Verdi: Un Ballo in Maschera | Pavarotti, Cappuccilli-Abbado, Zeffirelli (La Scala 1978-ENG&ITA SUB)

Title: Un Ballo in Maschera
Melodrama in three acts
Composer: Giuseppe Verdi
Librettist: Antonio Somma
Premiere: 17 February 1859, Rome (Teatro Apollo)
Language: Italian
Subtitles: English, Italian (click on CC)

Performance of January 31, 1978
Orchestra and Chorus of La Scala Theatre

Cast & Characters:
Riccardo: Luciano Pavarotti
Renato: Piero Cappuccilli
Amelia: Mara Zampieri
Ulrica: Elena Obraztsova
Oscar: Daniela Mazzucato
Silvano: Luigi De Corato
Samuel: Luigi Roni
Tom: Giovanni Foiani
A judge: Gianfranco Manganotti
Amelia's Servant: Regolo Romani

Concertmaster and Conductor: Claudio Abbado
Director: Franco Zeffirelli
Set Designer: Renzo Mongiardino
Costumes Designer: Enrico Job
Choreography Designer: Mario Pistoni
Stage Director: Tito Varisco
Season: 1977/1978

Un ballo in maschera ('A Masked Ball') is an 1859 opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The text, by Antonio Somma, was based on Eugène Scribe's libretto for Daniel Auber's 1833 five act opera, Gustave III, ou Le bal masqué.

The plot concerns the assassination in 1792 of King Gustav III of Sweden who was shot, as the result of a political conspiracy, while attending a masked ball, dying of his wounds thirteen days later.

It was to take over two years between the commission from Naples, planned for a production there, and its premiere performance at the Teatro Apollo in Rome on 17 February 1859. In becoming the Un ballo in maschera which we know today, Verdi's opera (and his libretto) underwent a significant series of transformations and title changes, caused by a combination of censorship regulations in both Naples and Rome, as well as by the political situation in France in January 1858. Based on the Scribe libretto and begun as Gustavo III set in Stockholm, it became Una vendetta in domino set in Stettin, and finally Un ballo in maschera set in Boston during the colonial era. It became one of the most frustrating experiences of Verdi's career.

From the mid-20th century, it has become more common for the setting to revert to its original 18th-century Stockholm location. The opera has become a staple of the repertoire and is now performed frequently.

Notes: The file is directly from La Scala TV and it is not compressed. The audio and video quality reflects the television standards of the time.