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Simon Boccanegra is an opera with a prologue and three acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian...

Simon Boccanegra is an opera with a prologue and three acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, based on the play Simón Bocanegra (1843) by Antonio García Gutiérrez. It was first performed at Teatro La Fenice, Venice on 12 March 1857. Given the difficulties with the original plot, a revised version, with text changes by Arrigo Boito, was first performed at La Scala, Milan on 24 March 1881. It is this version, with its Act 1 Council Chamber scene as its finale, that is usually given today. After the 1857 premiere, the original version was seen in Malta in 1860, Madrid and Lisbon in 1861, and Buenos Aires in 1862. Following the premiere of the revised version in 1881, the revised Simon Boccanegra was first seen outside of Italy in Vienna in 1882 and Paris in 1883. It is now part of the standard operatic repertoire and it is presented regularly. A concert performance of the 1857 version took place in London in 1975 (probably its first hearing for 100 years), and was broadcast by the BBC on 1 January 1976. This version was performed by the Royal Opera, London on 28 June 1997. In 1999, as part of its "Viva Verdi!" festival, New York Grand Opera gave the