Gustavo III (Verdi) to meet commitments regarding "Lear". Finally, in a letter which he wrote to Torelli in September 1857, Verdi confessed that he had "looked through an infinite number of plays...but not one of them will do for me..." but he then described an existing libretto which interested him, one which was written by the French playwright and librettist Eugene Scribe for Daniel Auber's very successful 1833 opera, "Gustave III, ou Le bal masqué": Verdi turned to the historical subject of King Gustav III of Sweden, who was shot while attending a masked ball in Stockholm in 1792 and died thirteen days
Gustavo III (Verdi) Verdi became determined to find another location for his opera. In March 1858, after contacting his friend, the sculptor Vincenzo Luccardi in Rome, and requesting information on the performances of a play "Gustavo III" currently being presented there, he proposed that Rome stage the work. Verdi sent the libretto of the opera under the name of "Gustavo III", which at that point was identical to "Una vendetta" but with the original setting and names restored. When Jacovacci, impresario of the Teatro Apollo (where "Il trovatore" had been presented successfully) received the libretto, his reaction was encouraging, but he warned the