Portal:Opera/Selected picture/55
Credit: Engraved by Luigi Barinetti after Girolamo Magnani; restored by Adam Cuerden
Title page of the vocal score for Verdi's 1845 opera, Giovanna d'Arco. Based on the life of Joan of Arc, the opera takes considerable liberties with history. Unlike the real Joan of Arc who was burnt at the stake, Verdi's heroine dies on the battlefield. The opera premiered at La Scala, Milan, where it was rapturously received by the audience but dismissed by the critics. For a production in Rome three months later, the Papal censors demanded that all religious connotations be removed from the story. The opera was performed as Orietta di Lesbo and set on the Isle of Lesbos with an Italian heroine leading the Lesbians into battle against the Turks.