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Un ballo in maschera
- Opera in 3 acts, Italian
- Libretto Antonio Somma
- Based on the historical drama Gustave III ou Le Bal masqué by Eugène Scribe
- The title of the opera was first Gustavo III, for Naples in 1857, became Un vendetta in domino in 1858, and finally in 1859 Un ballo in maschera in an American setting with Colonial-era characters.
- Time: The end of the 17th century. Place: Boston, Massachusetts.
- In the original version, Gustavo III, the story develops in March 1792 in Stockholm, Sweden.
The Royal Swedish Opera, Stockholm, built by Gustav III in 1782, demolished in 1892. The masked ball where the real King Gustav III was murdered, took place at this opera building in March 1792 on the second floor behind the columns. The first Swedish Premiere of the opera Masked Ball also took place at this building in 1879.
- First Premieres in different countries
- Italy 17 February 1859, the world premiere at Teatro Apollo, Rome
- Portugal: 15 April 1860, Lisbon
- France: 13 January 1861, Paris
- Spain: 31 January 1861, Barcelona
- United States: 11 February 1861, New York, Academy of Music
- Great Britan: 15 June 1861, London
- Ireland: 25 September 1861, Dublin
- Germany: 23 November 1861, Berlin
- Russia: December 1861, St. Petersburg
- Peru: 1863
- Hungary: December 1863, Budapest
- Austria: 1 April 1864, Vienna
- Belgium: 9 April 1864, Brussels
- Mexico: August 1864
- Poland: 22 October 1865, Warsaw
- Czech Republic: August 1866, Prague
- Denmark: 18 May 1867, Copenhagen
- Austrailia: 2 June 1868, Sydney
- Egypt: Carnival 1870, Cairo
- Brazil: 1871, Rio de Janeiro
- Cuba: November 1872, Havana
- Switzerland: 29 April 1873, Geneva
- Croatia: 2 October 1877, Zagreb
- Sweden: 1879, Stockholm
- Slovenia: 1880, Ljubljana
- Finland: 26 April 1922, Helsinki
- Romania: April 1923, Bucharest
- Bulgaria: 22 October 1926, Sofia
- Lithuania: 30 October 1926, Kaunas
- Estonia: 1928, Tallinn
The murder of King Gustav III at the masked ball. A contemporary engraving by Abraham Wolfgang Küffner.
Frontpage of the 1860 vocal score of Un Ballo in maschera published by Ricordi, showing the final scene. Harward Library
- Characters:
- Riccardo, Earl of Warwick and governor of Boston (Gustavo III in the original version; Gustav III in the Stockholm version), tenor
- HP Gustav III, king of Sweden
- Gaetano Fraschini sang in the first premiere 17 Feb 1859
- Raffaele Angelo Agostino Mirate
- Emilio Clodovaldo Naudin
- Antonio Giuglini
- Gustav Walter
- Jean Morère
- Luigi Bolis, Sr.
- Leopoldo Signoretti
- Francesco Innocenzo Tamagno
- Jan Mieczysław Reszke
- Francesco Marconi
- Francesco Signorini
- Angelo Angioletti
- Francisco Viñas Dordal
- Gino Martinez-Patti
- Luigi Colazza
- Giovanni Peirani
- Enrico Caruso
- Giovanni Zenatello
- Alfred Piccaver
- Beniamino Samuele Benedetto Gigli
- Luigi Bolis, Jr.
- Giacomo Lauri-Volpi
- Jan Peerce
- Jussi Björling
- Richard Tucker
- Mario Del Monaco
- Giuseppe di Stefano
- Carlo Bergonzi
- Carlo Cossutta
- Luciano Pavarotti
- Plácido Domingo
- Peter Lindroos
- Roberto Alagna
- Amelia, wife of Renato, in love with Riccardo (Amelia also in G. III version), soprano
- HP Gustaviana Elisabet Löwen (Was never in love with Gustav III. The love triangle is fiction.)
