Not only is "Aida" a family drama, but it is set in Ancient Egypt, and its scenario, however modest at just 4 pages, was written by the Egyptologist Mariette Bey

Not only is "Aida" a family drama, but it is set in Ancient Egypt, and its scenario, however modest at just 4 pages, was written by the Egyptologist Mariette Bey. Verdi had to labour over it, because there was little material to begin with: Mariette simply read the story in an ancient papyrus and retold it without much detail, without even specifying the exact time, merely the era of the pharaohs.

Needless to say, there was a political undercurrent to the creation of the opera, and it is hard to interpret the Sheikh's personal commission in any other way. Incidentally, Verdi did rather well out of it: having not taken up the work at the first attempt, he asked for $30,000 (and this in 1871) and in return supplied the patron with a single score and the right to stage it in Egypt, keeping all other rights for himself.

The history of the creation of the music and libretto is in fact very interesting, but even without going into it, it is worth knowing that the opera is considered one of the masterpieces of classical music.

Tito Gobbi, the subject of the second book, sang precisely the Ethiopian king Amonasro, father of the slave Aida, opposite Callas. A baritone means a villain. Though Tito began as a bass, he soon moved to baritone. His biography is an engaging one: a lawyer who became a singer of world stature and, when his voice began to fail, won fame in opera films.

But the best Amonasros, where Aida with Callas is concerned, are considered to be Rafael de Falchi in 1950 and Giuseppe Taddei in the 1951 production.

As for me, I love the Amonasro of Muslim Magomayev.