“Va, Pensiero”: The Chorus That Stirred a Nation’s Soul

At the age of twenty-six, Verdi composed his first opera, titled Oberto, which was accepted by Teatro alla Scala and premiered on November 17, 1839, to great success.

However, a year later, Verdi’s first comic opera, Un Giorno di Regno, failed to win the favor of the Milanese audience. Following this disappointing premiere in 1840, Verdi stopped composing operas for nearly two years.

In other words, Verdi was in the midst of a profound personal and professional crisis when he composed Nabucco in 1841: he had recently lost his wife, Margherita, and their two children, and his previous opera had been a fiasco at La Scala, survived only a single night on stage.

This period also marked the beginning of what is considered the first phase of Verdi’s creative career. Scholars refer to this period as his “political phase,” as many of the works he composed during Italy’s struggle for independence and unification carried patriotic messages.

The Heart of Nabucco

Verdi’s opera Nabucco, structured as a four-act opera, premiered on March 9, 1842, at La Scala. The libretto was written by Temistocle Solera (1815–1878).

The opera’s famous chorus 

“Va, pensiero, sull’ali dorate”

“Fly, thought, on golden wings”

charged with intense patriotic emotion, was embraced by the Italian people as a hymn of freedom during times of national sorrow. The stirring melody and fiery rhythm of the chorus deeply moved the audience at its premiere.

Nabucco is set during the Babylonian exile of the Jews who were expelled from Jerusalem. It tells the story of an oppressed people longing for freedom and their lost homeland. In the third act, the Hebrew captives sit by the banks of the Euphrates, mourning their lost land. With the line 

“O mia patria sì bella e perduta!” 

“Oh, my homeland, so beautiful and lost!”

an ancient Biblical story becomes a poignant metaphor for a modern nation’s yearning for unity.

An Unofficial Anthem of Italy

Italy in the 1840s was fragmented, divided, and under occupation. The Italian audience who watched Nabucco saw their struggles reflected on stage. During the Risorgimento, Italy’s national unification movement, “Va, pensiero” became an unofficial anthem that stirred patriotic sentiment across the country. Verdi’s name itself became a political code:

VIVA V.E.R.D.I. = Viva Vittorio Emanuele Re D’Italia

Long Live King Victor Emmanuel of Italy!

The chorus “Va, pensiero” from Nabucco became so famous that, at Verdi’s funeral in 1901, Arturo Toscanini led a choir of thousands in a moving rendition of the piece, as the people bid farewell to the great composer.

Nabucco: Va, pensiero (Riccardo Muti) - Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, 2013