Template:POTD/2018-04-10
An 1860 lithograph showing the assassination of Riccardo, the Earl of Warwick, in the climactic scene of the opera Un ballo in maschera. Composed by Giuseppe Verdi, with a libretto by Antonio Somma, it was based on the assassination of King Gustav III of Sweden and initially intended to be performed as Gustavo III. However, after extensive censorship, the play was reset in the colonial United States and rewritten to center around a British governor in Boston. First performed in 1859, Un ballo in maschera has been widely staged, with many productions since the 1930s restoring the Swedish setting.Lithograph: Francesco Corbetta; restoration: Adam Cuerden