Fantasia on “Un ballo in maschera” (A Masked Ball) for Horn and Orchestra
First edition
The subject of Giuseppe Verdi’s (1813–1901) opera Un ballo in maschera (A Masked Ball) goes back to the fate of King Gustav III of Sweden. Regarded as an enlightened monarch, he wanted to abolish the privileges of the nobility and made enemies in the process. On 16 March 1792, the king was shot at a masked ball in the Stockholm Opera, before the eyes of the assembled company, by the masked Count Johan Jacob Anckarström; he died of blood poisoning a little under two weeks later.
The plot was politically explosive. The librettist Antonio Somma had taken part in the uprising against Austrian rule in Venice in 1848/49 and had been under police surveillance ever since; he therefore asked Verdi to let him write the libretto anonymously. In Naples the censors rejected the opera, since the assassination attempt on the King of Naples was still fresh in people’s memory, and on 14 January 1858 Count Felice Orsini had attempted to assassinate Emperor Napoleon III in Paris. The public and several prominent Neapolitans sided with Verdi; there were riots and demonstrations against the government and in favour of a composer’s artistic freedom. In the end the king released Verdi from his contract. Verdi left the city and vowed never to write another opera for Naples.
The opera was premiered in Rome on 17 February 1859. On 7 September 1860 the hated Bourbon throne fell in Naples, and Un ballo in maschera was among the first operas performed in the liberated city.
The title of the work presented here reads, in the autograph score:
Un ballo in Maschera | Fantasia | per | Corno da Caccia | di | Alfonso Schettino | Eseguita dall’Autore | nell’Accademia di Maggio 1864 | Originale | 1863
Unfortunately, no biographical information could be found about the composer and horn player Alfonso Schettino. The reason for his appearance at a concert of the Accademia in May 1864 is likewise unclear. The Fantasia was composed in 1863 and is published here for the first time under the catalogue number ROM 391. Schettino also wrote a fantasy for horn and orchestra on melodies by Saverio Mercadante (1795–1870), which is being published for the first time as ROM 392.
Listening example
Alfonso Schettino, Fantasia on “Un ballo in maschera” for Horn and Orchestra
