Saw something in a performance of Aida in Verona and am interested in if it's a common "thing", and if so what it's origins are.

by Jirardwenthard

Each act of the opera was announced to the crows by a women dressed all in black, entering the stage and either playing a note on a gong or a cymbal (I'm afraid I can't remember which).

Is this some kind of tradition?If so, could anyone tell me something about how it developed?

caffarelli

I admit I've only seen Aida once and that was on DVD, with a young Pavarotti, and I don't remember gongs and crows at all! Did they announce just the act ("ACT I!" doooong) or give more expository background on the plot in general? Because if it's the latter, that is very old in opera, I know off the top of my head Monteverdi used it in his (some of the first) operas. I suspect it predates opera by quite a lot of time.

It's nice that you saw Aida in Verona though! That one has been less popular these days, maybe because of the blackface, but last year was Verdi's 200th birthday so everyone went a little Verdi-pazzo.