| 17/11/1839 | Premiere of Verdi's first opera "Oberto, Conte di San Bonifacio" at La Scala in Milan. Eugenio Cavallini was the conductor. The singers included Ignazio Marini, Antonietta Marini-Rainieri, Mary Shaw, Marietta Sacchi and Lorenzo Salvi. |
| 9/3/1842 | Premiere of Verdi's opera "Nabucco" at La Scala in Milan. Eugenio Cavallini was the conductor. The singers were Giorgio Rinconi, Giuseppina Strepponi, Corrodo Miraglia, Prosper Dérivis, Teresa Ruggeri, Napoleone Marconi and Gaetano Rossi. [Strepponi, Guiseppina] |
| 12/8/1845 | Premiere of Verdi's opera "Alzira" at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples. It was based on Voltaire's play "Alzire, ou les Américains". The libretto was written by Salvatore Cammarano. Marco Arati, Filippo Coletti, Ceci, Gaetano Fraschini, Eugenia Tadolini and Maria Salvetti were singers. [Tadolini, Eugénia] |
| 22/7/1847 | Premiere of Verdi's opera "I masnadieri" at Her Majesty's Theatre in London. The libretto was written by Andrea Maffei and it was based on Schiller's play "Die Räuber". Verdi conducted the first two performances himself. Jenny Lind sang the part of Amalia and Luigi Lablache was Massamiliano. Other singers were Filippo Coletti and Italo Gardini. [Lind, Jenny] |
| 16/4/1849 | Premiere of Meyerbeer's "Le prophète" with Pauline Viardot as Fidès. It was performed by the Opera of Paris at the Salle Le Peletier. Jeanne-Anaïs Castellan was Berthe and Gustave-Hippolyte Roger was Jean. Narcisse Girard was the conductor. In the audience were Chopin, Verdi, Théophile Gautier, Delacroix, Ivan Turgenev and Berlioz. It was a great succes and in July it was performed at Covent Garden in London. [Berlioz, Hector][Chopin, Frédéric][Delacroix, Eugène][Gautier, Théophile][Girard, Narcisse][Meyerbeer, Giacomo][Viardot-Garcia, Pauline] |
| 8/12/1849 | Premiere of Verdi's "Luisa Miller" at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples. It was based on Schiller's play "Kabale und Liebe". Performers were Achille De Bassini, Marietta Gazzaniga and Antonio Selva. |
| 11/3/1851 | Premiere of Verdi's "Rigoletto" at La Fenice in Venice. The conductor was Gaetano Mares. Singers were Felice Varesi, Teresa Brambilla, Raffalee Mirate and Andrea Bellini. |
| 2/2/1852 | Premiere of "La Dame Aux Camelias" by Alexandre Dumas fils at the Théâtre du Vaudeville. The play was an instant succes. Eugénie Doche played Marguerite Gautier and Charles Fecher was Armand Duval. Giuseppe Verdi soon set the story to music, resulting in his opera "La traviata" (1853). [Dumas, Alexandre (fils)] |
| 19/1/1853 | Premiere of Verdi's "Il Trovatore" at the Apollo Theatre in Rome. The libretto was written by Salvadore Cammarano. After his sudden death Leone Emanuele Bardare made alterations. The singers included Giovanni Guicciardi, Rosina Penco, Emilia Goggi and Carlo Baucardé. The first performance was very successful. |
| 11/3/1853 | Premiere of Verdi's "La Traviata" at La Fenice in Venice. Gaetano Mares was conducting and Fanny Salvini-Donatelli, Lodovico Graziani and Felice Varesi were singing. Verdi considered Salvini-Donatelli too fat for the part and spoke of a fiasco, but the public was appreciative of her singing. When "La Traviata" was again performed in Venice in the next year, Maria Spezia took her place. |
| 9/10/1855 | Verdi's opera "La Taviata" is performed in Turin at the Teatro Carignano. It was a spectacle unknown to anything seen before in Turin. Marietta Piccolimi was Violetta and she caused such a sensation that men wanted to unharness the horses from her carriage to draw it themselves through the streets. She didn't let them do this but her fame was made and she was able to launch an international career. |
| 24/5/1856 | British premiere of Verdi's "La Triviata" at Her Majesty's Theatre. Marietta Piccolomini performed Violetta, after her sensational succes in the part in Turin. She was hired by the impresario Benjamin Lumley and the public loved her. |
| 3/12/1856 | American premiere of Verdi's "La Traviata" in New York. It was performed in Italian by the Max Maretzek Italian Opera Company at the Academy of Music. Anna de La Grange was Violetta. |
| 6/12/1856 | French première of Verdi's "La Traviata" at the Salle Ventadour in Paris. It was performed in Italian by the Théâtre-Italien. Marietta Piccolimo was Violetto and continued her succes from Turin and London in performing the part. Verdi was present and congratulated her. But he noted that 'she coughed coughed too much and much too real'.
