Around The Liberal Outcomes and EventsConcerto di arie d'opera del Coro dell'Università di Pisa Opera Arias Concert by the University of Pisa Choir

Byron and Italian Opera: A Selection from i due Foscari by Giuseppe Verdi

The concert Byron and Italian Opera: A Selection of Arias from I due Foscari by Giuseppe Verdi was organized by the Department of Philology, Literature and Linguistics at the University of Pisa within the framework of the PRIN 2022 project Reviving the Liberal: Literature and Politics between Britain and Italy, 1821–23, in collaboration with the University of Pisa Choir and CIDIC (the University Centre for Innovation and Cultural Dissemination).

The concert took place on Tuesday, 1 July 2025, in the extraordinary setting of the Church of San Paolo a Ripa d’Arno, featuring soprano Silvia Pantani, tenor Marco Mustaro, and baritone Paolo Ruggero, accompanied by pianist Silvia Mannari and by the University of Pisa Choir under the direction of Maestro Stefano Barandoni.

The Two Foscari is among the most emblematic historical verse dramas by George Gordon Byron. Written in Ravenna and set in fifteenth-century Venice, the tragedy recounts the personal and political conflict of Doge Francesco Foscari, torn between paternal love for his son Jacopo—accused of treason and condemned to exile—and the demands of his institutional role. The play stages the conflict between familial affections and public duty, culminating in a tragic conclusion: Jacopo dies in exile, and Francesco, devastated by grief, is forced to abdicate. The tragedy offers a meditation on justice, the arbitrariness of power, and the alienation of the individual within an oppressive political system.

Giuseppe Verdi’s I due Foscari, with a libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, adapts Byron’s drama by focusing on the more emotional and familial dimensions of the narrative, enhancing its dramatic intensity through profoundly evocative music. The score is distinguished by poignant lyricism, and its dramatic orchestration powerfully conveys the claustrophobic atmosphere of the events. The arias compellingly express the characters’ inner conflicts, especially the father’s helpless sorrow and the son’s proud suffering.

The interpretation offered by the soloists and the Choir was able to fully convey the pathos of Verdi’s opera with exceptional expressiveness, immersing the large audience in a unique, intense, and emotionally resonant cultural experience—an experience that evoked the presence of Lord Byron in one of the most suggestive locations in Pisa, the city that welcomed the great Romantic poet in the early 1820s and where Byron left an indelible mark.