The main characters in Verdi’s reputed »accursed« opera are caught in a whirl of war and destruction. Don Alvaro in the process of eloping with Leonora is discovered by her father and Alvaro accidentally kills him. Before dying the father puts a curse on Leonora. Leonora’s brother Don Carlo resolves to pursue the two lovers and exact vengeance for his father’s murder. The characters over and over again try to evade their past, but it’s no use: the inexorable “forza del destino” (the power of fate) catches up with them.

After the relative cold reception of its premiere in 1862, Verdi immediately set about revising his opera, which, in its new version, in 1869, was triumphant at La Scala.  In this version, Verdi added the dramaturgically effective overture in which he from the start introduces the »fate« motif that later recurs in Leonora’s famous fourth act prayer/aria,»pace, pace mio dio« (Lord grant me peace).

With LA FORZA DEL DESTINO Sir David Pountney (I VESPRI SICILIANI, UN BALLO IN MASCHERA) concludes hjs Verdi trilogy for the Theater Bonn’s stage. In his staging of FORZA »fate« is concretely represented: It is a wheel of fortune set in motion by Preziosilla. Can fate be humane and compassionate or is it like a cold-blooded machine that can’t be stopped?