Aida the opera was written by Giuseppe Verdi in the Late 1871. This opera is mainly about a love triangle between Aida the Ethiopian princess who has been captured, Amneris Princess of Egypt and Radames Captain of the guard in Egypt.  The opera starts off with Egypt being challenged for power in war by Ethiopia. The king of Egypt choses Radames as the head captain to come up against the Ethiopians, who are crushed by Radames. Radames has also captured the king and his people, which include Aida. Radames victory request is to have their lives sparred which is allowed by the grateful king. Until king who didn’t know that the prisoners were of royalty is then sentenced to death, but are released by Radames, so the king sentences him to be buried alive. Aida and Amneris do everything in their power to try to save Radames but nothing works. In the end Aida runs to Radames side and is buried alive with Radames who die together in love.  This opera comes in the time of Egypt’s rule also Verdi’s rule in being a very famous opera composer.

This work is very typical of its era the three main things that describe Verdi’s Aida where big in the time of the opera’s release. That being Egypt, Opera and the composer Giuseppe Verdi I found this in a quote I read in an article written by Bruce Scott, “The history of Aida goes back to Ismail Pasha, who became the khedive of Egypt in 1863. Among his many dreams for the country was a new Cairo Opera House. It opened in 1869, with a performance of Verdi's Rigoletto. But Pasha thought his theater also deserved a brand new work by Verdi, who was arguably the most famous opera composer in the world.” So with Egypt being the main power and Verdi with his good status shows that this opera was destined to be written.

This play was much loved in its time was scattered across the world quickly.” The premiere was postponed slightly, thanks in part to the Franco-Prussian War, and took place late in 1871, not quite a year behind schedule. Before long Aida was a hit all over the world. It premiered at La Scala in 1872. The next year, it reached Buenos Aires and New York City.”

Sources:

http://classicalmusic.about.com/od/Opera-Synopses/qt/Aida-Synopsis.htm

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/culture/la-et-cm-verdi-birth-bicentennial-italian-opera-festival-20131025,0,4466481.story#axzz2jgx6KUOY

http://escholarship.org/uc/item/9tj7h4wv#page-1

http://www.npr.org/2011/06/03/136888669/love-triangles-and-pyramids-verdis-aida

http://schillerinstitute.org/educ/reviews/2013/aida-michigan_opera_theater.html