At the age of 70, Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) created "Otello", one of his most famous works, based on the drama of the same name by William Shakespeare - "Othello, the Moor of Venice". The opera is set at the end of the 15th century in Cyprus, which at that time is ruled by Venice. Otello, lord of the island, and his wife Desdemona fall victim in the course of the plot to the vicious and infamous intrigues of Iago, who acts out of base motives. The premiere at the Teatro alla Scala in 1887 was an indescribable triumph for Verdi, who had not composed an opera for 16 years by then and had actually already retired. After Verdi had already worked successfully with the librettist Arrigo Boito, himself a renowned composer and writer, in a new arrangement for "Simon Boccanegra", the two musicians collaborated again in 1879. Verdi was enthusiastic about Boito’s opera text for "Otello" and began composing it. With "Otello", the composer treads new musical paths and breaks with the old schemes of arias, duets or recitatives. A continuous structure and coherent entities characterise Verdi’s grandiose and psychologically subtly staged mature work.