Constantly struggling against the Austrian censors who were very active in Venice, Verdi built his work around the measure of his music, which took priority over everything. For this initial incursion into the world of Hugo, the libretto was written in close collaboration with the young Francesco Maria Piava, who became the Maestro’s best partner for ten of his operas. After his great portraits Nabucco and I Lombardi, the composer was looking for a libretto that would be equally grandiose but different, for which he wanted: “a lot of fire, tremendous action and conciseness.” He finally chose Hernani, the Victor Hugo drama that in 1830 had led to a famous “battle” between the classics and the romantics under the wainscoting of the Comédie-Française.
The public was clamouring for Verdi, still and always. From then on he had to compose ceaselessly, one or two works a year, in order to meet the requests from opera directors. The triumph of Ernani, whose lovely arias were being hummed even before the premiere, firmly established Verdi’s position as he was setting out on what he called his “years in the galley”. On the evening of 9 March 1844, two years to the day after the formidable success of Nabucco at La Scala, which really started Verdi’s career, Venetians enthusiastically welcomed the first opera the Maestro had created for La Fenice.
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