La mia letizia infondere (I Lombardi)

I Lombardi alla prima crociata followed Nabucco at La Scala on 11 February 1843, with a libretto by Temistocle Solera after an epic poem by Tommaso Grossi. The archbishop of Milan objected to staging a baptism and a crusade; the police let the work through with small changes, and the patriotic reading of its choruses did the rest. Verdi dedicated the score to Maria Luigia, Duchess of Parma, who died a few weeks after the premiere. In 1847 he rebuilt the opera in French as Jérusalem, his first work for the Paris Opéra.