Essay/Term paper: "on experiencing verdi's aida"

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Culture

"On Experiencing Verdi's Aida"


Being my first time seeing an opera, I was very much impressed by the whole
production. I did not, however think it was very different than I had
imagined it would be like. Although my opinion would have been much better if
I saw it live, it was a great first impression.

I thought that all of the characters were very well casted. I did think
that even though they were all very talented singers, they could have used more
facial expressions and gestures to play out their emotions to match the scenes
and the music.

Out of all the characters, I liked Aida the most. I thought that she
carried herself very well and gave a fantastic performance. She also had great
chemistry with Radames. Radames too, showed little or no change in his voice or
actions to display the full range of emotions that he experienced. One of the
characters that had no effect on me was Amneris. Her character did not make
very much sense to me because she was cast as a princess and since Aida was her
slave I thought that Amneris did practically nothing to stop Radames and Aida's
love for one another. She did, however, show great dignity. I felt much
compassion for her betrayal and for her loneliness. I could identify with
Amneris very much because I think that we all would act like that out of
jealousy and rage.

The music in Aida was terrific. I thought that they wonderfully designed
the tempo to match the acts. The costumes and scenery were also excellent. The
dances gave great drama and spice to the production. Overall, I thought that
Aida was an enticing journey of nationalistic warship and hierarchy.