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
Raid on the Suez Canal Cavalry Brigade, two infantry battalions and an Indian Mountain Battery marched out from Ismailia Ferry Post. The force saw three to four regiments north east of Tussum and further to the north another column of infantry were moving eastwards. They returned to the bridgehead having captured 25 prisoners and 70 camels. By the morning of the next day aircraft observed a concentration of forces east of Bir Habeita which was bombed while in the north a column was seen withdrawing through Qatiya. By 10 February the only Ottoman force in the area of the Suez Canal was 400 soldiers at