La forza del destino

• Verdi’s four-act opera, La forza del destino (“The Power of Destiny”), was written in 1862 and premiered that same year at the Imperial Theatre in St. Petersburg.
• The production of La forza del destino followed an unproductive period of composition Verdi. Commissioned by the Imperial Theatre at St. Petersburg, the opera’s premiere was not a definitive success. A noted perfectionist, Verdi revised the work over the next few years and premiered the new version at La Scala in 1869.¹
• The libretto by Francesco Maria Piave was based on a 19th-century Spanish drama called Don Álvaro, o La fuerza del sino by Ángel de Saavedra.²
  • Fun fact – Piave collaborated with Verdi on 12 operas, including La Traviata, Rigoletto, and Macbeth.

Opera Synopsis

1. Orrin Howard, “Overture, La forza del destino,” The Hollywood Bowl, accessed December 30, 2022, https://www.hollywoodbowl.com/musicdb/pieces/2635/overture-la-forza-del-destino.
2. Giuseppe Verdi, La forza del destino (Milan: G. Ricordi).