Editing Un ballo in maschera (section)

==Performance history==
[[File:Verdi in 1859.jpg|thumb|Verdi in 1859]]

===Notable productions===
''Un ballo in maschera'' received its premiere performance at the [[Teatro Apollo]] in Rome on 17 February 1859 and was immediately successful. The opera was first seen in the US in New York on 11 February 1861 at the [[Academy of Music (New York City)|Academy of Music]] in Manhattan for seven performances, conducted by [[Emanuele Muzio]]; the future president [[Abraham Lincoln]] attended one of the performances. Two further performances were given at the old [[Brooklyn Academy of Music]] on Montague Street.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/21/arts/music-for-lincoln-a-poignant-night-in-another-theater.html "Music; For Lincoln, a Poignant Night in Another Theater"] by [[Joseph Horowitz]], ''[[The New York Times]]'', January 21, 2001</ref> The first performance in the UK was on 15 June of that year.

In the 20th century, especially after a 1935 production in [[Copenhagen]], many modern stagings have restored the original Swedish setting and characters' names.{{sfn|Kimbell|2001|p=999}} On 7 January 1955,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.americaslibrary.gov/jb/modern/jb_modern_anderson_1.html|title=Marian Anderson Performed at the Metropolitan Opera|work=americaslibrary.gov}}</ref> [[Marian Anderson]], singing the role of Ulrica, broke the "color barrier" at the [[Metropolitan Opera]], becoming the first [[African-American]] vocal soloist to appear with that company.<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Miles|last=Kastendieck|url=http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=167580|title=Marian at the Met: The Story|magazine=[[New York Journal-American]]|date=January 7, 1955|access-date=2015-10-03|via=Met Performance Archive}}</ref>

A "hypothetical reconstruction" of ''[[Gustavo III (Verdi)|Gustavo III]]'',<ref name="Parker">Parker, p. 179{{incomplete short citation|date=February 2022|reason=Which year?}}</ref> based on the unorchestrated original and much of ''Una vendetta'' "grafted"<ref name="Parker"/> onto ''Un ballo''{{'}}s score, occurred in a production by the [[Gothenburg Opera]] in [[Gothenburg]], Sweden in 2002.<ref>{{harvnb|Gossett|2006|pp=491–513}}: the complete history of ''Gustave III'' has been outlined by the musicologist.</ref>

The opera has become a staple of the repertoire and is now performed frequently.

===Homosexuality of Gustav III===

Scribe's libretto for ''Gustave III'' includes details that could be understood as signs of the king's [[homosexuality]]. Verdi and Somma eliminated many of these coded signals, but new codes take their place, particularly relating to the character of Oscar.<ref>Ralph Hexter, “Masked Balls”. ''Cambridge Opera Journal'' 14 (2002): 93–108</ref> David Richards has argued that although the opera was no longer explicitly based on Gustav III, Verdi deliberately deviated from his usual practice and set Oscar for a soprano – despite disliking women singing men's parts: "''Verdi goes as far as one could go within the repressive conventions of his period to portray Gustavo (based on a widely known flamboyantly homosexual ruler) as either a gay man or, at a minimum, a bisexual man"''. Richards believes this therefore demonstrates that "Verdi's art embraces all forms of sexualities".<ref>David Richards, ''Tragic Manhood and Democracy: Verdi's Voice and the Powers of Musical Art'', Sussex Academic Press, 2004</ref> Ralph Hexter has examined the “masking” of homosexual aspects of the main character and how it relates to the idea of masking in the opera as a whole.
   
Several productions have attempted to draw out this suggestion – most notably the staging by [[Göran Gentele]] for the [[Royal Swedish Opera]] in 1959 where Gustavo is having an affair with his Oscar even while pining for Amelia, and also the 1993 staging by [[Götz Friedrich]] for Berlin.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.operawarhorses.com/2014/10/05/a-stylishly-sung-and-intelligently-staged-masked-ball-at-san-francisco-opera-october-4-2014/|title=Review: A Stylishly Sung and Intelligently Staged "Masked Ball" at San Francisco Opera – October 4, 2014|date=Oct 6, 2014|access-date=Apr 22, 2019}}</ref>