e lifted her
up, but she was already dying.

"Fly before di Luna discovers that I have cheated him," but Manrico
still held the dying Leonora to his breast, and at that moment the
Count entered.

"I have cheated him," she murmured. "I am dying." Hearing this the
Count made an outcry and his guards rushed in.

"Away with him!" he shouted, pointing to Manrico; and Manrico was torn
from Leonora, as she sank back dead. He was bound and hustled out,
while Azucena was awakened by the confused sounds. She sat up and
called desperately:

"Manrico!" Finding him gone and seeing di Luna, "Where hast thou taken
him?" she screamed, tearing her gray hair.

"See--" and di Luna dragged her to the barred window. "See! The knife
falls--look upon the sight, old fiend." She saw Manrico's head struck
from his shoulders as the day dawned. With a frightful shriek she
cried:

"Mother, I am avenged! Fiend! he was thy brother!" Di Luna looked
first at the dying gipsy, then at the horrid scene below, and
staggered back, unable to speak his brother's name. His peace was
destroyed forever.

AIDA

CHARACTERS OF THE OPERA, WITH THE ORIGINAL CASTS AS PRESENTED AT THE
FIRST PERFORMANCES

CAIRO MILAN

Aida Signora Pozzoni Signora Stolz
Amneris Grossi Waldmann
Radames Signor Mongini Signor Fancelli
Amonasro Steller Pandolfini
Ramphis Medini Maini
The King Costa Pavoleri
Messenger Bottardi Vistarini

Priests, priestesses, ministers, captains, soldiers, officials,
Ethiopian slaves, prisoners, Egyptian populace, etc., etc.

The time of the story is when the Pharaohs were puissant, and the
scenes are laid in the cities of Thebes and Memphis.

Composer: Giuseppe Verdi.
Author: A. Ghislanzoni.

The opera was first sung at Cairo, Egypt, December 27, 1871; at Milan,
February 8, 1872.

ACT I

All Egypt was troubled with wars and rumours of wars, and in Memphis
the court of the King was anxiously awaiting the decision of the
Goddess Isis, as to who should lead the Egyptian army against Egypt's
enemies. The great hall of the Memphis palace was beautifully
ornamented with statues and flowers, and from its colonnades of white
marble one could see the pyramids and the palaces of the city. It was
in this vast and beautiful hall that Radames, a gallant soldier and
favourite of the Egyp