Editing Il trovatore (section)

===Act 2: The Gypsy Woman===
''Scene 1: The gypsies' camp''
{{Listen|type=music
|image=none
|help=no
|title="Stride la vampa"
|filename=Gabriella Besanzoni, Giuseppe Verdi, Stride la vampa (Il Trovatore).oga
|description=From act 2. Sung by Gabriella Besanzoni in 1920.
}}
The gypsies sing the ''[[Anvil Chorus]]'': ''Vedi le fosche notturne'' / "See! The endless sky casts off her sombre nightly garb...". Azucena, the daughter of the Gypsy woman burnt by the count, is still haunted by her duty to avenge her mother ([[Canzone]]: ''Stride la vampa'' / "The flames are roaring!"). The Gypsies break camp while Azucena confesses to Manrico that after stealing the di Luna baby she had intended to burn the count's little son along with her mother, but overwhelmed by the screams and the gruesome scene of her mother's execution, she became confused and threw her own child into the flames instead (Racconto: ''Condotta ell'era in ceppi'' / "They dragged her in bonds").
[[File:Trovatore Michelides 6687.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|[[Plácido Domingo]] (di Luna), [[Anna Netrebko]] (Leonora), [[Francesco Meli]] (Manrico), [[Salzburg Festival]] 2014, act&nbsp;2, scene&nbsp;2]]
Manrico realises that he is not the son of Azucena, but loves her as if she were indeed his mother, as she has always been faithful and loving to him – and, indeed, saved his life only recently, discovering him left for dead on a battlefield after being caught in ambush. Manrico tells Azucena that he defeated di Luna in their earlier duel, but was held back from killing him by a mysterious power (Duet: ''Mal reggendo'' / "He was helpless under my savage attack"): and Azucena reproaches him for having stayed his hand then, especially since it was the Count's forces that defeated him in the subsequent battle of Pelilla. A messenger arrives and reports that Manrico's allies have taken Castle Castellor, which Manrico is ordered to hold in the name of his prince: and also that Leonora, who believes Manrico dead, is about to enter a convent and take the veil that night. Although Azucena tries to prevent him from leaving in his weak state (''Ferma! Son io che parlo a te!'' / "I must talk to you"), Manrico rushes away to prevent her from carrying out this intent.

''Scene 2: In front of the convent''

Di Luna and his attendants intend to abduct Leonora and the Count sings of his love for her (Aria: ''Il balen del suo sorriso'' / "The light of her smile" ... ''Per me ora fatale'' / "Fatal hour of my life"). Leonora and the nuns appear in procession, but Manrico prevents di Luna from carrying out his plans and takes Leonora away with him, although once again leaving the Count behind unharmed, as the soldiers on both sides back down from bloodshed, the Count being held back by his own men.