I Due Foscari ─ Tragedia Lirica [in Three Acts] Libretto by Francesco Maria Piave

The fate of Francesco Foscari, the Doge who loses his only son Jacopo, his crown, and ultimately his life to the intrigue of a vengeful rival and the internal machinations of the Venetian state– was a popular subject in the 19th century. In addition to Lord Byron’s 1821 play, The Two Foscaris, on which the libretto is based, the subject appeared in large-scale paintings by Francesco Hayez and Eugene Delacroix. Of these artists, it was most likely Hayez who inspired Verdi to write an opera on the subject: his Foscari painting of 1842-44 show striking similarities with some of the stage directions in the opera’s libretto. Verdi originally planned to writeI due Foscari for the Teatro La Fenice in Venice. When the scenario was rejected by the censors for fear that powerful families still residing in Venice would object to the negative portrayals of their ancestors, Verdi turned to the Rome Opera and the librettist Francesco Maria Piave, who had authored his recent Ernani and would soon write the libretti forAttila, Macbeth, Stiffelio, Rigoletto, and La traviata. In his early negotiations with Piave, Verdi wrote: “I would suggestI due Foscari. It is a subject I like and of which you already have a sketch in Venice. I beg you to retrieve it. If you want to make any alterations to that scenario, do so, but stay close to Byron.” Verdi conceived of the opera as a relatively small-scale work, concentrating on personal confrontations (between the Doge and Jacopo’s accuser, Loredano, and between Jacopo’s imploring wife, Lucrezia, and her father-in law) rather than grand scenic effects. The Venetian setting also encouraged Verdi to exploit the potential of local color to add an important dimension to musical drama. Ultimately, it is the sheer beauty and power of the music and the striking use of recurring themes to identify the principal characters that givesI due Foscari pride of place among Verdi’s early operas and shows the young composer earnestly experimenting with new means of musical and dramatic articulation and expression.

Andreas Giger is the Louise and Kenneth L. Kinney Professor of Opera at Louisiana State University. He is author ofVerdi and the French Aesthetic: Verse, Stanza, and Melody in Nineteenth-Century Opera.