Giuseppe Verdi
La Forza del Destino
This production ran: Feb 26 - Mar 29
This production is in the past.
$25 rush tickets are available for every performance and go on sale for Monday through Friday evening performances at noon, for matinees four hours before curtain, and for Saturday evenings at 2:00PM. Learn more about the Met's rush ticketing program here.
Overview
Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts Verdi’s grand tale of ill-fated love, deadly vendetta, and family strife, with stellar soprano Lise Davidsen following a string of recent Met triumphs with her role debut as the noble Leonora, one of the repertory’s most tormented—and thrilling—heroines. Director Mariusz Treliński delivers the company’s first new Forza in nearly 30 years, setting the scene in a contemporary world and making extensive use of the Met’s turntable to represent the unstoppable advance of destiny that drives the opera’s chain of calamitous events. The distinguished cast also features tenor Brian Jagde as Leonora’s forbidden beloved Don Alvaro, baritone Igor Golovatenko as her vengeful brother Don Carlo, mezzo-soprano Judit Kutasi as the fortune teller Preziosilla, bass-baritone Patrick Carfizzi as Fra Melitone, and bass Soloman Howard as both Leonora’s father and Padre Guardiano. For the final three performances, soprano Elena Stikhina and mezzo-soprano Maria Barakova take over as Leonora and Preziosilla.
Please note that video cameras will be in operation during the March 4 and March 9 performances as part of the Met’s Live in HD series of cinema transmissions.
A co-production of the Metropolitan Opera and Teatr Wielki–Polish National Opera
The Met gratefully acknowledges the support of the Gramma Fisher Foundation, Marshalltown, Iowa, Lynne and Richard Pasculano, and the Rosalie J. Coe Weir Endowment Fund
Additional support from the Walter and Leonore Annenberg Endowment Fund and Marina Kellen French
Major support provided by Rolex
Languages
Languages sung in La Forza del Destino
Sung In
Italian
Titles
Title languages displayed for La Forza del Destino
Met Titles In
- English
- German
- Spanish
Timeline
Timeline for the show, La Forza del Destino
Estimated Run Time
3 hrs 50 mins
-
House Opens
-
Acts I and II
85 mins
-
Intermission
25 mins
-
Act III
55 mins
-
Intermission
30 mins
-
Act IV
35 mins
-
Opera Ends
Premiere: Imperial Theatre, St. Petersburg, 1862 (original version); Teatro alla Scala, Milan, 1869 (revised version)
A powerfully driving work encapsulating the wild spirit of the Romantic movement, La Forza del Destino is a grand and tragic opera that contains not only a treasury of some of its composer’s best music but also a singular dramaturgical style harnessing all tones, from high tragedy to common comedy. Verdi’s score augments every aspect of the drama with an intensity that stands out even among his other mature works.
Creators
In a remarkable career spanning six decades in the theater, Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901) composed 26 operas, at least half of which are at the core of today’s repertoire. Francesco Maria Piave (1810–76), the librettist for La Forza del Destino, provided texts for a number of operas in the first half of Verdi’s career. Verdi and Piave based the opera on a play by Ángel de Saavedra, Duke of Rivas (1791–1865), and also incorporated a scene from Wallensteins Lager by Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805). For the revised version of Forza, Antonio Ghislanzoni (1824–93), the future librettist of Aida, provided additional text.
Production
Mariusz Treliński
Set Designer
Boris Kudlička
Costume Designer
Moritz Junge
Lighting Designer
Marc Heinz
Projection Designer
Bartek Macias
Choreographer
Maćko Prusak
Composer
Giuseppe Verdi
Setting
The opera is set in various locations in Spain and Italy around the time of the War of the Austrian Succession. The rapid progression of scenes takes place across private quarters, public gatherings, and religious sites, and the boundaries between these settings blur as the actions associated with one spill over into the others. This season’s new production moves the story to the present day and examines the drama’s themes through a contemporary lens.
Articles
Videos
Music
La Forza del Destino grabs the listener from the first measures of its famous overture: two sets of insistent chords from the brass and bassoons followed by relentlessly forward-moving figures signifying the unyielding force of destiny. All of life’s extremes are depicted in vivid colors in Verdi’s palette, not to mention in the great vocal displays of the principal characters: three remarkable baritone-tenor duets; Leonora’s thrilling arias “Madre, pietosa vergine” and “Pace, pace, mio Dio”; her scene with Padre Guardiano in Act II; Don Carlo’s aria “Urna fatale”; and the tenor’s Act III opener, “La vita è inferno all’infelice ... Oh, tu che in seno agli angeli,” with its extended clarinet introduction.
