Editing Aida (section)

===Act 4===
[[File:Tempio di Vulcano e sotterraneo, bozzetto di Girolamo Magnani per Aida (1872) - Archivio Storico Ricordi ICON000142.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|Set design for act 4 scene 2 (1872)]]
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|Description=Philippe Chaperon's act 4, scene 2 set design for the 1880 [[Palais Garnier]] performance in Paris
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''Scene 1: A hall in the Temple of Justice. To one side is the door leading to Radamès' prison cell''

Amneris desires to save Radamès ("L'aborrita rivale a me sfuggia" / My hated rival has escaped me). She calls for the guard to bring him to her.

She asks Radamès to deny the accusations, but Radamès, who does not wish to live without Aida, refuses. He is relieved to know Aida is still alive and hopes she has reached her own country (Amneris, Radamès: "Già i Sacerdoti adunansi" / Already the priests are assembling).

Offstage, Ramfis recites the charges against Radamès and calls on him to defend himself, but he stands mute, and is condemned to death as a traitor. Amneris, who remains onstage, protests that Radamès is innocent, and pleads with the priests to show mercy. The priests sentence him to be buried alive; Amneris weeps and curses the priests as he is taken away (Judgment scene, Amneris, Ramfis, and chorus: "Ahimè! .. morir mi sento .. Radamès, è deciso il tuo fato" / Alas&nbsp;.. I feel death .. Radamès, your fate is decided).

{{stack|{{Listen|type=music|help=no|title="La fatal pietra"|filename=Nicola Zerola, Giuseppe Verdi, La fatal pietra (Aida).ogg|description=Opening and close of act 4, scene 2, "La fatal pietra" and "Morir! Sì pura e bella", with some cuts in the middle, sung by [[Nicola Zerola]] in 1909}}}}
''Scene 2: The lower portion of the stage shows the vault in the Temple of Ptah; the upper portion represents the temple itself''

Radamès has been taken into the lower floor of the temple and sealed up in a dark vault, where he thinks that he is alone. As he hopes that Aida is in a safer place, he hears a sigh and then sees Aida. She has hidden herself in the vault in order to die with Radamès (Radamès: "La fatal pietra sovra me si chiuse" / The fatal stone now closes over me). They accept their terrible fate (Radamès: "Morir! Sì pura e bella" / To die! So pure and lovely!) and bid farewell to Earth and its sorrows (duet "Invan! Tutto è finito ... O terra addio").<ref>The original draft included a speech by Aida (excised from the final version) that explained her presence beneath the Temple: "My heart knew your sentence. For three days I have waited here." The line most familiar to audiences translates as: "My heart forewarned me of your condemnation. In this tomb that was opened for you I entered secretly. Here, away from human sight, in your arms I wish to die."</ref> Above the vault in the temple of Ptah, Amneris weeps and prays to the goddess Isis. In the vault below, Aida dies in Radamès' arms as the priests, offstage, pray to the god Ptah. (Chorus, Aida, Radamès, Amneris: "Immenso Ftha" / Almighty Ptah).