Otello

Sixteen years separate Otello from Aida, years in which Verdi had declared himself finished with the theatre. His publisher Ricordi and the composer-poet Arrigo Boito drew him back with a libretto that cuts Shakespeare's first act entirely and begins with the storm. The premiere at La Scala on 5 February 1887 was conducted by Franco Faccio, with Francesco Tamagno as Otello and Victor Maurel as Iago; the crowd unhitched the horses and drew Verdi's carriage to his hotel. He was seventy-three, and one more opera followed.