I Masnadieri

I masnadieri
Opera by Giuseppe Verdi
Death of Amalia in act 5 of Schiller's play, Die Räuber
Librettist	Andrea Maffei
Language	Italian
Based on	Friedrich von Schiller's Die Räuber
Premiere	22 July 1847 (1847-07-22) Her Majesty's Theatre, London

I masnadieri (The Bandits or The Robbers) is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Andrea Maffei, based on Die Räuber by Friedrich von Schiller. As Verdi became more successful in Italy, he began to receive offers from other opera houses outside the country. The London impresario Benjamin Lumley had presented Ernani in 1845 and, as a result of its success, commissioned an opera from the composer which became I masnadieri. It was given its first performance at Her Majesty's Theatre on 22 July 1847 with Verdi conducting the first two performances.

While reasonably successful there and in Italy up to the mid-1860s, the opera disappeared for about 90 years until revived in 1951. It has been revived from time to time in the 21st century.

In 1842 Lumley took over the management of Her Majesty's Theatre, the traditional home of Italian opera in London. Three years later Verdi's Ernani received its first British production at his theatre to great public acclaim, which convinced Lumley that he should commission an opera from Verdi, who was by then emerging as Italy's leading composer. Initially, the opera was to be Il corsaro based on the Byron poem of 1814, The Corsair. Verdi accepted Lumley's proposal and production was scheduled for the world premiere of the new opera in the summer of 1846. Unfortunately, Verdi's health deteriorated and the premiere of the new work had to be postponed until 1847.

During his period of recovery, one of Verdi's close friends, Andrea Maffei, a distinguished poet who had translated both Shakespeare and Schiller into Italian, suggested that Macbeth and Schiller's Die Räuber might provide suitable operatic subjects. With an offer to present a new opera in Florence, Verdi had the choice of two locations, Florence or London. In the end, the decision to present Macbeth in Florence came about because of the availability of a suitable bass, which Florence produced in the form of Felice Varesi. Thus, I masnadieri became destined for London, but with the condition that both Jenny Lind and the tenor Fraschini would be available. Maffei himself worked to complete the libretto of the Schiller opera with the composer. However, while Verdi had specified Fraschini, Budden notes that the management were not able to guarantee his presence and, besides, Muzio's "ear to the ground for news of the London opera season" had discovered that the preferred tenor there was Italo Gardoni who did sing the premiere.