Giuseppe Verdi Verdi and Giuseppina decided to adopt Carlo's great-niece Filomena Maria Verdi, then seven years old, as their own child. She was to marry in 1878 the son of Verdi's friend and lawyer Angelo Carrara and her family became eventually the heirs of Verdi's estate. "Aida" was commissioned by the Egyptian government for the opera house built by the Khedive Isma'il Pasha to celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869. The opera house actually opened with a production of "Rigoletto". The prose libretto in French by Camille du Locle, based on a scenario by the Egyptologist Auguste Mariette, was
East of Suez East of Suez The phrase East of Suez is used in British military and political discussions in reference to interests beyond the European theatre, and east of the Suez Canal—most notably its military base in Singapore—and may or may not include the Middle East. The phrase was popularized by Rudyard Kipling in his 1890 poem "Mandalay". It later became a popular song when a tune was added by Oley Speaks in 1907. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 provided the shortest ocean link from Britain to the Far East by making the long journey around the Cape of