Fantasia über "Un ballo in maschera" (Ein Maskenball)

Giuseppe Verdi (1813 - 1901) Opera "Un ballo in maschera" had its libretto in the person of Gustav III. of Sweden. He was regarded as an enlightened monarch, and wanted to abolish privileges of the nobility, while he made enemies. On March 16, 1792, the King was shot on a masquerade ball in the Stockholm Opera before the eyes of the ball company of masked count Johann Jakob Anckarström and died two weeks later of a blood poisoning. The act of the opera had explosives, the librettist Antonio Somma was involved in an uprising against the Austrian feudal lords in Venice in 1848/49 and has since been monitored by the police. He asked Verdi to write the libretto anonymously. The censorship in Naples rejected the opera, and the assassination of the King of Naples could still be remembered. On 13 January 1858 Count Felice Orsini had an assassination attempt on the Emperor Napoleon III. Of France. The people and some of Naples' personalities were behind Verdi, there were riots and demonstrations against the government and the artistic freedom of a composer. Finally, the king dismissed Verdi from his contract. He left the city and never wanted to write an opera for Naples again. On February 17, 1859, the premiere of the opera took place in Rome. On September 7, 1860, the hated Bourbon throne collapsed in Naples. One of the first operas performed in the liberated Naples was Un ballo in maschera.

The title of this work is in the autograph score Un ballo in Maschera Fantasia | Per | Corno da Caccia | Di | Alfonso Schettino Eseguita dall'Autore | Nell'Accademia di Maggio 1864 | Originals | 1863 Unfortunately, no biographical information could be found about the composer and Horn player Alfonso Schettino. Also the reason for his performance in 1864 in a concert of the Academia is unclear. In addition to this Fantasia, composed in 1863 and published for the first time under the publication number ROM 391, Schettino composed a fantasy for horn and orchestra over melodies by Saverio Mercadante (1795 - 1870).