‘Attila’ in San Francisco

Martin Bernheimer is mistaken when he asserts in his review “Attila the Bass in San Francisco” (Nov. 26) that it took 145 years for Verdi’s opera “Attila” to reach San Francisco (it was composed in 1846). According to the Verdi scholar George Martin (letter to the London Times Literary Supplement, Nov. 23-29, 1990), the opera was premiered in San Francisco in 1859. On that occasion the critic for the Evening Bulletin reported that the Italians in the audience had “very heartily and loudly applauded” more than once when the opera lent itself to patriotic sentiment, such as the moment when Attila gives Odabella a sword and she declares that she will use it to free her country. According to the critic, at that moment some Italians in the upper galleries “seemed to be moved even to tears.”

JAMES PORTER

Department of

Ethnomusicology, UCLA