Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (1813-1901) was an Italian Romantic opera composer, best known for Rigoletto, Aida, and La Traviata -- which follows the life, lioves and death of a courtesan, Violetta, from tuberculosis. Francesco Maria Piave (1810-1876) was an Italian opera librettist who worked with many of the significant composers of his day, writing 10 libretti for Verdi.

Verdi's Shakespearean masterpiece returns to the Met with Johan Botha in the title role and Renée Fleming playing Desdemona. Semyon Bychkov conducts. The opera was originally filmed as part of the Met Opera Live series, which saw operas beamed live from New York to cinema screens around the world.

First performed in Rome in 1853, "Il Trovatore" is one of Giuseppe Verdi's most successful and most performed operas. Supremely melodic, vigorously paced, it is filled with arias and vocal ensembles of thrilling power. Grand opera at its most stirring, it is above all rich in opportunities for bravura singing. Music lovers can savor and study in detail Verdi's scoring of this perennial operatic favorite with this finely made full-score edition.