Talk:Aida

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[edit] Language

Maybe I'm just missing it, but the article doesn't seem to say what language the text of the opera was originally performed in.

[edit] Reference to Musical

At one time in history, Disney planned on having a movie called "Aida" based on this, but production was stopped in 1999?? 66.245.12.170 22:58, 25 May 2004 (UTC)

I think that what 66.245.12.170 may be referring to is the Disney musical stage production, which I feel should be referenced and linked. Zephyrprince 04:51, 25 August 2005 (UTC)
Actually, I think Disney was planning a movie, but they decided not to go forward with it and instead did the Broadway musical. 140.247.240.180 (talk) 20:38, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Film

I've seen the film adaptation of this a couple times now on Canadian TV, but can't see any mention of this on English Wikipedia. The 'Svenska' (swedish??) version does have it though, here starring Margareta_Ridderstedt. The IMDB page is here. Perhaps someone can do a translation of the sv page into English? For what it's worth, it was an amazingly shot movie, albeit with so much nudity that I'd be shocked if it ever made it to American TV. --Kickstart70·Talk 20:51, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

A request for translation has been made on the appropriate Wikipedia page (Wikipedia:Translation into English#Swedish-to-English) --Kickstart70·Talk 19:51, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal

Contrary to popular belief, the opera was not written to celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, nor that of the Khedivial Opera House.

anyone can verify this statement???
it seems to be untrue, according to many other sources.

--Hkchan123 13:03, 8 April 2006 (UTC)

I inserted the above "Contrary ...." sentence into the article, and I also inserted under "References" near the bottom of the page that this info can be found in Budden's book. The composition process is very fully dealt with and documented there. I suggest you have a look at it. --GuillaumeTell 18:00, 10 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Diacritics

I propose to again remove the umlauts from the word Aïda in this article. I did this on 3 May and it was reverted by User:Mr Snrub without explanation (I have now put a note on his/her Talk page).

The article is called Aida, the character is called Aida and the title of the opera is Aida, in both Italian and English. The articles in such English-language reference works as The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, the Penguin/Viking Guide, the Oxford Dictionary of Opera and Kobbé all use Aida and not Aïda. I know that the umlaut is necessary in French and possibly other languages so that people don't pronounce the "Ai" as in words like "aide", but this is the English-language Wikipedia, not the French one. I plan also to remove the grave accent from "Radamès" for exactly the same reason. --GuillaumeTell 11:00, 15 May 2006 (UTC)

GuillaumeTell is absolutely right on this. It is Aida not Aïda. - Kleinzach 14:52, 15 May 2006 (UTC)
Either way is proper in this instance, there are many English-language treatments that include the diacritical marks; A Treasury of Grand Opera (one of the listed references) is just one of these. I also saw this performed recently in the United States and the characters were listed as Aïda and Radamès, not Aida and Radames. Inasmuch as Verdi wrote them this way originally, no harm is done in presenting the names in a like manner here. Mdhennessey 19:13, 15 May 2006 (UTC)
The Opera Project basic reference is New Grove Dictionary of Opera. This is the most authoritative volume on opera in the English language. It gives Aida without the dieresis. Not only that but it gives the 18 main references (on page 952) to this opera - all without the dieresis! (Incidentally I have never heard of A Treasury of Grand Opera.)
I'd be interested to know from Mdhennessey when and where Verdi used the name Aïda. Where exactly is this recorded? If everybody has got the spelling wrong up to now then we should all know about it! - Kleinzach 13:35, 18 May 2006 (UTC)
I checked several sources in English, including the authoritative books by Julian Budden and Mary Jane Matz. None of them use the dieresis. I agree with Guillaume Tell and Kleinzach that it should be removed. Buondelmonte
I have removed the accents in line with Grove and majority opinion here. It's worth noting that the Italian page of Wikipedia uses Aida. As far as I know only the French page has Aïda. I trust that is satisfactory and ends this controversy. Regards to all. - Kleinzach 10:11, 20 May 2006 (UTC)
It's also worth mentioning that there is a redirect from Aïda, and that only ten other articles point to the redirect page, whereas there are (by my count) over 130 that point directly to Aida. --GuillaumeTell 16:51, 20 May 2006 (UTC)
Counting which ones go directly here and which through the redirect tells us almost nothing. There are many editors who go around changing the links to the current article name. Furthermore, the variant spelling belongs in the article according to naming conventions rules. Mention it in the intro, then use he other. Gene Nygaard 20:09, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Authentic Egyptian instruments

I read somewhere that Verdi wanted to use authentic period Egyptian instruments but when he saw what they were like he realized they were about the equivalent of a child's tin horn and wouldn't give the right kind of sound for a big production like this. I can't remember where I read it and I'd need verification before adding it to the article. --Bluejay Young 00:56, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Opera Pacific photo

This has a large amount of black top and bottom. i wonder if the person who uploaded it could crop it? - Kleinzach 01:17, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Separate articles on each of the characters in the opera

I see that someone has made separate articles on each of the characters in the opera. This has occasionally happened in the past and it has been deplored by the Wikipedia:WikiProject Opera as an unnecessary and confusing form of proliferation of material which should be made easily accessible in the main opera article.

