ll Trovatore (The Troubadour) was one of Verdi’s best-loved operas even during the composer’s lifetime. The opera received a rapturous reception when it was performed for the first time on 19 January 1853 at the Teatro Apollo in Rome and Guiseppe Verdi himself called it his most popular work. Together with La Traviata and Rigoletto the opera is still one of Verdi’s most-performed and popular operas worldwide. The libretto by Salvadore Cammarano was completed by Leone Emmanuele Bardare following Cammarono’s sudden death and is based on the play El trovador by the Spanish Romantic dramatist Antonio García Gutiérrez (1836). The drama offered Verdi bizarre and original material which gave him an opportunity for changing settings and scenes which are rich in contrast for which he developed a wonderful diversity of melodies and expressions. The wealth of his melodies is almost profligate, the Anvil chorus sung by the gypsies in Act 2, Vedi le fosche notturne, has been interpreted many times, once even by Glenn Miller for his jazz band. The plot is set in the gloomy atmosphere of 15th century Spain and tells the romantic love story of Leonora and her troubadour Manrico. An opera full of love and hate, heroism and revenge.