In late nineteenth-century Italy, an opera was not the work of a single author. Indeed, the success of a theatrical production depended on the collaboration of the composer, the librettist, the publisher, the theatres, the singers, the set designers and – last but not least – politics. The exhibition explores this world through documents from the Ricordi Historical Archive, the most important collection on the history of Italian opera. The exhibition traces the production of an opera, from the commission awarded to the composer right through to the premiere, through letters and contracts, annotated librettos, sketches and costume designs, autograph scoresand first printed editions. At the heart of the exhibition is the collaboration between Giuseppe Verdi, Arrigo Boito and Giulio Ricordi that led to *Otello* and *Falstaff*, with a final look at the opera that most forced Verdi to grapple with politics: *La traviata*.