- Eugénie Julienne-Dejean sang in the world premiere at Teatro Apollo, Rome, 17 Feb 1859.
- Cornélie Falcon-Malançon
- Caroline Barbot
- Thérèse Tietjens
- Marie Sasse
- Teresa Stolz
- Ilma de Murska
- Albina Contarini
- Romilda Pantaleoni
- Ada Adini
- Adalgisa Gabbi
- Hariclea Darclée
- Isabella Paoli
- Medea Borelli Angelini
- Selma Kronold
- Emma Eames
- Fausta Labia
- Luisa Tetrazzini
- Maikki Järnefelt
- Giuseppina Huguet
- Solomiya Amvrosiivna Krushelnytska
- Melanie Kurt-Deri
- Maria Labia
- Rina Emilia Lucia Giachetti
- Fernanda Chiesa
- Elvira Barbieri
- Cecilia Gagliardi
- Eugenia Burzio
- Cvijeta pl. de Cindro
- Valentina Bartolomasi
- Giannina Arangi-Lombardi
- Gina Cigna
- Maria Caniglia
- Zinka Milanov
- Lina Bruna Rasa
- Birgit Nilsson
- Maria Callas
- Renata Tebaldi
- Leontyne Price
- Shirley Verrett (both Amelia & Ulrica in repertoire)
- Montserrat Caballè
- Renata Scotto
- Ángeles Gulín
- Júlia Várady
- Carol Lee Neblett
- Aprile Millo
- Ángeles Blancas
- Renato, husband of Amelia and Riccardo's secretary, best friend and confidant (Count Captain Anckarström; Because the King's murderer has been unpopular in Sweden, the Swedes usually give Renato's role and love affair to Count Hollberg, who is a conspirator and lover but not killer. In this concept Samuel is the murderer Count Anckarström.), baritone
- HP Jakob Johan Anckarström
- Leone Giraldoni sang in the first premiere 17 February 1859
- Antonio Cotogni
- Sir Charles Santley
- Adriano Pantaleoni
- Léon Pierre Melchissédec
- Victor Maurel
- Antonio Magini Coletti
- Giuseppe Campanari
- Mattia Battistini
- Francisco d'Andrade
- Jean Noté
- Mario Ancona
- Giuseppe Pacini
- Francesco Maria Bonini
- Ferruccio Francesco Corradetti
- Giuseppe De Luca
- Titta Ruffo
- Pasquale Amato
- Giuseppe Danise
- Amleto Barbieri
- Carlo Galeffi
- Luigi Montesanto
- Mario Carmelo Basiola
- Leonard Warren
- Gino Bechi
- Tito Gobbi
- Paolo Silveri
- Robert Merrill
- Georg Ots
- Ettore Bastianini
- Rolando Panerai
- Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
- Piero Cappuccilli
- Ingvar Wixell
- Kari Nurmela
- Renato Bruson
- Oscar (Oscar also in the original version; Otto in the Stockholm version), Riccardo's page, coloratura soprano
- Pamela Scotti sang in the first premiere 17 February 1859
- Giuseppina Pasqua This was her debut in opera. She became a famous mezzo-soprano.
