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Did I say that I had three videos to share with you? Well, there’s a fourth that I can’t resist sharing as well.
I began by referring to the
yearning
expressed in Psalm 42. Well, our people has known of another kind of yearning – a yearning that has inspired people all over the world.
The video below is of the International Opera Choir singing (in isolation, of course) the “Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves” from Verdi’s opera, Nabucco. This piece of music is better known by its initial words, “Va Pensiero.”
Nabucco "follows the plight of the Jews as they are assaulted, conquered, and subsequently exiled from their homeland by the Babylonian King Nabucco (in English, Nebuchadnezzar II)."
Verdi wrote Nabucco in the 1840s, at a time when Italy was struggling with its identity and independence. Within a very short time,
Va Pensiero
became a quasi-national anthem for Italy. This is true even today.
I saw that with my own eyes. Once, my wife Elana and I were in Rome on our way to Israel. We went to a performance of Nabucco at the great outdoor theatre known as the
Caracalla Baths
just outside the city. In the middle of the third act, dozens and dozens of singers came out on stage. The men were all wearing striped cloaks that looked like
tallitot
. The women were dressed in shawls. They were obviously depicting Jewish slaves. Bringing to life Psalm 137 ("By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, as we remembered Zion,") they sang Va Pensiero with great feeling. Here are the words they sang:
Fly, my thoughts, on wings of gold;
go settle upon the slopes and the hills,
where, soft and mild, the sweet airs
of my native land smell fragrant!
Greet the banks of the Jordan
and Zion's toppled towers.
Oh, my homeland, so lovely and so lost!
Oh memory, so dear and so dead!
Golden harp of the prophets of old,
why do you now hang silent upon the willow?
Rekindle the memories in our hearts,
and speak of times gone by!
Mindful of the fate of Solomon's temple,
Let me cry out with sad lamentation,
or else may the Lord strengthen me
to bear these sufferings!
That was impressive enough.
But then, we were startled when the entire audience rose to its feet and sang the song with the singers on stage a second time. The impact was extraordinary. Since that day, I haven’t been able to listen to that song without tears coming to my eyes.
Here then is Va Pensiero, sung by the International Opera Choir in an Italy still confronting the devastating effects of the coronavirus:
