Verdi’s first opera was produced at La Scala, Milan, when he was only 26 and was a great success. But in the following year his much loved wife died (their two children had already died in infancy) and Verdi was devastated. With astonishing insensitivity, La Scala insisted that he complete the comic opera he was working on at the time, and not surprisingly it was a total failure, withdrawn after a single performance. He swore never to compose again. However, someone gave him a libretto based on the Old Testament story of the captivity of the Hebrews in Babylon under King Nebuchadnezzar, and he found himself interested. Despite himself, he began work on it, and the result was his third opera Nabucodonosor (the Italian name for Nebuchadnezzar). The title was soon shortened to the more pronounceable Nabucco, and the opera established Verdi on the international stage. In particular, the wonderful chorus of the Hebrew slaves Va Pensiero was an immediate hit, played and sung all over the musical world. Verdi never really looked back.