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Maestro’s pick CD
Websites
Browse through a variety of Ballo clips on YouTube! Here you will find performances by such opera greats as Deborah Voigt (much loved at BLO for her 1991 and 1998 appearances), Luciano Pavarotti, and Maria Callas, and you can compare several versions of the fortunetelling scene. Note: our link takes you to a search for the phrase “Un ballo in maschera.” Some of the hits from that search have nothing to do with the opera as far as we can tell.
Deutsche Grammophon DVD clips
Get a taste of Un ballo in maschera with excerpts from a highly acclaimed production of the opera. Deutsche Grammophon offers clips online from its DVD of the 1989 Met performance, starring Luciano Pavarotti. Note the unusual staging and scenery!
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Full score of Un ballo in maschera online
Find the complete musical score of Un ballo in maschera at Indiana University’s extensive online library. If you would like to take a closer look at the music of the opera, here is an easy—and free!—resource for printing out scenes, whether for performance or just following along with the music. |
 Articles
The following two articles are available through JSTOR, an online collection of scholarly journals from all disciplines. Check your local library for JSTOR access or go directly to the specific journals.
R. Nisbet Bain: The Assassination of Gustavus III of Sweden, The English Historical Review, vol. 2, no. 7 (July 1887)
Learn about the real events surrounding Gustavus III’s assassination—even more dramatic than the opera. Bain’s article spares no gory detail in his examination of “the fatal masquerade at which the ‘royal charmer’ lost his life.”
Edward J. Dent: Un Ballo in Maschera, Music and Letters, vol. 33 no. 2 (April 1952)
This article remains one of the most informative resources on the making of the libretto. Dent created an English translation for Covent Garden that was the first for any major opera house to restore the Swedish location. He examines Somma's adaptation from Scribe's original text, the implications of changing the original setting, and issues of translation. He compares the different texts and cites Verdi's lengthy correspondence with Somma.
The link below takes you to the Times archive. You can subscribe to “Times Select” to access the articles, or check your local library.
New York Times search for “Marian Anderson” Ulrica ballo
In 1955 Marian Anderson made history as the first African American ever to perform at the Met. Read about her memorable portrayal of Ulrica (Mam’zelle Arvidson), and the public’s response—a “thunderous ovation.”
Books
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Scott Balthazar, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Verdi. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. |
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William Berger. Verdi with a Vengeance: An Energetic Guide to the Life and Complete Works of the King of Opera. New York: Vintage Books, 2000. |
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Joyce Bourne. Who’s Who in Opera: A Guide to Opera Characters. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. |
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Julian Budden. The Operas of Verdi. Vol. 2: From Il trovatore to La forza del destino. Revised edition. New York: Clarendon Press of Oxford University Press, 1992. |
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Gilles de Van; trans. Gilda Roberts. Verdi's Theater: Creating Drama through Music. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998. |
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Stanley Sadie and Laura Macy. The Grove Book of Operas. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. |
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