In 1864 it was performed in French for the first time as "Violetta". |
| 8/6/1858 | First London performance of Verdi's "Luisa Miller" at Her Majesty’s Theatre. The opera had received little attention since its premiere in Paris on 7 December 1852. It is unclear why Her Majesty's Theatre, that was in financial difficulties at the time, wanted to stage it. Vincenzo Bonetti was the conductor. Marietta Piccolomini was Luisa, Marietta Alboni was Duchess Frederica, Antonio Giuglini was Rodolfo and Federico Beneventano was Miller.The critics of The Times and other papers wrote that it was the worst opera that Verdi had ever composed, allthough Alboni was praised. [Alboni, Marietta] |
| 17/2/1859 | Premiere of Verdi's "Un ballo in maschera" at the Teatro Apollo in Rome. Singers were Gaetano Fraschini, Eugenia Julienne-Dejean, Leone Giraldoni, Zelinda Sbriscia and Pamela Scotti. The Gazetta Musicale di Milano wrote that the actors were loudly applauded, except for Zelinda Sbriscia and Pamela Scotti. Sbriscia hadn't been Verdi's first choice and already in 1858 he lamented that she shouldn't have been contracted. He also wasn't satisfied with Pamela Scotti and Eugenia Julienne-Dejean, but against his expectations the premiere was a success. |
| 11/3/1867 | Premiere of Verdi's opera "Don Carlos" at the Salle Le Peletier in Paris. It was conducted by François George-Hainl. Louis-Henri Obin, Jean Morère, Jean-Baptiste Faure, Marie-Constance Sasse and Pauline Guéymard-Lauters were singing. |
| 24/12/1871 | First performance of Verdi's opera "Aïda" in Cairo. The libretto was by Antonio Ghislanzoni. Giovanni Bottesini was the conductor. Verdi wasn't present. |
| 8/2/1872 | Italian premiere of Verdi's opera "Aïda" in Milan. It was written with Teresa Stolz in mind and she created the part of Aida in Milan. The world premiere had taken place in Cairo in 1871 without Stolz. Maria Waldmann performed the part of Amneris. Franco Fazzio was the conductor. The libretto was by Antonio Ghislanzoni. [Stolz, Teresa] |
| 22/5/1874 | Premiere of Verdi's "Requiem" at the Church of San Marco in Milan. Verdi conducted and the soloists were Teresa Stolz (soprano), Maria Waldmann (mezzo-soprano), Giuseppe Capponi (tenor) and Ormondo Maini (bass). [Stolz, Teresa] |
| 5/2/1887 | Premiere of Verdi's "Othello" in Milan. The conductor was Franco Faccio. Performers were Francesco Tamagno (as Othello), Romilda Pantaleoni, Victor Maurel, Ginevra Petrovich and Giovanni Paroli. [Tamagno, Francesco] |
| 26/2/1901 | The remains of Giuseppe Verdi and Giuseppina Strepponi are moved to the Casa di Riposo in Milan. They had been buried at the Cimitero Monumentale in Milan but according to a wish that Verdi had expressed in 1899 they were both moved to the Casa di Riposi that was founded by him. [Strepponi, Guiseppina] |
| 29/1/1932 | American premiere of Verdi's "Simon Boccanegra" at the Metropolitan in New York. Maria Müller sang. [Müller, Maria] |
