I saw Nabucco (Nebuchadnezzar), Giuseppe Verdi’s first successful opera, for the first time last night. In it, he retells the Biblical story of the captivity of the Israelites in Babylon in the 6th century B.C.

In the opera, the chorus "Va, pensiero" (a reworking of Psalm 137) is sung by the exiled Israelites on the banks of the Euphrates, lamenting the loss of their homeland. The piece became a popular anthem for the north Italians. It served to express their own longing for political freedom from Austria, rather like the Negro spirituals in the antebellum South. Supposedly, when Verdi's coffin was carried to its final resting place in 1901, the crowd of over 25,000 people along the route began singing this “freedom hymn”.

With grand, sweeping themes, a great cast, well thought out staging and scenery, excellent lighting – Lordy Lordy! It was a splendid concert!

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Eudaimonia