Boito

Boito is an Italian surname. The most notable bearer is Arrigo Boito (1842–1918), an Italian poet, librettist, and composer whose work shaped Italian opera in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Boito’s reputation rests primarily on his libretti. He provided the texts for Giuseppe Verdi’s late operas Otello (1887) and Falstaff (1893). The Otello libretto, drawn from Shakespeare’s Othello, is acclaimed for its psychological depth and fidelity to the source, while Falstaff is celebrated for its wit, character insight, and deft adaptation of Shakespearean comedy to Italian opera. Boito’s collaboration with Verdi is regarded as a turning point in Italian opera, contributing to a more literary and dramatic approach to libretto writing and to Verdi’s late stylistic development.

In addition to his work as a librettist, Boito was also a composer. He wrote the opera Mefistofele, a Faust-inspired work that had a mixed initial reception but remained part of the Italian operatic repertoire through later revisions and performances.

Boito’s influence extended beyond individual works, contributing to the integration of literary artistry with musical storytelling in opera. He is remembered as a leading figure among Italian librettists of his era, and his collaboration with Verdi remains a key milestone in the history of operatic adaptation from literature. Arrigo Boito died in Milan in 1918.