Are there any opera fans out there? I was very interested to see that the Canadian Opera Company was staging Giuseppe Verdi’s Nabucco this year, which has never been performed by the COC. Reading the article in the Star, I was intrigued enough to look up the Biblical passages on which parts of this opera are based. One thing led to another, and I found myself researching Nebuchadnezzar in sources other than the bible.
Nebuchadnezzar is the 6th century BCE King of Babylon who was responsible for the Babylonian captivity and exile of the Israelite nation. His name, Nebuchadnezzar, is an anglicization of Nabu-Kudurri Usur, meaning “Nabu, watch over my heir.” Nabucco is an abbreviation of the other name by which he is known, Nabucodonosor.
In biblical history, Nebuchadnezzar is most famous for the conquering of Judah and the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem in 586 BCE. Judah had rebelled against Babylon in 597 BCE during the reign of Jehoiachin and then again in 588 BCE during the reign of Zedekiah. Tired of the rebellions, Nebuchadnezzar proceeded to completely destroy the temple and most of Jerusalem, deporting most of the remaining residents to Babylon. According to the prophet Jeremiah, Nebuchadnezzar served as God’s instrument of judgment on Judah for its idolatry, unfaithfulness, and disobedience.
Nebuchadnezzar also figures prominently in the Book of Daniel, in the familiar story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and the “fourth man in the fire.” It’s an interesting story – I encourage you to look it up and learn where the expression “feet of clay” comes from. Secular history records Nebuchadnezzar as a brutal, powerful, and ambitious king, and the Bible, for the most part, agrees.
Verdi’s opera Nabucco has special meaning for me, as it gave to the world what has become almost a second anthem for the Italian people, the iconic “Va Pensiero”, better known to us as The Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves. The Let There Be Music Choir, which I was proud to be a part of from 2002 until we sadly shut it down during the pandemic, performed this piece several times, and of all the hundreds of beautiful pieces I sang with this choir, this one stands out as my number one favourite. When we were shutting down the choir and ensuring that our vast music library was going to a variety of good homes, I just had to keep a copy of this one piece for myself as a memento. It was introduced to the choir by Harry Learoyd, the choir’s founder and director from its inception in 1989 until his retirement from the choir in December 2013, when the choir was turned over to the competent hands of Susan Chopp and the late David Parsons. I remember Harry saying that it took him a long time to obtain the English choral version. The chorus recollects the period of Babylonian captivity after the destruction of Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem in 586 BC. The libretto, by Temistocle Solera, is inspired by Psalm 137. There are many versions on YouTube. I encourage you to have a look.
When Verdi died on January 27, 1901, onlookers in Milan’s streets spontaneously began singing “Va, pensiero” as his funeral procession passed by. A month later, at his burial, a young Arturo Toscanini conducted a choir of eight hundred in the famous hymn. In 1981, journalist and creative writer Giorgio Soavi proposed replacing Italy’s national anthem with “Va, pensiero.” The proposal was widely discussed for some time and then abandoned until 2009, when Senator Umberto Bossi took it up again, but to no effect. However, Bossi’s political party has adopted “Va, pensiero” as its official hymn and the chorus is now sung at all party meetings.
Below to the left is a literal translation of the beautiful Italian words. The choral version that we sang, on the right, is a loose translation that conveys the same meaning of profound regret and longing.
Fly, my thoughts, on wings of gold; go settle upon the slopes and the hills, where, soft and mild, the sweet airs of my native land smell fragrant!
Greet the banks of the Jordan and Zion’s toppled towers. O my homeland, so lovely and lost! O memories so dear and yet so deadly!
Golden dream, come and show me my home again Show me hilltop and mountain top and meadow Send me back to the cool summer shadow To the sweet air and the soft winds of my land.
See the bank of the blue river Jordan See the walls of the great city Jerusalem. Oh my home, are you lost now forever Precious mem’ry so lovely and so sad. Now the word of the prophet resounds no more
Golden harp of the prophets of old, why do you now hang silent upon the willow? Rekindle the memories in our hearts, and speak of times gone by!
Mindful of the fate of Solomon’s temple, Cry out with raw lamentation, or else may the Lord strengthen you
And the harp of the singer is broken. How the mem’ries live on all unspoken
In our hearts lives a world that is gone.
Raise a cry all you children of Zion Like the sound of the fall of our city Oh, be with us dear Lord in our sorrow
And provide us the will to be strong And provide us the will to be strong And provide us the will to be strong Help us, Lord, to go on.
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