Music composed by: Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901) Rendered into Arabic by: Samir Shikhani An opera in three acts, first produced in St. Petersburg in 1862

The characters: • The Marquis of Calatrava • Leonora, his daughter • Curra, her maid • Don Alvaro, a young nobleman • Don Carlo, Leonora's brother • Father Guardiano • Brother Melitone, a monk • Trabuco, a muleteer • Preziosilla, a gypsy • An army surgeon • Soldiers, peasants, beggars, pilgrims, monks, dancers men and women • An innkeeper and his wife.

The time: the eighteenth century. The place: Spain and Italy.

The Prologue

The scene: a room in the house of the Marquis of Calatrava in Seville. When the curtain rises we see the Marquis bidding his daughter Leonora good evening before bed. Hardly has he disappeared when we learn, from Leonora's agitated talk with her maid Curra, that she has promised the young hero Don Alvaro to flee with him that very night. This young man is a stranger; no one knows anything of his ori-gins, and therefore Leonora — aristocratic girl that she is — knew for a certainty that her father would never consent to her marrying him. Don Alvaro arrives, entering by the balcony window, and while the two lovers stand ready for flight the Marquis returns, his sword in his hand. Don Alvaro takes up his pistol to defend himself, but after a moment's reflection casts it aside. Then the unforeseen happens: a shot goes off from the pistol and strikes the noble Marquis in the heart. He breathes his last, cursing his daughter. Don Alvaro draws Leonora after him through the window, and the curtain falls.

Act One

Scene One: an inn near the Spanish village of Hornachuelos. In the pursuit and flight by night that follow the killing of the Marquis, Don Alvaro is separated from Leonora, and each believes the other dead. In search of a safe refuge where she may take some measure of rest, Leonora disguises herself in men's clothes, anxious to make her solitary journey less perilous. She soon reaches the great inn in the village of Hornachuelos. There, in the dense crowd, she recognizes her brother Don Carlo. She does not reveal her identity to him, but she listens as he tells the story of his father's death at the hand of her beloved, and hears him swear to avenge him.