YMMV / La forza del destino

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• Adaptation Displacement: It's safe to say that hardly anyone knows about the Spanish play that Verdi based the opera on.
• Awesome Music: It's Verdi, after all. The most notable examples are the Overture, the "Solenne in quest'ora" and "Invano, Alvaro" duets, Leonora's "Pace, pace, mio Dio" aria, and (in the 1869 version we're most familiar with) the final trio between Alvaro, Leonora, and Padre Guardiano.
• Broken Base: Which ending do you prefer? Many people like the 1869 ending better because they are most familiar with it, but those who prefer the 1862 ending, while acknowledging that the 1869 ending is better on a musical standpoint, insist that the 1862 ending makes better sense on a dramatic standpoint.
• Harsher in Hindsight: Don Carlo's Act III aria, "Morir, tremenda cosa"("To die, a wonderful thing"), becomes a lot harsher when you remember that the baritone Leonard Warren collapsed and died right after singing it during a performance at the Met Opera in 1960.
• Ho Yay: Don Alvaro and Don Carlo can sometimes invoke this during their moments in Act III.
• The Woobie: Alvaro and Leonora, without a doubt.

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