Trivia / Aida (Verdi)

• All-Star Cast: As Aida, Amneris, Radamès, Amonasro, and Ramfis...
  • Audio Recordings:
    • 1955, conducted by Jonel Perlea: Zinka Milanov, Fedora Barbieri, Jussi Björling, Leonard Warren, Boris Christoff
    • 1955, conducted by Tulio Serafin: Maria Callas, Fedora Barbieri, Richard Tucker, Tito Gobbi, Giuseppe Modesti
    • 1956, conducted by Antonino Votto: Antonietta Stella, Giulietta Simionato, Giuseppe Di Stephano, Giangiacomo Guelfi, Nicola Zaccaria
    • 1959, conducted by Herbert von Karajan: Renata Tebaldi, Giulietta Simionato, Carlo Bergonzi, Cornell MacNeil, Arnold van Mill
    • 1961, conducted by Georg Solti: Leontyne Price, Rita Gorr, Jon Vickers, Robert Merrill, Giorgio Tozzi; Plinio Clabassi as Pharaoh, and Mietta Sighele as the High Priestess.^note This recording, originally issued on RCA's Red Seal, is still considered the gold standard. The box set was as much of a work of art as the recording, with a detailed and lavishly illustrated libretto and a stunning picture of Afro-American Leontyne Price on the cover. This is one of those things that needs to be heard on vinyl through the big speakers. Do not buy this on CD.
    • 1967, conducted by Zubin Mehta: Birgit Nilsson, Grace Bumbry, Franco Corelli, Mario Sereni, Bonaldo Giaiotti
    • 1970, conducted by Erich Leinsdorf: Leontyne Price, Grace Bumbry, Plácido Domingo, Sherrill Milnes, Ruggero Raimondi
    • 1974, conducted by Claudio Abbado: Martina Arroyo, Fiorenza Cossotto, Plácido Domingo, Piero Cappuccilli, Nicolai Ghiaurov
    • 1979, conducted by Herbert von Karajan: Mirella Freni, Agnes Baltsa, José Carreras, Piero Cappuccilli, Ruggero Raimondi
    • 1983, conducted by Claudio Abbado: Katia Ricciarelli, Elena Obraztsova, Plácido Domingo, Leo Nucci, Nicolai Ghiaurov
    • 1986, conducted by Lorin Maazel: Maria Chiara, Ghena Dimitrova, Luciano Pavarotti, Leo Nucci, Paata Burchuladze
    • 2001, conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt: Cristina Gallardo-Domâs, Olga Borodina, Vincenzo La Scola, Thomas Hampson, Matti Salminen
    • 2015, conducted by Antonio Pappano: Anja Harteros, Ekaterina Semenchuk, Jonas Kaufmann, Ludovic Tézier, Erwin Schrott
  • Video Productions:
    • 1981, conducted by Garcia Navarro at the San Francisco Opera: Margaret Price, Stefania Toczyska, Luciano Pavarotti, Simon Estes, Kurt Rydl
    • 1989, conducted by James Levine at the Met Opera: Aprile Millo, Dolora Zajick, Plácido Domingo, Sherrill Milnes, Paata Burchuladze
    • 2007, conducted by Riccardo Chailly at the Teatro alla Scala: Violeta Urmana, Ildikó Komlósi, Roberto Alagna, Carlo Guelfi, Giorgio Giuseppini
    • 2018, conducted by Nicola Luisotti at the Met Opera: Anna Netrebko, Anita Rachvelishvili, Aleksandrs Antonenko, Quinn Kelsey, Dmitry Belosselskiy
• Never Work with Children or Animals: In one production, the famous tenor Lauritz Melcior was supposed to come on stage riding in a chariot drawn by two horses. However at the first rehearsal the horses stampeded, and he barely managed to stop them from dragging him and the chariot into the orchestral pit.
• Typecasting: Many black sopranos in Aida's range face this issue of being limited to singing the role of Aida.
  • Interestingly enough, this was averted by famous Black-American soprano Leontyne Price. In 1958, she was invited to sing Aida at the Metropolitan Opera, but she was encouraged to turn it down by Peter Herman Adler, the director of the NBC Opera, and other people, in favour of making her debut there in a non-stereotypically black role. (Metropolitan general manager Sir Rudolf Bing, a passionate anti-racist, would have endorsed this.) Instead, she debuted as the Spanish noblewoman Leonora in Il trovatore in 1961, another Verdi opera. This made it easier for producers to think of casting her in a variety of roles in her vocal range such as Donna Anna (Spanish), Cio-Cio-San (Japanese), Tatyana (Russian), and Tosca (Italian). While she did sing Aida many times in her career, she was never limited to just that role.
  • Due to opera's tradition of Colorblind Casting, often the mezzo-soprano or contralto playing Amneris is black too. It was not at all unusual to see Price facing off with somebody like Grace Bumbry. And until Price came along, it was perfectly normal for Aida to be played by a white singer (until very recently, often in dark makeup, as this was considered respectful and not offensive; in the 2020s, this is considered outmoded and extremely racist). Changes in today's sensibilities may demand, or at least encourage, that characters should be portrayed by singers of the same race.

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