Verdi's Stiffelio deals with sex, love, adultery and the lives of the clergy. The opera tells the story of a Protestant minister, Stiffelio and his unfaithful wife Lina and how Stiffelio faces the passions aroused by his wife's infidelity and his role as the respected leader of his congregation. It is not surprising that the Italian censors had problems with the libretto. The censors decimated the opera and it has only been very recently that the opera has been reconstructed.
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There is nothing like a pleasant evening with Placido Domingo, James Levine, Giuseppe Verdi and librettists Francesco Maria Piave and Arrigo Boito. Arias, duets, trios, and the chorus all interacting in fascinating ways. Music that supports, advances and echoes the plot. There is something almost meditative in some of Verdi's operas. There is a certain flow of music and drama which seamlessly moves into these different combinations of voices and then ebbs back to others. In this opera, this was all in service of the question: can anyone bring peace and even a bit of unity to the Italian city states. Mix in romance, filial loyalty, a few traitors here and there and some poison and you have the opera Simon Boccanegra.
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