What a world. Well over a century after the deaths of two of the greatest opera composers, Verdi and Wagner continue to play a role in world events.

Poor Wagner. Always appropriated by the wrong team.

Verdi outside the Odessa Opera House

Wagner in Mali

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/03/09/mali-russia-wagner/

Verdi’s “Va’ pensiero”

Fly, my thoughts, on wings of gold;
go settle upon the slopes and the hills,
where, soft and mild, the sweet airs
of my native land smell fragrant!

Greet the banks of the Jordan
and Zion’s toppled towers.
Oh, my homeland, so lovely and so lost!
Oh memory, so dear and so dead!

Golden harp of the prophets of old,
why do you now hang silent upon the willow?
Rekindle the memories in our hearts,
and speak of times gone by!

Mindful of the fate of Solomon’s temple,
Let me cry out with sad lamentation,
or else may the Lord strengthen me
to bear these sufferings!

PHOTO: Artistic rivals make peace – Giuseppe Verdi (left) and Richard Wagner – even as the world makes war