Gustav III and The Masked Ball: Different Approaches to Freedom of Expression

In 1858 Giuseppi Verdi composed an opera which he originally entitled Gustav III.Its plot was a fictionalized version of the 1792 assassination of King Gustaf III of Sweden.You have never seen or heard that opera, because the censors in Naples and Rome banned its performance.It contemplated the unspeakable-regicide, the killing of a king.For the censors of the mid-nineteenth century there were concepts that could not be discussed in public.Killing a king-any king-was one of them.Verdi was not to be deterred.He changed the locale, from Sweden to America, and he changed the victim, from the king of Sweden to the colonial governor of Boston.These two changes satisfied the censors and the revised work became famous the following year as Un Ballo en Maschera, (The Masked Ball).Now, 150 year later, King Gustav is again sometimes portrayed as the victim, although the unfortunate governor of Boston frequently still takes the part.A quarter century before Verdi composed his masterpiece a French playwright, Eugne Scribe, wrote a play featuring the story of Gustav.Daniel Auber composed an opera based on the story, which he also called Gustav III.They were more fortunate than Verdi, because there was no censorship of the work in France.The Auber opera was quite successful until it was overtaken by the splendor of Verdi's work.A word about poor King Gustav may be in order.He reigned from 1771 to 1792.He was a nephew of Frederick