Learning Objectives

• Recognize and describe how operas use music to convey parts of a story, such as the overall mood or tone, or a character’s emotions
• Understand how companies use dress rehearsals to transition from rehearsal and preparation to being ready for a big performance
• Describe ways that art from the past can influence and speak to people today in various ways—from exploring themes that are still relevant to appearing in popular culture through the ages

Education Standards Alignment

• MU: Re7
• TH: Re7
• MU: Cn11
• MH: Cn11

(Social Emotional Learning)

• Social Awareness
  • Taking others’ perspectives
  • Understanding the influences of organizations/systems on behavior
• Responsible Decision-Making
  • Learning to make a reasoned judgment after analyzing information, data, and facts
  • Anticipating and evaluating the consequences of one’s actions

What to Expect

• The Il trovatore rehearsal is approximately three hours long with one intermission.
• Operatic singing is very dramatic. Sometimes the performers may sing louder to show emotions such as sadness, anger, or fear.
• Lighting effects are used throughout the show on stage to help set the mood of the scene.
• In this rehearsal, the Washington National Opera’s artists will work out the final details of their production before opening night.
• While the details can change based on what the cast and crew need to be ready, most open rehearsals include a full run-through of the piece, with occasional stopping and starting.
• While a rehearsal is often very similar to a performance, it’s possible there will be some differences, like some performers will be conserving their voices or physical movements for the real thing or some costumes getting their finishing touches off stage.

Look and Listen for

• The differences between a rehearsal and a final performance. In these rehearsals, audiences are invited to watch the final stages of preparation before opening night. Many times, dress rehearsals will be very similar to a performance as the performers and crew try to run everything just the way they will for the real thing. Other times, adjustments need to be made. What do you notice? Are there staff and technicians in view observing and making notes that you might not see during a performance? Are any of the performers “marking,” or singing lightly, to save their voices? Is anyone out of costume, and if so, why do you think that is? Does the company decide to stop and fix anything? Even though the performance is not quite ready, why do you think the company would want to invite an audience to see a dress rehearsal?
• The way the music tells the story. While operas can be sung in any language, many like Il trovatore are in Italian. Don’t worry—the English translation is projected above the stage using captions called surtitles, so you can understand everything. However, opera composers show how the characters are feeling through the music. Can you tell just from the sound of the music when a character is joyful? Afraid? Angry? What about the music gives you these emotional cues?

Think About

The trouble in Il trovatore starts when the child of a noble family falls ill and dies. In their anger and sorrow, the family accuses a woman of using witchcraft to kill the baby. The woman is a target because she belongs to the Roma community, a group that is stereotyped as malicious and untrustworthy largely because of their different customs and language, and often darker complexions, than other people in the area. The woman is burned at the stake, causing her daughter, Azucena, to commit a horrible act of murder in revenge; this turn of events sets off generations of fear, suspicion, and, eventually through the plot of this opera, more needless death and trauma. What might have prevented all of this from happening? How are we suffering today from the actions of the generations before us? Even if we cannot change the past, what could we do today to set right the lasting effects of past injustices?

Wait, What’s Happening?

Opera plots can be notoriously complicated and Il trovatore is considered one of the trickiest! Librettist (the person who writes the words) Salvadore Cammarano and composer (the person who writes the music) Giuseppe Verdi interweave multiple narratives of war, love, and revenge with complicated backstories, shady pasts, and secret identities. This is great for dramatic effect, but sometimes difficult to follow in the moment! Take some time to to help make everything clear.

Sensitivity to Stereotypes and Slang

The Roma people have long faced negative stereotypes and discrimination in ways that remain evident today. In fact, people may not realize that an insulting term for this group became an English phrase used to describe being cheated. Gain mindfulness about the history of this problematic term and its legacy through .

The Anvil Chorus

Giuseppe Verdi is one of the most famous composers in all of opera history, and it’s no wonder, as he created some tunes so catchy that we still remember them today! One of the most memorable songs from all of opera appears in this opera: the Anvil Chorus. The piece is popularly used in commercials, movie soundtracks, and cartoons. The name comes from the use of an anvil—a large metal block used by blacksmiths in metalworking (and by cartoonists in tormenting their characters). Verdi uses the tool as an instrument, providing a steady, metallic clang during the most memorable part of this chorus.

Make Work Easier

The famous Anvil Chorus in Il trovatore uses anvils–actual tools from metalworking–and is sung by workers as they use the anvils. This is an operatic twist on the longstanding tradition of work songs. Used in many cultures, work songs are one example of how people use music and the arts in day-to-day living. They make work easier by making repetitive tasks more engaging and providing a steady rhythm that can make the process smoother and easier.

Try lightening your own load by improvising a work song. The next time you are doing a chore—especially something a little repetitive, like folding laundry or putting away dishes—look around to see if there is an object you could (safely!) turn into a percussion instrument. Maybe a laundry basket could be a drum, and of course pots and pans can be very musical! Working with a partner or two, see if you can keep a steady beat that helps you work at a steady pace. Then see if you can sing some simple words—just a phrase or two is all you need—to go along with the beat. You can sing about anything, like how you ended up with this task, or what you hope to do when you’re done. See if you can find something fun and catchy that helps the work go faster!

Name that Tune

The Anvil Chorus isn’t the only piece from an opera to make its way into popular culture. Chances are you’ve heard bits and pieces of opera all over the place. of selections from opera and other classical genres and see if any parts of the pieces are familiar. How many do you recognize? Where do you remember hearing them? Find a few that you think you’ve heard and look up their origin. What opera is it from and what is happening during that song in the story? Now that you know, does it change how you think about the song?

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Gifts and grants to educational programs at the Kennedy Center are provided by The Paul M. Angell Family Foundation; Bank of America; Capital One; The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation; Carnegie Corporation of New York; The Ednah Root Foundation; Harman Family Foundation; William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust; the Kimsey Endowment; The Kiplinger Foundation; Laird Norton Family Foundation; Lois and Richard England Family Foundation; Dr. Gary Mather and Ms. Christina Co Mather; The Markow Totevy Foundation; Dr. Gerald and Paula McNichols Foundation; The Morningstar Foundation; Myra and Leura Younker Endowment Fund; The Irene Pollin Audience Development and Community Engagement Initiatives;

Prince Charitable Trusts; Dr. Deborah Rose and Dr. Jan A. J. Stolwijk; Rosemary Kennedy Education Fund; The Embassy of the United Arab Emirates; The Victory Foundation; The Volgenau Foundation; Volkswagen Group of America; Jackie Washington; GRoW @ Annenberg and Gregory Annenberg Weingarten and Family; Wells Fargo; and generous contributors to the Abe Fortas Memorial Fund and by a major gift to the fund from the late Carolyn E. Agger, widow of Abe Fortas. Additional support is provided by the National Committee for the Performing Arts..

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