The “Va Pensiero” is the most famous opera choir in the history of opera.
It was written in 1842 by Giuseppe Verdi and is sung in the third part of the opera “Nabucco”.
The song is also called the lament of the Jewish slaves of Babylon but in reality Giuseppe Verdi made it a hymn to the liberation of the Lombard people, also a “slave” of an oppressive regime: that of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Even today it is sung as a hymn to the freedom of all peoples.
His verses were written by Temistocle Solera inspired by a psalm: 137.
The text is highly sought after, it is full of sophisticated terms that reflect the cultured poetry of the nineteenth century.
Il testo è molto ricercato, è ricco di termini ricercati che rispecchiano la poesia colta dell’ottocento.
The Nabucco debuted at La Scala in Milan on March 9, 1842, and due to its content and the period in which it was performed it is considered Verdi’s Risorgimento opera.
From that moment the Milanese people filled the walls with an inscription: W VERDI which had two meanings: the first to pay homage to the great Scaliger composer and the second as an acronym for: Viva Vittorio Emanuele Re Di Italia
Video: Va Pensiero
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMgOPH1WxF4
VA PENSIERO
(Giuseppe Verdi Busseto 10 ottobre 1813 – Milano 27 gennaio 1901)
Va, pensiero, sull’ali dorate;
Va, ti posa sui clivi, sui colli,
Ove olezzano tepide e molli
L’aure dolci del suolo natal!
Del Giordano le rive saluta,
Di Sionne le torri atterrate…
Oh, mia patria si bella e perduta!
O membranza sì cara e fatal!
Arpa d’or dei fatidici vati,
Perché muta dal salice pendi?
Le memorie nel petto raccendi,
Ci favella del tempo che fu!
O simile dei Solima ai fati
Traggi un suono di crudo lamento,
O, t’ispiri il Signore un concento
Che ne infonda al patire virtù.
Un abbraccio/ a big Hug
Marcus Dardi
