Il Trovatore

Giuseppe Verdi

Il Trovatore

Upcoming Performances

Monday

Nov 11 at 8 PM

Thursday

Nov 14 at 7 PM

Sunday

Nov 17 at 3 PM

Friday

Nov 22 at 8 PM

Tuesday

Nov 26 at 8 PM

Saturday

Nov 30 at 8 PM

Tuesday

Dec 3 at 7:30 PM

Friday

Dec 6 at 7:30 PM

Overview

Verdi’s charged drama of family strife and forbidden love stars tenor Michael Fabiano as Manrico, the bold troubadour unwittingly at war with his own brother, with Gwyn Hughes Jones singing the final two performances. Sopranos Rachel Willis-Sørensen and Angela Meade share the role of the noble Leonora, with mezzo-sopranos Jamie Barton and Olesya Petrova trading off as Manrico’s tormented mother, Azucena. Baritone Igor Golovatenko is the unbending Count di Luna, with bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green as the soldier Ferrando. Italian conductor Daniele Callegari leads David McVicar’s Goya-inspired staging.

Production a gift of the Annenberg Foundation

Revival a gift of Bank of America and The Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation

A co-production of the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and San Francisco Opera

Languages

Languages sung in Il Trovatore

Sung In

Italian

Titles

Title languages displayed for Il Trovatore

Met Titles In

  • English
  • German
  • Spanish
  • Italian

Timeline

Timeline for the show, Il Trovatore

Estimated Run Time

2 hrs 55 mins

  • House Opens

  • Acts I & II

    70 mins

  • Intermission

    35 mins

  • Acts III & IV

    70 mins

  • Opera Ends

Il Trovatore

World premiere: Teatro Apollo, Rome, 1853. Verdi’s turbulent tragedy of four characters caught in a web of family ties, politics, and love is a mainstay of the operatic repertory. The score is as melodic as it is energetic, with infectious tunes that are not easily forgotten. The vigorous music accompanies a dark and disturbing tale that revels in many of the most extreme expressions of Romanticism, including violent shifts in tone, unlikely coincidences, and characters who are impelled by raw emotion rather than cool logic.

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. Salvadore Cammarano (1801–52) was one of the foremost librettists of his day. He collaborated with Donizetti (Lucia di Lammermoor, among others) and wrote the text for La Battaglia di Legnano and Luisa Miller for Verdi. After his death, the Trovatore libretto was completed by fellow writer Leone Emanuele Bardare (1820–after 1874).

PRODUCTION

David McVicar

SET DESIGNER

Charles Edwards

COSTUME DESIGNER

Brigitte Reiffenstuel

LIGHTING DESIGNER

Jennifer Tipton

CHOREOGRAPHER

Leah Hausman

Headshot of Giuseppe Verdi

Composer

Giuseppe Verdi

Setting

Il Trovatore

The opera is originally set in northern Spain in the early 15th century, during a time of prolonged civil war. Audiences of the Romantic era understood civil war as a sort of societal schizophrenia, in which individuals could be easily torn apart, both physically and psychologically, by shifting fortunes and conflicted loyalties. The Met’s production places the action during the Peninsular War (1808–14), when Spain and its allies were fighting the forces of Napoleon.

Videos

Music

Verdi’s score for Il Trovatore perfectly expresses the extreme nature of the drama at hand. Throughout the opera, the use of melody is as uninhibited as the emotions of the protagonists. But that melody often appears to be as disturbed as the situations it portrays: Much of the score is written in uneven meters (such as 3/4 or 6/8), and even those segments that are set in common 4/4 time have vigorous counter-rhythms fighting against any sense of symmetry. Beyond the rhythmic irregularities, another feature of the score is the heavy use of minor keys in almost all of the main arias.

Simon Boccanegra