Marietta Piccolomini inexperience, critics praised her dramatic ability. Following her season in England, Picolomini sang in Dublin with great success. Piccolomini's appearance in Paris in "Traviata" on December 6, 1856, was the first time the opera had been heard in France. Verdi tried to stop the opera from being performed at Théâtre des Italiens owing to lack of copyright for his operas in France at the time, also supporting the claims of the French holder of the rights on Alexandre Dumas's "La Dame aux camélias" (whence the opera is drawn), but without success. Again, while critics remarked on the limitations of her
Gustavo III (Verdi) be Colonial Boston. This setting became the "standard" one until the mid-20th Century. Most productions today locate the action in Sweden. However, a "hypothetical reconstruction" of "Gustavo III" under its original name was performed by the Gothenburg Opera in Sweden during the 2002/03 season. In early 1856 Vincenzo Torelli, secretary to the Teatro San Carlo's management approached Verdi with a contract offer, the proposed opera being "Re Lear", an opera based on Shakespeare's "King Lear". It was known to be a subject dear to the composer, but this libretto, for which Somma and Verdi had worked for some time, raised