Portal:Opera/Selected picture/66
Credit: Philippe Chaperon, restored by Adam Cuerden
Philippe Chaperon's set design for act 4, scene 2 of Verdi's opera Aida as first performed at the Khedivial Opera House in Cairo on 24 December 1871. The costumes and accessories for the premiere were designed by Auguste Mariette, who also oversaw the design and construction of the sets, which were made in Paris by the Opéra's scene painters Auguste Rubé and Philippe Chaperon (acts 1 and 4) and Edouard Despléchin and Jean-Baptiste Lavastre (acts 2 and 3), and shipped to Cairo. Although Verdi did not attend the premiere in Cairo, he was most dissatisfied with the fact that the audience consisted of invited dignitaries, politicians and critics, but no members of the general public. He therefore considered the Italian (and European) premiere, held at La Scala, Milan, on 8 February 1872, and a performance in which he was heavily involved at every stage, to be its real premiere.