Giuseppe Verdi

I Vespri Siciliani

In 1854, Verdi was in Paris to compose I vespri siciliani (1855), a commission from the Theatre of the Opera. The composer soon became intolerant to the requests of the French 'Grand Opéra' as he considered them too restrictive and cunning. 'I'll be very happy when I have finished I vespri siciliani. An opera at the Opéra is as tiring as killing a bull. Five hours of music?…Hauf!' Verdi declared. Following the first performance, the French composer Hector Berlioz wrote in the 'Journal des Débats' an article that read 'We have to admit that in I vespri siciliani, the penetrating intensity of the melodic expression, the sumptuous variety of theinstrumentation, the fullness, the poetical sonority of the whole, the warm vivacity that shines everywhere and the passionate strength, although slow in disclosing (a characteristic feature of Verdi's talent), give the entire work a mark of greatness, a sort of majestic sovereignty more underlined than in Verdi's previous theatre productions. '