- Ilma de Murska
- Elda Cavalieri
- Lotte Schöne
- Lola Artot de Padilla
- Gianna Perea Labia
- Roberta Peters
- Reri Thomson
- Ulrica, a fortuneteller (Madame Ulrica Arfvidsson), contralto
- HP Ulrica Arfvidsson
- Zelina Sbriscia sang in the first premiere 17 February 1859
- Marietta Alboni
- Constance Nantier-Didiée
- Teresa Ferni
- Medea Maria Figner
- Maria Verger
- Marian Anderson
- Ebe Stignani
- Aino Sylvia Elenius-Urbano
- Giulietta Simionato
- Ksenija Cindro
- Fedora Barbieri
- Shirley Verrett
- Fiorenza Cossotto
- Judge (Armfelt, Minister of Justice in the original version and Bishop in the Stockholm version), tenor
- HP Count Gustaf Mauritz Armfelt
- Giuseppe Bazzoli sang in the first premiere 17 February 1859
- Alexandru Ioniță
- Amelia's servant, tenor
- Luigi Fossi sang in the first premiere 17 February 1859
- Silvano (Christano, Christian), sailor, bass
- Stefano Santucci sang in the first premiere 17 February 1859
- Antonio "Selva" Scremin
- Pentti Arnold Hilmanpoika Tuominen
- Piero Cappuccilli
- Tom Gunnar Krause
- Samuel (Count Ribbing; in some Swedish productions Samuel is the murderer Anckarström), bass
- HP Adolf Ludvig Ribbing
- Cesare Rossi sang in the first premiere 17 February 1859
- Antonio "Selva" Scremin
- Andres Perello de Segurola
- Yrjö Somersalmi
- Fernando Corena
- Ruggero Raimondi
- Tom (Tommaso, Count Horn), bass
- HP Count Claes Fredrik Horn af Åminne, till Huvusta
- Giovanni Bernardoni sang in the first premiere 17 February 1859
- Antonio "Selva" Scremin
- Riccardo, Earl of Warwick and governor of Boston (Gustavo III in the original version; Gustav III in the Stockholm version), tenor
- Scenographers:
- Luigi Bazzani in the first premiere 17 Feb 1859
- Giovanni Battista Biseo in the first premiere 17 Feb 1859
- Giuseppe Ceccato in the first premiere 17 Feb 1859
- Valentino Solmi in the first premiere 17 Feb 1859
- Costume designors:
- Filippo Peroni in the first premiere 17 Feb 1859
- Choir masters
- Pietro Dolfi in the first premiere 17 Feb 1859
- Concert master / Master of harpsichord
- Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi himself in the first premiere 17 Feb 1859 and the next two performances
- Tullio Ramacciotti in 1859 in the following performances after Verdi
- Conductors:
- Emilio Angelini conducted and played the first violin in the first premiere 17 Feb 1859
- Emanuele Muzio First American premiere at New York Academy of Music, February 11, 1861
- Luigi Arditi First London premiere at the Royal Lyceum Theatre in 1861
- Arturo Toscanini
- Egisto Emilio Tango
- Tullio Serafin
- Sir Thomas Beecham, 2nd Baronet
- Gianandrea Gavazzeni
- Francesco Molinari Pradelli
- Sir Georg Solti
- Claudio Abbado
- Riccardo Muti
- Riccardo Chailly, OMRI
- Stage directors:
- Giuseppe Cencetti (at Teatro Apollo, Rome in the first premiere 17 Feb 1859)
- Dr. Sandor Hevesi , née Alexander Hoffmann Unforgettable Verdi performances 1910-1930 with conductor Egisto Emilio Tango
- Göran Gentele at Royal Swedish Opera in 1959
- Franco Zeffirelli
- Otto Schenk (1975, ROH Covent Garden, Abbado cond., with Domingo, Ricciarelli, Grist, Cappuccilli)
- Götz Friedrich, Berlin 1993
- Luca Roncóni (Grosses Haus Bonn 8 Feb 1984)
- Renata Scotto (Lyric Opera of Chicago, 2010)
Before attending the ball, King Gustav had supper with his confidants. He reads the warning letter with no names. . . . . . . . . . . . 
The clothes and the mask, which King Gustav wore when he was murdered, Museum Livrustkammaren, Stockholm.
The mask and the murder weaponry of Count Anckarström. These are the pistols and the knifes he wore, even the bullets with which the pistols were loaded. Museum Livrustkammaren, Stockholm. . . . . . . . . 
Anckarström was sentenced to death and beheaded. In the opera he is pardoned by the king. Contemporary drawing.
Libretto
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