Last Saturday evening we went to the Teatro della Rosa in Pontremoli for a concert of choral works by Giuseppe Verdi. The performers were from Teatro Regio di Parma, one of Italy’s most important Opera Houses, which specializes in performing Verdi’s Operas. In fact Verdi was born in 1813 just a few kilometers from Parma, in Busseto.

The concert, which was free, was organized by the Comune di Pontremoli both as a Christmas gift to the citizens, and as the inauguration of the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy which will take place in the year 2011. Why choose the music of Giuseppe Verdi to open the celebrations of the unification of Italy? Well, the name of Verdi is inextricably linked with the main protagonists of the Risorgimento (the name given to the historical period covering the wars for the independence and unification of Italy). When we were children our school textbooks always linked the Risorgimento with the images of six persons:

Vittorio Emanuele II di Savoia, who became the first Italian king;

Camillo Benso Conte di Cavour, the main politician;

Giuseppe Mazzini, the mind behind the unification;

Giuseppe Garibaldi, the warrior;

Alessandro Manzoni, the poet and writer;

Giuseppe Verdi, the musician.

Some of Verdi’s Operas, in particular Nabucco, I Lombardi alla Prima Crociata and Macbeth, were adopted by the Italian patriots as metaphors for the fight of the Italians against their oppressors. It is said that in Milano, which was under the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the population would stand outside the Teatro alla Scala and shout: "Viva Verdi!" (long live Verdi!), however, the name Verdi was intended as an acronym for Vittorio Emanuele Re Di Italia. All this has contributed to create the myth of Verdi as the great patriot. There is a famous piece of Verdi’s music called "Va pensiero" from the Opera "Nabucco", that even today is considered to be the unofficial Italian National Anthem. This lovely theme was sung by the Coro del Teatro Regio di Parma at the end of their concert as a bis (encore), much to the great delight of the audience. To finish the evening on a really patriotic note, the choir spontaneously performed "L’Inno di Mameli", also know by the name "Fratelli d’Italia", taken from the first line of the text, which is Italy’s official national anthem.

l’Inno di Mameli was written by Goffredo Mameli and composed by Michele Novaro in 1847, at the beginning of the Risorgimento wars, immediately becoming a very popular revolutionary song. It was sung at the time by Garibaldi’s Mille Camicie Rosse (Thousand Red Shirts), and the melody was played by the Bersaglieri when they entered Roma in 1870. Verdi incorporated Fratelli d’Italia along with the Marseilles and ‘God save the Queen’ in his "Inno delle Nazioni" (Anthem of the Nations) composed for the Great Expo held in London in 1864 .

On the 12th of October 1946 Fratelli d’Italia was chosen as the provisional national anthem of the newly born Italian Republic. Nothing in Italy is more permanent than the provisional, and L’Inno di Mameli was eventually ratified as the official national anthem in 2005!

Last Saturday was the first time I’ve ever been present at a public performance in which the national anthem was sung, and I must say that the audience, who all stood up, seemed very pleased and appreciative, especially as it was performed, for a change, by a professional choir without the blasting of a military band in the background.