Verdi – La forza del destino Ouverture [analysis]

Introduction

In January 1861 Verdi – who hadn’t worked on a new opera for 2 years (his last opera, “Un ballo in maschera” is from 1859) – was still debating whether or not accepting to be a candidate to the first Italian parliament. In the same period he received an offer from the St. Petersburg theater to compose a new opera for the following season.

He debated on the subject for some time but eventually opted for the Spanish drama Don Alvaro, o La fuerza del sino by Angel de Saavedra y Ramirez. As Verdi himself wrote to his French editor, La forza del destino is a “big and powerful drama, and I’m really in love with it“. He started writing in September and was done with it by December.

Giuseppe Verdi painted by Giovanni Boldini

Giuseppe Verdi – An analysis of the Ouverture from La forza del destino

In case you don’t have it at hand, here’s a quick link to the score.

The opening Sinfonia was added by Verdi in 1869 with the idea of an opening piece but also of a standalone work. The Sinfonia starts with 3 calling chords. Calling as in calling for the attention of the audience.

At this point in time, theaters’ lights were still staying on and people were chatting, eating, and generally enjoying themselves. Aside from the dramatic purposes of introducing us to the subject of the opera, these chords were also telling the audience that the show was about to start.

The Sinfonia is makes use of the main themes from the opera: we hear the first one after the 3 chords have been reiterated