The khedive expected to hear his opera by the end of 1870, but there came an extraordinary disturbance of the plan, the cause being nothing less than the war between France and Germany.  The scenery and costumes, which had been made after designs by French artists, were shut up in Paris.  At length, on December 24, 1871, the opera had its first performance at Cairo.  Considering the sensation which the work created, it seems strange that it remained the exclusive possession of Cairo and a few Italian cities so long as it did, but a personal equation stood in the way of a performance at the Grand Opera, where it properly belonged.  The conduct of the conductor and musicians at the production of “Les Vepres Siciliennes” had angered Verdi; and when M. Halanzier, the director of the Academie Nationale, asked for the opera in 1873, his request was refused.  Thus it happened that the Theatre Italien secured the right of first performance in Paris.  It was brought out there on April 22, 1876, and had sixty-eight representations within three years.  The original King in the French performance was Edouard de Reszke.  It was not until March 22, 1880, that “Aida” reached the Grand Opera.  M. Vaucorbeil, the successor of Halanzier, visited Verdi at his home and succeeded in persuading him not only to give the performing rights to the national institution, but also to assist in its production.  Maurel was the Amonasro of the occasion.  The composer was greatly feted, and at a dinner given in his honor by President Grevy was made a Grand Officer of the National Order of the Legion of Honor.

The opening scene of the opera is laid at Memphis, a fact which justifies the utmost grandeur in the stage furniture, and is explained by Mariette’s interest in that place.  It was he who helped moderns to realize the ancient magnificence of the city described by Diodorus.  It was the first capital of the united kingdom of upper and lower Egypt, the chief seat of religion and learning, the site of the temples of Ptah, Isis, Serapis, Phra, and the sacred bull Apis.  Mariette here, on his first visit to Egypt, unearthed an entire avenue of sphinxes leading to the Serapeum, over four thousand statues, reliefs, and inscriptions, eight gigantic sculptures, and many other evidences of a supremely great city.  He chose his scenes with a view to an exhibition of the ancient grandeur.  In a hall of the Royal Palace, flanked by a colonnade with statues and flowering shrubs, and commanding a view of the city’s palaces and temples and the pyramids, Radames, an Egyptian soldier, and Ramfis, a high priest, discuss a report that the Ethiopians are in revolt in the valley of the Nile, and that Thebes is threatened.  The high priest has consulted Isis, and the goddess has designated who shall be the leader of Egypt’s army against the rebels.  An inspiring thought comes into the mind of Radames.  What if he should be the leader singled out to crush the rebellion, and be received in triumph on his return?  A consummation