Anvil Chorus
The Anvil Chorus is the English name for the Coro di zingari (Italian for "Gypsy chorus"), a chorus from act 2, scene 1 of Giuseppe Verdi's 1853 opera Il trovatore. It depicts Spanish Gypsies striking their anvils at dawn – hence its English name – and singing the praises of hard work, good wine, and Gypsy women. The piece is also commonly known as Vedi! Le fosche notturne or simply Vedi! Le fosche.
Italian libretto and poetic English adaptation
In popular culture
Only a quarter-century after the premiere of Il trovatore, W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan musically spoofed the Anvil Chorus in "With Cat-like Tread", in their 1879 operetta, The Pirates of Penzance.
In the 1929 Marx Brothers film The Cocoanuts, Harpo and Chico play the Anvil Chorus on a hotel's cash register. In their next film, Animal Crackers, in 1930, Chico plays a segment on the piano while Harpo clangs two horseshoes together. Later, in 1935's A Night at the Opera, the chorus is sung as part of a performance of Il trovatore as the police and the opera's general manager chase after Harpo and Chico backstage and onstage.
