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) Verdi became determined to find another location for his opera. In March 1858, after contacting his friend, the sculptor Vincenzo Luccardi in Rome, and requesting information on the performances of a play "Gustavo III" currently being presented there, he proposed that Rome stage the work. Verdi sent the libretto of the opera under the name of "Gustavo III", which at that point was identical to "Una vendetta" but with the original setting and names restored. When Jacovacci, impresario of the Teatro Apollo (where "Il trovatore" had been presented successfully) received the libretto, his reaction was encouraging, but he warned the