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Ernani

Dramma lirico in four acts by
FRANCESCO MARIA PIAVE

First performance:
Venice, Teatro La Fenice, 9 March 1844

Critical Edition by
CLAUDIO GALLICO

The University of Chicago Press 1985

CHARACTERS:
ERNANI, a bandit, tenor
DON CARLO, King of Spain, baritone
DON RUY GOMEZ DE SILVA, grandee of Spain, bass
ELVIRA, his niece and betrothed, soprano
GIOVANNA, her nurse, soprano
DON RICCARDO, squire of Don Ruy, tenor
JAGO, another squire of Don Ruy, bass
Mixed chorus of rebel highlanders and bandits, knights and members of Silva's household, Elvira's handmaids, knights of Don Carlo, Spanish and German noblemen and their ladies.
Extras: highlanders and bandits, electors and grandees of the imperial court, pages, German soldiers, ladies, male and female followers.

The action of the first half of the opera takes places in Spain, in the mountains of Aragon and in Silva's castle. For act III the scene shifts to Germany and the tomb of Charlemagne at Aachen, returning to Spain for act IV, at Ernani's palace in Saragozza. The time is 1519.

Instrumentation: Piccolo, Flute, 2 Oboes, 2 Clarinets, Bass Clarinet, 2 Bassoons, 4 Horns, 2 Trumpets, 3 Trombones, Cimbasso, Timpani, Bass Drum, Cymbals, Side Drum, Harp, Strings.
Onstage: Band including Bass Drum. Offstage: Horn, 6 Trumpets
Performance time: 2h 15m

Verdi found in Victor Hugo's tragedy Hernani (1830) the kind of subject he wanted for his fifth opera, following upon the grand epic dramas Nabucco and I Lombardi: one full of passion and rapid action, in which musical characterization of individuals could be foremost. An immediate success, Ernani was the first of Verdi's operas to be performed in Britain and thus to spread his reputation internationally during the 1840s.

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