The Viennese critic Eduard Hanslick famously derided the opera's plot as confusing, describing it as a tale of children burned or stolen.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Every scene in Verdi's "Il trovatore" is imagined as taking place in "blackest night," which is a metaphor for the characters' unconscious lives.
Composition History
The libretto for "Il trovatore" was written by Salvatore Cammarano, based on Antonio García Gutiérrez's play "El trovador," which premiered in Madrid in 1836.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Verdi, like the play's author Antonio García Gutiérrez, focused on the obsessive natures of the main characters, who cannot escape a cruel past.
Compositional Technique
Verdi used tonal and motivic relationships, along with a unified lighting plot, to prevent the score from falling apart due to the many narrative situations.
Composition History
Verdi's opera "Il trovatore" premiered in Rome in 1853, following his opera "Rigoletto."
