Giovanna d'Arco (Joan of Arc): Concert performance

Composed in barely four months, the score of Giovanna d’Arco gives us an insight into an ambitious Giuseppe Verdi who is looking to experiment and innovate in his vocal and instrumental style which undoubtedly achieves moments of great brilliancy. The historical character is presented to us as a combination of historic precision mixed with significant elements of poetic license, the most notorious of which is that his heroine dies on the battle field and not burned at the stake as happened in reality.

 It is the end of a Giovanna who, under the influence of divine inspiration, urges the French to confront the invading English troops, and with her daring she wins the heart of the King of France. In addition, as an essential part of the plot, we find the type of relation father-daughter that Verdi found so fascinating throughout his career, and in this case it is presented with the aggravating circumstance that it is her father who reports her to the enemy, believing her to be bewitched, and thereby triggering the tragic end.