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Stiffelio was a drastic change of pace for Verdi: an opera about a Protestant pastor rather than the royal, political, or military figures who dominated his earlier works. It is also an opera about an unfaithful wife that culminates not in vendetta but in forgiveness. It was far ahead of its time, and it ran into trouble not only with censors (a perennial problem for Verdi), but also with Italian audiences who misunderstood and rejected the idea of a married clergyman. Verdi withdrew it and recycled the music into the less controversial Aroldo, in which the wronged husband is a medieval knight. It failed a second time and dropped out of sight for more than a century, though Verdi returned to the subject of infidelity, real or imagined, forgiven or unforgiven, in Un ballo in maschera and Otello. Stiffelio was revived in the 1960s when its ideas should have been less shocking; a good recording was made by Philips with Jose Carreras in the title role, but it is out of circulation. It deserves better than only one available recording. --Joe McLellan