Arrigo Boito Biography

Arrigo Boito is probably better known as a librettist than as a composer, especially for his texts for Verdi's Simon Boccanegra, and the Shakespearian Otello and Falstaff, as well as the libretto of Ponchielli's La Gioconda.

Opera

Boito's only completed opera, for which he wrote both words and music, was Mefistofele, based on Goethe's Faust, a work to which he made considerable alterations. The Prologue, Ave, Signor, for Mephistopheles and the prison scene for the soprano Margaretta (Gretchen) remain familiar recital items.