Otello

Verdi’s penultimate opera, Otello, would most likely never have been written had it not been for the composer’s publisher, Giulio Ricordi. For after finishing Aida in 1871, Verdi decided he would bring his magnificent career as an opera composer to its close. Naturally enough, this did not make Ricordi happy. Consequently, he did not hesitate and invented a way of deflecting Verdi from his set course: namely, by offering him a libretto he would find irresistible. The composer’s admiration of the Bard was generally known, so Ricordi shrewdly steered his attention towards Othello and chose Arrigo Boito to be the librettist. The outcome was obvious: on November 1, 1886, Verdi completed the score, so rehearsals at Milan’s La Scala could start in January 1887. The part of Iago was sung by the French baritone Victor Maurel, who couldn’t stand the interpreter of Otello, the Italian tenor Francesco Tamagna, a scorn on a par with that of Iago’s hatred of Othello, underlying which was the fact that the tenor received much higher royalties… On Verdi’s insistence the rehearsals were closed to the public, and the press was barred from any information about the new opera. The composer was convinced he and Boito had created a masterpiece and he was not mistaken. The premiere, on February 5, 1887, was a major public occasion, with streets in the neighbourhood of La Scala thronged with people. The opera instantly embarked on a triumphant international trajectory. As early on as January 7, 1888, its Czech-language version was first performed at Prague’s National Theatre, thanks to the promptitude of its director František Adolf Šubert.

The premises of today’s Prague State Opera witnessed the premiere of the then New German Theatre’s first production on December 20, 1911, followed by further stagings, on May 4, 1924 (conducted by Alexander Zemlinsky), January 13, 1928, and November 15, 1932. There ensued a long hiatus, until November 19 1991, when the then already autonomous Smetana Theatre presented an exceptionally successful production conducted by Martin Turnovský, with Germany’s Dominik Neuner as the stage director.