Otello, an opera in four acts by…

Otello, an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi, premieres at La Scala on February 5, 1887.

The audience's enthusiasm for Verdi is shown by the twenty curtain calls that he takes at the end of the opera.

Further stagings of Otello will soon follow at leading theaters throughout Europe and America.

After the completion and premiere of the opera Aida in 1871, Verdi had decided that it was time for him to end his successful career as a composer of opera, though he was easily the most popular, and possibly the wealthiest, composer in Italy during the time, much as Rossini had done after the completion of the opera William Tell.

Because of the immense popularity of Verdi’s music in Italy by the 1870s, Verdi’s retirement had seemed to his publisher, Giulio Ricordi, to be a waste of talent and possible profits.

Thus a plot of sorts had been hatched in order to coax the composer out of retirement to write another opera.

Because of the importance of the dramatic aspects of opera to the composer, Verdi is especially selective in his choice of subjects.

Consequently, if he were to agree to create another opera after a decade of retirement, the libretto would need to be one that would capture his interest.

However, his one attempt at doing so, Macbeth (1847), although initially successful, had not been well received when revised for performance in Paris in 1865.

Because of its relatively straightforward story, Shakespeare’s play Othello had been selected as a likely target.

Finally, after some plotting, Ricordi, in conjunction with Verdi’s friend, the conductor Franco Faccio, had subtly introduced the idea of a new opera to Verdi.

During a dinner at Verdi’s Milan residence during the summer of 1879, Ricordi and Faccio had guided the conversation towards the play Othello and to the librettist Arrigo Boito (whom Ricordi claimed to be a great fan of the play also).

Suggestions had been made, despite initial skepticism on the part of the composer, that Boito would be interested in creating a new libretto based upon the play.

Within several days, Boito had been brought to meet Verdi and present him with an outline of a libretto for an opera based on Othello.

However, Verdi, still maintaining that his career had ended with the composition of Aida, had made very little progress on the work.

Nonetheless, collaborations with Boito in the revision of the earlier opera Simon Boccanegra had helped to convince Verdi of Boito’s ability as a librettist.

Finally, production began on the opera, which Verdi initially referred to as Iago.

As the Italian public became aware that the retired Verdi was composing another opera, rumors about it abounded.

At the same time, many of the most illustrious conductors, singers and opera-house managers in Europe are vying for an opportunity to play a part in Otello's premiere, despite the fact that Faccio and La Scala, Milan, had already been selected as the conductor and the venue for the first performance.

The two male protagonists had been selected, too: Italy's foremost dramatic tenor, Francesco Tamagno, is to sing Otello while the esteemed French singing-actor Victor Maurel would assume the villainous baritone role of Iago.

Romilda Pantaleoni, a well known singing-actress, is assigned Desdemona's soprano part.

Upon the completion of the opera, preparations for the initial performance are conducted in absolute secrecy and Verdi had reserved the right to cancel the premiere up to the last minute.

Verdi need not have worried: Otello's debut proved to be a resounding success.