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Simon Boccanegra

Simon Boccanegra – The Council Chamber Scene

October 13, 2023

Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra was first performed in 1857. It achieved a very modest success. Verdi thought about revising it for many years. With Arrigo Boito as his librettist, he finished a major overhaul of the work in 1881. Boito’s work on the revised libretto was a test drive for his suitability as Verdi’s collaborator on […]

Tutto Verdi: Simon Boccanegra

January 13, 2016

Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra in its revised 1881 version was staged by Parma’s Teatro Reggio in March of 2010. Verdi’s gloomy masterpieces is a specialized taste, the Met did not get to it until 1932 and has only done it 139 times. It’s libretto is awkwardly constructed and sometimes almost impossible to follow. For example, why […]

The Photographs of Robert Cahen – Simon Boccanegra in LA

February 17, 2012

The following photographs of Placido Domingo and Ana Maria Martinez were taken by Robert Cahen on February 5, 2012. The occasion was a dress rehearsal of the Los Angeles Opera’s staging of Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra. The production is from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

Simon Boccanegra in HD

February 7, 2010

Verdi’s majestically flawed masterpiece was televised February 6, 2010. Simon Boccanegra stays in the repertory because of it’s glorious music and its great title role. It always fails to completely satisfy because of its insane libretto and because of it’s imperfect structure. Piave’s libretto makes that of Il Trovatore look like the exemplar of the […]

Simon Boccanegra in San Francisco

September 16, 2008

The San Francisco Opera presented Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra on Friday September 12th. The last time I heard Verdi’s flawed masterpiece was also in San Francisco. Paolo Gavanelli sang the title role in the company’s 2001 production. The performance I heard was a disaster. Gavanelli’s voice was somewhere else yet he attempted to sing. A whisper […]