Verdi's first opera premiers

Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi's first opera, Oberto, conte di San Bonifacio debuts in Milan. The premiere was held at the Teatro La Scala, where Verdi had first learned his craft from composer and maestro Vincenzo Lavigna. Oberto was received favorably, and Verdi was commissioned to write three more operas by Bartolomeo Merelli, the impresario at La Scala. In 1842, after some personal and professional setbacks, the opera Nabucco made Verdi an overnight celebrity. He would go on to compose such classic operas as Aida, Rigoletto, Il Trovatore, Falstaff, and La Traviata.