Verdi's day?
4. Other "Egyptian" operas worth investigating are Phillip Glass's Akhnaten (see Clement's comments above) and Barber's Antony and Cleopatra, based
on Shakespeare (see Lee's comments).
5. Many of Verdi's other operas are similar to Aida in structure or dramatic situation. On either side of Aida chronologically, Don Carlos and Otello will
reward comparison with Aida; try others as well.
6. A new version of Aida, with music by Elton John and lyrics by Tim Rice, is currently enjoying a successful run on Broadway. See it, or listen to
available recordings. Read critical commentary about it. Consider the major departures from Verdi's plot, and why the creators chose to make them.
7. Verdi and his collaborators were very precise about staging and design in Aida, in an attempt to attain historical authenticity. Most subsequent
productions have followed their lead: elaborately detailed sets and costumes that attempt to recreate ancient Egypt on stage. Is there another way? Try
designing your own production in a different and perhaps simpler style, without violating the spirit of the work, and explain what your designs are
intended to achieve.