Uploaded June 2018 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
‘I vespri siciliani’ is a five act opera by Giuseppe Verdi, first performed at the Paris Opéra on 13 June 1855 where it had, as was customary in France at the time, a 30 minute ballet, included here in Act 3.
This is a 1989 performance of the ballet within the opera starring Carla Fracci and Wayne Eagling. It is at Teatro alla Scala in Milan, with Riccardo Muti conducting.
Verdi sanctioned the removal of the ballet for the first performance in Italy in 1855-1856.
One source tells that ‘I vespri siciliani’ is the name given to the successful rebellion in Sicily that broke out on the Easter of 1282 against the rule of the French/Capetian king Charles I, who had ruled the Kingdom of Sicily since 1266. Within six weeks, three thousand French men and women were slain by the rebels and the government of King Charles lost control of the island. It was the beginning of the eponymous War of the Sicilian Vespers.
‘I vespri siciliani’ is a five act opera by Giuseppe Verdi, first performed at the Paris Opéra on 13 June 1855 where it had, as was customary in France at the time, a 30 minute ballet, included here in Act 3.
This is a 1989 performance of the ballet within the opera starring Carla Fracci and Wayne Eagling. It is at Teatro alla Scala in Milan, with Riccardo Muti conducting.
Verdi sanctioned the removal of the ballet for the first performance in Italy in 1855-1856.
One source tells that ‘I vespri siciliani’ is the name given to the successful rebellion in Sicily that broke out on the Easter of 1282 against the rule of the French/Capetian king Charles I, who had ruled the Kingdom of Sicily since 1266. Within six weeks, three thousand French men and women were slain by the rebels and the government of King Charles lost control of the island. It was the beginning of the eponymous War of the Sicilian Vespers.
