Verdi's Opera Otello Premieres
Giuseppe Verdi's opera *Otello* premiered on February 5, 1887, at the renowned La Scala opera house in Milan, Italy. This opera is considered a pinnacle of Verdi's career, showcasing his mastery in Italian opera. Based on Shakespeare's tragedy *Othello*, *Otello* is a dramatic work in four acts that tells the story of a Moorish general in the Venetian military who is tragically led to murder his wife, Desdemona, by the villainous Iago. The libretto was crafted by the poet Arrigo Boito, with whom Verdi developed a strong collaborative relationship over six years.
The premiere attracted considerable attention, with audiences reportedly arriving as early as 5:00 A.M. to secure their seats. It featured a talented cast, including tenor Francesco Tamagno as Otello and soprano Romilda Pantaleoni as Desdemona, under the baton of conductor Franco Faccio. The performance was met with enthusiastic acclaim, leading to *Otello* being performed 24 times in its first year and gaining international recognition. Following this success, Verdi continued to work with Boito on his final opera, *Falstaff*, before his death in 1901. *Otello* remains a significant work in the operatic repertoire, celebrated for its emotional depth and complex characters.
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Verdi's Opera Otello Premieres
Verdi's Opera Otello Premieres
On February 5, 1887, the opera Otello premiered at the famous La Scala opera house in Milan, Italy. This opera is widely regarded as the epitome of the work of Giuseppe Verdi, one of the great composers of Italian opera.
Verdi was born on October 10, 1813, in Roncole in the region known as the Duchy of Parma in northern Italy (the nation was not yet unified). As a child Verdi studied music in the town of Busseto, and in 1832 he was instructed in Milan by the composer Vincenzo Lavigna. Mixed reviews for his earliest operas almost caused him to change careers, but he continued to compose, and in 1850 Verdi came into his own. In less than three years he produced three of his most famous operas: Rigoletto (1851), Il Trovatore (1853), and La Traviata (1853). He followed with more successful operas in the 1850s and the 1860s and secured a reputation as one of the world's greatest living opera composers, so much so that the ruler of Egypt asked him for an opera to celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal. The work he produced was Aida, which had a magnificent premiere in Cairo in 1871.
Verdi continued to compose well into old age and wrote his masterpiece Otello in the 1880s, basing it on Shakespeare's tragedy Othello. Otello is a dramatic opera in four acts, whose protagonist and title character is a Moor (a Muslim from northern Africa) in the Venetian military. Otello is manipulated by the treacherous Iago and his scheming wife Emilia into murdering his young wife Desdemona in their home on the island of Cyprus. The libretto was composed by the poet Arrigo Boito, one of the scapigliatura, a group of young, progressive artists who wished to revolutionize Italian culture. The Verdi-Boito association had been encouraged by Verdi's wife Giuseppina and his friend Giulio Ricordi. Verdi and Boito proceeded to work on Otello for about six years, and their mutual respect and enthusiasm for the project enabled them to overcome personal differences. In time they became close friends and carefully supervised the January 1887 rehearsals together.
The premiere of Otello had been greatly anticipated, coming as it did 16 years after Verdi's previous opera, Aida. According to legend, people began to congregate in the piazza in front of La Scala at 5:00 A.M. on the day of the performance, and the theater was filled to capacity one hour before curtain time. The predominantly Italian cast was led by the tenor Francesco Tamagno creating the role of Otello, with the soprano Romilda Pantaleoni playing Desdemona, the French baritone Victor Maurel as Iago, tenor Govanni Paroli as Cassio, the bass Francesco Navarrini playing Lodovico, and the mezzo-soprano Ginevra Petrovich as Emilia. The conductor was Franco Faccio. The performance was wildly successful, and Otello went on to play at La Scala 24 times in its first year. After the performance that first night, Verdi was given a silver-bound book containing salutations from every citizen of Milan, and his fans unhitched his horses and drew his coach back to his hotel themselves as cries of “Viva Verdi!” echoed throughout the night.
International acclaim followed the premiere in Milan, and within the year Otello was being performed in cities throughout the world, including Mexico City, St. Petersburg, Hamburg, Cologne, Amsterdam, New York, Buenos Aires, and Constantinople. Verdi followed this with another collaboration with Boito—the comedic opera Falstaff (1893), loosely based on Shakespeare's play The Merry Wives of Windsor. Verdi died on January 27, 1901, in Milan.