IL TROVATORE

Like many artistic – from literary to theatrical – pieces of the past, Il Trovatore embraced themes and characterizations that are outdated at best and prejudicial at worst. Azucena, the opera’s driving protagonist, is named and described as a “gypsy.” Today, that word is a pejorative relic that is painful to the Romani, for whom it was and still is used, not only for centuries of associated insulting, false and often fantastical stereotypes but also for those same stereotypes contributing to the Romani being victims of the Holocaust and other horrors. No discussion or production of Il Trovatore would be complete without acknowledging this history – one which is too fraught and complex to give here the full exploration it warrants.

Below are links to resources that can provide a more in-depth discussion of the word and its historical and ongoing impact on the Romani.

https://www.state.gov/defining-anti-roma-racism/ 
http://www.errc.org/what-we-do/advocacy-research/terminology 
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/hsph-in-the-news/renaming-a-moth-to-avoid-an-ethnic-slur/
https://holocaustcenter.jfcs.org/plight-romani-people/