La traviata and work with the composer. One subject was chosen, Piave set to work, and then Verdi threw in another idea, which may have been "La traviata". However, within a short time, a synopsis was dispatched to Venice under the title of "Amore e morte" ("Love and Death"). However, as Budden reveals, Verdi writes to his friend De Sanctis telling him that "for Venice I'm doing "La Dame aux camélias" which will probably be called "La traviata". A subject for our own age." Although still bogged down at Sant'Agata, Piave was sanguine: "Everything will turn out fine, and we'll have a
Giuseppe Verdi with Boito, produced in 1881, and a revision of "Don Carlos". Even when "Otello" was virtually completed, Verdi teased "Shall I finish it? Shall I have it performed? Hard to tell, even for me." As news leaked out, Verdi was pressed by opera houses across Europe with enquiries; eventually the opera was triumphantly premiered at La Scala in February 1887. Following the success of "Otello" Verdi commented, "After having relentlessly massacred so many heroes and heroines, I have at last the right to laugh a little." He had considered a variety of comic subjects but had found none of them