Il trovatore

trovatore, Il (The Troubadour) (Verdi). Libretto by Salvatore Cammarano; 4 acts; first performance Rome 1853, conducted by Emilio Angelini.

Biscay and Aragon, 15th cent.: Ferrando recounts the events which took place before the opera begins: Old Count di Luna had two baby sons. An old gypsy put the ‘evil eye’ on the younger baby and was burnt as a witch. Her daughter Azucena, who had a baby of her own, swore to avenge her. She snatched the other di Luna baby to throw into the flames of her mother's funeral pyre. Demented, she threw a baby - but was it the Luna baby or her own? Always bent on revenge, she brought the remaining baby up as her son, the troubador Manrico. He is now an adult and Azucena an old lady. Old Count di Luna is dead, his elder son has inherited the title, but has never believed that his brother died. Both di Luna and Manrico are in love with Leonora. The two men fight a duel. Manrico wins, but does not kill di Luna, who later injures Manrico in battle. He is nursed by the old gypsy Azucena (his apparent mother), who tells him the story of throwing a baby into the fire. Azucena is arrested and insists that Manrico is her son; di Luna plans to burn her to avenge his baby brother's death. Manrico goes to Azucena's rescue, but is captured and imprisoned with her. Leonora offers herself to di Luna in exchange for Manrico's release, but to avoid belonging to di Luna, she has already taken poison and dies at Manrico's feet. Now di Luna sentences Manrico to death, and brings Azucena to watch the execution. As Manrico dies, Azucena tells di Luna that it was her own baby she threw in the fire all those years ago. Now di Luna has killed his own brother.