La traviata Felice Varesi and the tenor Lodovico Graziani. The next day, Verdi wrote to his friend Emanuele Muzio in what has now become perhaps his most famous letter: ""La traviata" last night a failure. Was the fault mine or the singers'? Time will tell." Coincidentally, as Philips-Matz points out, an Italian translation of the play "La Dame aux camélias" was being presented just a short distance from La Fenice. While there were demands for productions from impresarios in various Italian cities, Verdi was loath to allow them unless he could be sure of the strength of the singers, and in spite
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