The première of Ernani at Venices' Teatro La Fenice in 1844 failed to come up to Verdi's expectations, primarily because of the poor health of some of the singers. Both critics and audiences, however, soon warmed to Ernani. The opera contains some of Verdi's most successful, impassioned arias (first and foremost Elvira's cavatina and Silva's cantabile) and clearly denoted an evolution in terms of dramatic structure, more cohesive and with lesser use of blocks of closed numbers. Despite a turbulent 'premiere', Ernani became a real international success, beginning with the felicitous Vienna productions of May/June 1844. The cast of this Teatro Regio of Parma production features some of today's best singers for this type of repertoire.
Director: Matteo Ricchetti
Conductor: Antonello Allemandi
Stars: Marco Berti, Carlo Guelfi, Giacomo Prestia, Susan Neves
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2707076/
Verdi's 5th opera, based on a Victor Hugo play.
First performed at Teatro La Fenice in Venice, 1844.
Time: 1519
Place: Aragon, Aachen, and Zaragoza
Filmed at Teatro Regio di Parma.
Summary (see Simon's 100 Great Operas): Ernani, a nobleman turned bandit ala Robin Hood, who wants to kill/dethrone King Don Carlo (usurper of Ernani's land), loves Elvira, who is betrothed to Silva; he enlists his bandits to kidnap her. King Don Carlo wants Elvira too; Ernani interrupts his attempted seduction/rape; Silva arrives too. Silva and Ernani sometimes act together, as when the king later takes Elvira as hostage. Ernani has pledged to kill himself if Silva wants. When the king develops ambition to succeed Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor, he mends his ways and gives Elvira to Ernani, despite Ernani's plan (with Silva) to murder him. After Ernani & Elvira marry, Silva calls in the fatal pledge; Ernani complies. (Yes, this Don Carlos is father/grandfather to characters in the 1867 Verdi opera, Don Carlo.)
While Simon explains that Silva protects Ernani from Carlo because of some rules of hospitality, he does not explain why Ernani offers his capture as a wedding present to Silva, nor why this is extended to a suicide promise. Is it just because he's distraught thinking Elvira agreed to marry Silva (she believed Ernani dead)? I did not read through the entire duet between Elvira and Ernani. Nor do I find an explanation in Simon. But more than once I read some line about the serious nature of promises in that place.
The singing is fine. We get plenty of arias, duets, trios, quartets, choral pieces. The staging is dull, with very little action. When dancing is clearly intended by a lengthy instrumental piece, the "dancers" merely walk around the stage in pairs. Perhaps they're being faithful to what we understand was dancing of that age, but it's boring to watch. The sets are only walls (no furniture, no variety of levels). Everything is slanted, as are the camera angles: an expressionist vision in color.
Per the Great Course: 1st of many collaborations with librettist Francesco Maria Piave:
1844 Ernani
1844 I due Foscari
1846 Attila
1847 Macbeth (first version)
1848 Il corsaro
1850 Stiffelio
1851 Rigoletto (also from Victor Hugo)
1853 La traviata
1857 Simon Boccanegra (first version)
1857 Aroldo (revision of Stiffelio)
1862 La forza del destino (first version)
1865 Macbeth (second version)
Per the 2012 featurette, without naming the source of world-wide most-performed rankings, this is 15th among Verdi's operas, 415th among all operas. (another source-less list of the top 100; Operabase Statistics)
Unitel, cond. Allemandi; 7
