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
Phantom of the Opera (1976 musical) Phantom of the Opera (1976 musical) Phantom of the Opera is a 1976 musical with book and lyrics by Ken Hill. It is the first musical adaptation of the novel "The Phantom of the Opera" by Gaston Leroux, about the hideously disfigured Phantom's amorous obsession with the magnificent, naïve singer, Christine. Hill wrote the original English lyrics to the music of Verdi, Gounod, Offenbach, Mozart, Weber, Donizetti, and Boito. Hill’s "Phantom of the Opera" was the first musical version of the story by Gaston Leroux and has enjoyed financial success. Hill's musical inspired the award-winning Andrew Lloyd Webber musical version