Imperial March

Few operatic melodies are more familiar than the march that accompanies Radamès’s victorious army into the city of Thebes (Track 1). Certainly, few are simpler. The theme, played initially by a small chorus of three trumpets, comprises only five different pitches. The phrase is heard twice, then the same notes are rearranged into a new melody to form a middle section, before the original phrase recurs one more time.

Verdi then repeats this pattern but inserts a jolting modulation from A-flat major to B major—two largely unrelated keys. Here, the main theme is taken up by a separate group of three trumpets as a new cohort of soldiers passes before the king of Egypt. For the conclusion of the march, both sets of trumpets unite, one playing the main melody and the other accompanying in rapid staccato triplets. This section is a prime example of diegetic music, or music played (and heard) in the opera’s narrative world. That is, the characters in Aida themselves are listening to the same march as the audience watching the performance.

Notably, the Triumphal March is one of very few sections in which Verdi sought to bring genuine historical effect to Aida. Recent archeology had uncovered simple, valveless horns, which prompted Verdi to commission special trumpets in an attempt to recreate the spare, stirring tones the ancient Egyptians might have heard when celebrating a victory. The composer turned out to be more historically accurate than he could have known. Half a century after Aida, in 1925, a pair of horns was found in the tomb of King Tutankhamen. One was tuned in A-flat, the other in B—precisely the same two keys Verdi had chosen for his Triumphal March!

The stately, pompous march is followed in quick succession by a celebratory ballet, also presumably a diegetic sequence witnessed by those celebrating Egypt’s victory in war (Track 2). Over this section, Verdi cycles through five themes. It begins with rapid, staccato triplets in the flute and piccolo, doubled by the violins, and accompanied by legato descending lines in the bassoon. A second theme, jaunty and somewhat mischievous, appears in the piccolo and oboe, replete with ornaments, trills, and chromaticism. This section is superseded by a calmer, almost leisurely motif driven by the violins and violas and, after moving to the woodwinds, punctuated by sforzando attacks in the string section. A fourth theme has the winds and strings trading light, flighty arpeggios before the orchestra enters as a whole for a final, bombastic fanfare. The ballet ends with a reprise of the second, third, and first themes.