Giuseppe Verdi - Ernani (Dimitri Mitropoulos)

Information

Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

• Ernani (Restored in 2026)
• I Vespri siciliani: Mercé, dilette amiche
• Nabucco: Ben io t’invenni!
• La forza del destino: Pace, pace, mio Dio!
• Aida: Qui Radames verrà
• Norma: Casta Diva
• Tosca: Vissi d’arte

Mario del Monaco

Anita Cerquetti

Ettore Bastianini

Boris Christoff

Maggio Musicale Fiorentino

Dimitri Mitropoulos, conductor

Date: 1957 / 2026

Label: Urania Records

_____________________

Ernani is a four-act operatic dramma lirico by Giuseppe Verdi, featuring an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave based on Victor Hugo's 1830 play Hernani. Commissioned by Venice's Teatro La Fenice, the opera developed through close collaboration between Verdi and Piave, with the composer famously insisting that the title role be written for a tenor rather than a contralto. Following its triumphant premiere on March 9, 1844, Ernani achieved immense popularity and frequent revivals, remaining Verdi's most performed work until the 1853 premiere of Il trovatore. In 1903, it made historical precedent by becoming the first complete opera ever recorded.

Dimitri Mitropoulos (1896–1960) was a distinguished Greek-born American conductor, composer, and pianist renowned for his emotional intensity, extraordinary photographic memory, and pioneering technique of conducting from the keyboard without a score. After completing his early musical studies in Athens, Brussels, and Berlin, he launched an acclaimed international career, eventually serving as the music director for both the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic. Celebrated for championing modernists, the Second Viennese School, and the symphonies of Gustav Mahler, he also served as the principal conductor at the Metropolitan Opera. Mitropoulos died in Milan during a rehearsal of Mahler's Third Symphony, leaving a profound legacy as a influential 20th-century musician.