Lucia Elizabeth Vestris she showed off her fabulously perfect legs, launched her career as a scandalous beauty. From then on she remained an extraordinary favourite in opera, musical farces, and comedies until her retirement in 1854. At the King's Theatre she sang in the English premieres of many Rossini operas, sometimes conducted by the composer himself: "La gazza ladra" (as Pippo, 1821), "La donna del lago" (as Malcolm Groeme, 1823), "Ricciardo e Zoraide" (as Zomira, 1823), "Matilde di Shabran" (as Edoardo, 1823), "Zelmira" (as Emma, 1824), and "Semiramide" (as Arsace, 1824). She excelled in "breeches parts," and she also performed in Mozart operas,
Oberto (opera) Oberto (opera) Oberto, Conte di San Bonifacio is an opera in two acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Temistocle Solera, based on an existing libretto by Antonio Piazza probably called "Rocester". It was Verdi's first opera, written over a period of four years, and was first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on 17 November 1839. The La Scala production enjoyed "a fair success" and the theatre's impresario, Bartolomeo Merelli, commissioned two further operas from the young composer. During his student days in Milan, Verdi began the process of making connections to the world of music