A Masked Ball by Verdi, Fri 25 Feb 2022, From (2022/2022), Directed by Goran Golovko,, Conductor Ivo Lipanović, HNK (Croatian National Theater), Split, Croatia

If Verdi's Crab Dance was just a "love story with a political conspiracy in the background", it would certainly provide her with initial intrigue, but certainly not the popularity that only the musical-scenic splendor characteristic of his entire oeuvre could give her. elegance, airiness and sophistication of the whole score. In addition, the eternal emphasis on the fact that people like to be disguised, that is, to skillfully hide behind various masks, at the libretto level enabled Verdi to skillfully vary and grade the theme of the issue as a background but dominant line that guides the whole action. Because, like on the occasion of the Crab Dancealready noticed, ”in this opera there is no person who would not carry the betrayal on his back. The king betrays a friend because he seduces his wife, the wife betrays her husband because he has an immoral relationship, the friend betrays the king because he wants to kill him out of revenge ", but on top of all that Verdi, as always, seeks and finds ways to betray the love theme , that is, the conspiratorial theme, as two leitmotifs of the whole opera connects and implements as a work which, despite constant and numerous contrasts, has its characteristic color ( tinta musicale ) which exudes equally other Verdi's most successful operas.