After retiring at age 58, Verdi would write no new operas for the next 15 years. It took a pivotal supper in Milan and the persistence of music publisher Giulio Ricordi to entice the Maestro to set about composing a new work, which he would only refer to as the “chocolate project”.

The Moor Otello is a soldier, a general and a loving husband who, despite all of his accomplishments, is not accepted by the people of Venice: he remains the eternal "black" foreigner. The vulnerability of the stranger seeking to fit into society is something that is easy for false friends to exploit – as is his jealousy.