Accordingly I will be reverting the edit and recommending deletion of the pages that deal with non-historical figures. Please feel free to discuss this issue below. Regards to all - Kleinzach 15:47, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Spelling

Shouldn't "Aida" have an umlaut on the "i", creating "Aïda" ? Cheesypot 21:02, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

It's actually a diæresis, but you're right, it should be Aïda.Cameron Nedland 23:31, 19 March 2007 (UTC)
This has been fully dealt with above under the heading "Diacritics". The position is that this is an Italian opera, and the title of that opera in Italian is Aida. In Italian, the two initial vowels ("a" and "i") are pronounced individually - approximately "ah-ee", and there's no need for the diæresis. Putting one there would be the equivalent of putting an acute accent onto the e in Il trovatore. --GuillaumeTell 01:13, 20 March 2007 (UTC)
Sorry, my bad.Cameron Nedland 04:10, 20 March 2007 (UTC)
GuillaumeTell , I am sorry for editing Aida to Aïda, I didn’t see the discussion. It can be confusing since many sites prefer to use Aïda. Anyway, when you changed the name, you also removed “noted arias” and a link to the “aria DB and the role” that I wrote before that. I have added them back and I have also changed “Aïda” to Aida in my other page (ms). - Jay 06:28, 24 April 2007 (UTC)
Interesting. I always though it had a diaeresis. As that spelling is so common, perhaps it could usefully be mentioned in the article.

[edit] Film versions

The article lacks references to the film adaptations, so I have added a paragraph regarding this in the Background section. I mention the two adaptations that already have Wikipedia articles, but IMDb lists numerous others, so if there's more detail to be given on those, it might be worth creating a separate section. The fact the two versions cited -- including one featuring a pre-stardom Sophia Loren and the future Miss Moneypenny of all people -- involved lead actors lip-synching, is worth noting though I don't know if this was considered standard practice for such films. There's a movie called "Aria" that appears to follow the same format, with actors like Elizabeth Hurley shown lip-synching to opera recordings. 68.146.41.232 (talk) 15:54, 14 December 2007 (UTC)


[edit] Cite, please

"Aida ... based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette (although there are scholars who argue that the scenario was really written by Temistocle Solera)." -- Please cite the assertion the scenario was really written by Temistocle Solera. (The Wikipedia article on Solera is a brief stub which does not mention this. Auguste Mariette also says nothing about any dispute on authorship.) Wikipedia:When to cite, Wikipedia:Citing sources -- Writtenonsand (talk) 15:47, 29 December 2007 (UTC)

(I'm also posting this on the Opera Project Talk Page) I've just checked this out and added the reference to the article. It's:
Mary Jane Phillips-Matz, Verdi: A Biography, 1992, Oxford University Press cited in Alexis Hamilton, Origins... Aida, Portland Opera, 2007
Here's what it says:
"There is much evidence to dispute that Mariette’s story was purely original, though he claimed it as his own. This is not to say that he was a calculated plagiarist as his brother later accused, but an eminent Egyptologist who would have some knowledge of older Egyptian stories and legends. Charles Osborne points out an interesting coincidence of plot points between an 18th century libretto Nitteti by Metastasio and that of Aida. It is more than possible that Du Locle added some of the more human characteristics in Nitteti and also plot points seen in an opera Bajazet by Racine. Neither of these is the story of Aida, but Aida contains elements of both.
In her definitive 1992 biography of Verdi, Mary Jane Phillips-Matz puts forward the possibility that the entire scenario for Aida was by Temistocle Solera, erstwhile friend and librettist of Verdi’s who was living in Cairo at the time. Given the rancorous regard in which Verdi held Solera, it is no wonder that Du Locle would hesitate to credit the flamboyant librettist/composer with the work. She also adds a novel by Heliodorus, Aethiopica, as another source story for Aida."
Best, Voceditenore (talk) 16:53, 29 December 2007 (UTC)