Sir, – Liam Dunne's letter (March 31st) correcting Michael Jansen's mention (World, March 27th) of the history of Verdi's Aida itself contains some small errors of detail.
Ismail Pasha, khedive (viceroy) of Ottoman Egypt, indeed commissioned Verdi to write Aida to mark the opening of Cairo’s Khedivial Opera House. However, Mr Dunne claims the Opera House opened in 1871.
In fact, the Khedivial Opera House was inaugurated in 1869 with a performance of Verdi’s earlier opera, Rigoletto, on November 1st of that year. Why was Rigoletto performed instead of the specially commissioned Aida? The costumes and scenery that had been made for Aida were trapped in Paris due to the climate preceding the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870. When the war broke out some months later, the equipment became even more difficult to get as Paris was placed under siege for nearly half a year.
Thankfully, the costumes and scenery survived the war and Aida was able to have its premiere on Christmas Eve 1871. The mostly wooden Khedivial Opera House burned down almost exactly a century later in October 1971, with only two statues surviving. The site was eventually turned into a multistorey car park. Cairo remained without an opera house until 1988. The new venue was opened with the first Japanese kabuki performance in Africa. – Yours, etc,
AARON CASSIDY,
Chapelizod,
Dublin 20.