Love for Verdi's Aïda

One More Time for a Favorite Opera: When I heard Aïda by Guiseppe Verdi was opening the season at the Cairo Opera House, I had to go. The opera is a favorite with Egyptians as well as international audiences. My ticket cost 75 LE (Egyptians pounds), $12.50. The seat is near the front. However, my driver said if I arrive early I can probably get a better one. Egyptians aren't stand-in-line and keep-to-your-exact-spot types of persons. Egyptians love the opera for its themes and performance history, which draws world attention to the opera and Egypt. Usually a large-scale production, Aïda recalls ancient Egyptian history and mythology, setting the stage with monumental sets of temples on the Nile River shores, Egyptian high priests, Ethiopian slaves, large crowds and even camels and elephants. Isma'il the Magnificent: The opera is in four acts with the Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette. It was commissioned by the Khedive Isma'il Pasha and performed first at the Khedivial Opera House in Cairo on 24 December 1871. The opera was thereafter performed on a number of spectacular stages in Egypt, including at the new Cairo Opera House, against the backdrop of the Deir Al-Bahari Temple in Luxor, and in front of the Sphinx in Giza. This year the opera opens in the Main Hall of the Cairo Opera House in Zamalek. Isma'il Pasha, sharing the ambitious outlook of his grandfather, Muhammad Ali Pasha, greatly modernized Egypt and Sudan during his reign. His vision can be seen in a statement he made in 1879: "My country is no longer in Africa; we are now part of Europe. It is therefore natural for us to abandon our former ways and to adopt a new system adapted to our social conditions." Today's Egyptians seem to be wary of the West. Islam has rebounded to assert its prevalence in daily life and proven its utility as a political vehicle. Yet, Egyptians and others continue to love Verdi's Aïda. Let's see what I learn about who gets a seat where at the Cairo Opera House this evening–and on what scale this production will be done.

View of the Citadel (El-Qala): Just realized I have a view of the Citadel from my back window. A view of the Nile (over which the sun sets every evening in a dramatic display) from the front and a Cairene panorama including the Citadel from the back. How spectacular! I had always been looking directly at the horizon formed by the Moqattam Hills and didn't realize that the Citadel lies on them just below the distant skyline. OK, the picture's not so great given the smog. The Citadel was built in the 12th century by Saladin to protect the old city of Cairo from the Crusaders. It has become and remains an iconic image of Cairo today. Opera Comments: A fellow Fulbrighter, Shawn Lent, is teaching at the High Institute of Ballet, so we got a backstage tour before the performance by her dean. Met one of the principal ballerinas, the director of Aïda, Abdel Moneim Kamel, and the assistant director, Magdy Saber. Also, due to Shawn, I got a really good seat, close to the center in the third row. She had free tickets; and a friend couldn't make it. Most of the Egyptians shifted their seating during the first intermission; but upon our return from refreshments, there were still two places left in the same row–directly in the center this time. Artificial elephant tusks were carried in for the triumphal march. Many people left early.