In 1857 Giuseppe Verdi received a proposal from the Theatre of San Carlo in Naples. The composer longed to create an opera based on Shakespeare’s tragedy King Lear. However, the theatre could not invite the singers who, according to Verdi, would be able to realise his conception. So, Un Ballo in Maschera was a compromise. An effective plot about the murder of Swedish King Gustave III had already been tested with the audience: in 1833 Daniel Auber created an opera from the libretto by Eugène Scribe, a French dramaturg, which was based on the same story. The cast also was suitable for a typical troupe of an Italian opera theatre.

The story has all the necessary qualities to compel public attention. There is a twisting plot that draws a love triangular into a political conspiracy. It has colourful characters, strong passions, tense situations and impressive stage effects like a witchcraft scene, a love duet in the night field, where the executions take place, or a murder against a masquerade background. “A brilliant drama that totally fits into the morals of our time” as Giuseppe Verdi said of it himself.