Willow Song and Ave Maria (Otello)

Sixteen years separate Aida from Otello. Verdi considered himself finished as a composer and Ricordi spent most of a decade coaxing him back; Arrigo Boito's libretto, drafted in 1879, waited years before Verdi began work in earnest in 1884. He completed the scoring in 1886, and the first performance at La Scala on 5 February 1887 brought twenty curtain calls. Boito compressed Shakespeare severely — no Venice, no first act — so the drama begins already at sea and in storm. Verdi answered with continuous music in which the orchestra carries the suspicion and the voice is left exposed.