Verdi's four-act opera Ernani in a performance given in December at the Vienna State Opera. Based on Victor Hugo 's play, it unfolds a tale of conflict and rivalry set in Spain, where the outlaw Ernani and his sworn enemy Don Carlo - the king - find themselves in love with the same woman. Elvira languishes in the clutches of her elderly guardian - a metaphor for Austrian dominion - and Ernani may only rescue her at a terrible price. Written when he was just 30 for the Fenice theatre in Venice, Ernani was hugely popular and was the work that established
Verdi as one of the foremost opera composers of his day. It marked his first collaboration with librettist
Francesco Maria Piave , soon to become his most trusted collaborator, and was later the first
Verdi opera to be performed in Britain. Sung in Italian.
Vienna State Opera Orchestra, conductor Seiji Ozawa