Verdi wrote his Egyptian opera Aida in response to a commission from the Khedive of Egypt for the opening of the new Cairo Opera House, after rejecting requests for an anthem to celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal a year earlier. The first performance was conducted by the famous double-bass player Bottesini. Spectacle, of which some stage directors have made much, is provided particularly in the return of the victorious Radames in triumph. The story was the invention of the French egyptologist Auguste Mariette, elaborated in French prose by Camille Du Locle, before the final Italian text was drafted. Aida remains a popular part of Italian opera repertoire. Familiar concert excerpts from Aida inevitably include the tenor Celeste Aida (Heavenly Aida) and Aida's Ritorna vincitor (Return victorious). The grand march has celebrated many an unoperatic festivity and has allowed spectacular extravagance in more ostentatious productions of the opera. O patria mia (O my homeland) for Aida in the third act adds a particular poignancy, while the final death scene of Radames and Aida is also sometimes to be heard in dramatic isolation.
