THE LYRICAL DRAMA. ESSAYS ON SUBJECTS, COMPOSERS, & EXECUTANTS W. H. ALLEN & CO., 13, WATERLOO PLACE, THE LYRICAL DRAMA. CHAPTER XXVI. AÏDA AND THE MANZONI REQUIEM. AIDA, Verdi's latest opera and, with the exception of the Requiem for Manzoni, his latest work, was produced at the Royal Italian Opera in 1876, with Mdme. Adelina Patti in the principal part. Composed for the Khedive of Egypt and brought out at Cairo in 1872, it crossed the Atlantic and was represented at New York; travelled to St. Petersburg and Moscow, and was performed in both the Russian capitals; was played at all the principal theatres of Italy and Spain; was heard at the Théâtre des Italiens of Paris; but, until the season of 1876, seemed to be prevented by some fatality from reaching London. The particular form taken by fatality" in the case of Aïda was, it is said, an unusually large demand made by the composer or his 66 |