The melodrama subtitled Amelia by Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) is emblematic of Italy’s liberation struggles and became a triumph for both the composer and the political movement of the time. Verdi wrote the opera in 1859, shortly before the unification of Italy, a time when assassinations, political unrest and protests shook the country. As a result, Verdi had to rewrite the opera several times: Characters, content and location of the plot were renamed and changed, and the censors kept a strict watch on any possible spark. After Naples and the Bourbons ruling there had banned the premiere, The Masked Ball finally celebrated its premiere in Rome, again curtailed by papal censorship.
The title (the opera was originally to be called Gustav III) was the Swedish king of the same name, who was shot by a nobleman at a Stockholm masked ball in 1792 and succumbed to his injuries a short time later. The ambivalent ruler, who loved disguises, music and especially opera and was known for his numerous amours, seemed ideally suited to Verdi as the inspiration for an opera rich in original ideas. The composer’s penchant for the comedic, which is only fully expressed in his later work Falstaff, flashes up noticeably for the first time in this opera.