The cover of the first edition libretto for the 1881 revision of Simon Boccanegra. This opera with a prologue and three acts was written by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, based on Antonio García Gutiérrez's play Simón Bocanegra (1843). First performed at Teatro La Fenice in Venice in 1857, it received a generally poor popular response and had dropped out of favour by 1866. Verdi prepared a revised edition more than a decade later, with text changes by Arrigo Boito. This version was first performed at La Scala in Milan in 1881, and remains the most frequently performed today.Illustration: Uncredited; restoration: Adam Cuerden