Antonio Somma

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Somma. Antonio Somma (born Udine, 28 August 1809 - died Venice, 8 August 1864) was an Italian playwright who is most well known for writing the libretto of an opera which ultimately became Giuseppe Verdi's Un ballo in maschera in 1859. While a student, his tragedy, Parisina, gave him quite a success. Initially, his contact with Verdi came about when the composer was seeking to continue work on his proposed Re Lear, an adaptation of the Shakespeare play, King Lear, for the opera stage which had begun under his long-…