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, whose play El trovador had been the basis for Verdi's 1853 opera, Il trovatore.
First edition libretto for the 1881 revision
Verdi in 1859
Francesco Maria Piave, librettist of the 1857 version
Set design by Girolamo Magnani for 1881 revision
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the help of a local patron, Antonio Barezzi. Verdi came to dominate the Italian opera scene after the era of Gioachino Rossini, Vincenzo Bellini, and Gaetano Donizetti, whose works significantly influenced him.
Portrait by Giovanni Boldini, 1886
Verdi's childhood home at Le Roncole
Antonio Barezzi, Verdi's patron and later father-in-law
Margherita Barezzi, Verdi's first wife