“Madre, non dormi?…Ai nostri monti” from Il Trovatore

Azucena is a gyspy woman in Aragon and Manrico is her son. Or is he? In Verdi’s Il Trovatore - an opera (first performed in Rome in in 1853) with a score as inspired as the libretto is confusing - it is not clear who he is. Even he doesn’t know. The only one who can be sure is Azucena, since it is she who is responsible for the confusion of identity. Thanks to her, when the Count di Luna finally kills Manrico he kills his own brother and not, as they both thought, her gypsy son. Anway, in the last act both Azucena and Manrico, who is still not sure who he is, have been imprisoned by the Count and are awaiting their execution. In the first part of this scene Manrico attempts to comfort Azucena and then joins with her in a nostalgic duet (“Ai nostri monti”) about their former peaceful life in the mountains.