1809-1864 IT
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.However, Ballo had a troubled history and, originally, Somma wrote the libretto under the title of Gustavo III. As a result of required changes by, firstly, the Naples censors and then the Rome censors, it became transformed into Un vendetta in domino (with a different setting and characters' names).