La forza del destino – what is the meaning of the destiny that Verdi uses so forcefully ? Who forces Leonora, and Alvaro as the murderer of her father, to enter the hermitage of a monastery – and confronts them there, in a mighty showdown, with the brother who is full of hatred and cannot forgive? Is it a declaration of war against God’s promise of redemption? The heavenly cantilena of a solo violin rises at the end of the opera – in the face of the death of the hero’s lover and brother. Those who withdraw into the consoling twilight of a divine peace here are only trying to deny one thing: the force of destiny.