# Verdi’s “Triumphant March” From Aida



## Truvianni (Apr 21, 2011)

An article about the “Triumphant March” from Verdi’s opera “Aida”. It being this piece of music which has come to be accepted as the one which represents the victory of those who have conquered their foes. 

The opera Aida takes place in Egypt in the days of the pharaohs and it starts when Radames (A general) is told by a high priest that their country has been invaded by the armies of Ethiopia. It is then that Ramades dreams about commanding an army of Egypt’s bravest so that he might gain Aida’s love. Aida being an Ethiopian slave in Egypt who Radames is in love with as she is with him. 

In this situation of near despair it does not take the council of priests long to decide that Radames should guide their armies in to battle against Amanaso, who apart from being the one who is leading the Ethiopian invaders is also the king of Ethiopia; as well as Aida’s father. This last factor is however unknown to Radames who welcomes the news of being appointed supreme commander for he perceives it as a chance to get Aida as his wife if he should come back decorated. 

Aida for her part is freighted that her father and the man she loves will meet in battle with high probabilities being that one of them might end up being killed yet she hopes for the best. It is in this however that the story is made more complicated, as the daughter of the king of Egypt is also romantically interested in Radames even if his desire is to be with none other than Aida. It is under these circumstances that Radames sets out to do battle against the Ethiopian invaders. Leaving Aida with the trepidation of what might occur to either her father or Ramades or perhaps both while the king’s daughter is left with the fear that Aida and Ramades are secret lovers and that the man she loves is in fact in love with the one who is her slave. 

In battle however Ramades is triumphant, as he both saves Egypt from the invaders who had lain many fields to waste as well as capturing Amanasaro, whom he at the time believes to be a common foot soldier. Ramades is even falsely led to the assumption that the king of Ethiopia is dead. In all news of his victory precedes Ramades’s entry in to Thebes where he is welcome as the hero he truly is with first all the pomp of “Glory To Egypt” followed by the famous “Triumphant March”. This a piece which makes use of trumpets to sound out the glory of the conquerors who have saved their nation from disaster along with being presented with horses and sometimes elephants on stage; is the piece that has come to symbolize victory in all its fanfare. 

In conclusion I would say that the “Triumphant March” in Aida is one of the greatest pieces of music ever written not only given the fame it has achieved but the way it captures the victory of the man who had done all for his country. It being a music that truly allows one to feel the sensation of having overcome in a fashion to lift one’s spirit to the beat that makes the imagination take flight. 

As a footnote I would like to say that this particular piece was played and hummed at some of the World Cup Matches in Germany 2006.


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