Falstaff (opera) knight, Sir John Falstaff, to seduce two married women to gain access to their husbands' wealth. Verdi was concerned about working on a new opera at his advanced age, but he yearned to write a comic work and was pleased with Boito's draft libretto. It took the collaborators three years from mid-1889 to complete. Although the prospect of a new opera from Verdi aroused immense interest in Italy and around the world, "Falstaff" did not prove to be as popular as earlier works in the composer's canon. After the initial performances in Italy, other European countries and the US, the
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