I masnadieri (The Bandits or The Robbers) is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Andrea Maffei, based on the play Die Räuber by Friedrich von Schiller. As Verdi became more successful in Italy, he began to receive offers from other opera houses outside the country. The London impresario Benjamin Lumley had presented Ernani in 1845 and, as a result of its success, commissioned an opera from the composer which became I masnadieri. It was given its first performance at Her Majesty's Theatre on 22 July 1847 with Verdi conducting the first two performances.

While reasonably successful there and in Italy up to the mid-1860s, the opera disappeared for about 90 years until revived in 1951. It has been revived from time to time in the 21st century.

Performance history
19th century

While never entirely successful elsewhere, perhaps (at least in part) for the inconsistencies and excesses of its libretto, following its premiere performances, stagings in Italy were quite numerous until 1862, with performances having been given in about 17 Italian cities, including three in Milan (two of which were at La Scala) between 1849 and 1862. Budden notes that the opera did not do well on the continent, although it was translated into French, Hungarian and German and given in Russia under the title Adele di Cosenza "before it joined Alzira in the limbo of Verdi's least performed operas".

20th century and beyond

From the 1970s on, the work has begun to reappear in the repertoire. A staged production in 1972 at the Rome Opera was recorded that November, with some outstanding singers of the era who included Boris Christoff, Gianni Raimondi, Renato Bruson and Ilva Ligabue. In New York, a concert performance was given by the Opera Orchestra of New York in February 1975. Other 1970s examples include a September 1976 performance in the Coliseo Albia in Bilbao, with Matteo Manuguerra and Cristina Deutekom appearing in major roles. La Scala in Milan presented the opera in 1978 under Riccardo Chailly.

In Australia in June/July 1980 at the Sydney Opera House Richard Bonynge conducted performances - which featured Joan Sutherland as Amalia. Nello Santi conducted a 1982 Zurich Opera production with Giorgio Zancanaro and Cristina Deutekom. In the US, the San Diego Opera staged it during their "Verdi Festival" in summer 1984 and brought in both Joan Sutherland and her husband.

There was a staging in Palermo in 2001 with Dimitra Theodossiou, Roberto Servile, and Carlo Ventre. Royal Opera, Covent Garden presented a new production of the piece in 2002 which featured René Pape, Franco Farina and Dmitri Hvorostovsky.

I masnadieri has been programmed by companies which plan to present (or have presented) every one of Verdi's operas. It appeared in Bilbao as part of the ABAO company's "Tutto Verdi" series during the 2003/2004 season; at the Sarasota Opera, in its "Verdi Cycle" series, which staged the opera in 2006; and the Teatro Regio di Parma included it in its October 2013 "Festival Verdi" program.

I masnadieri has been in the repertoire of the Zurich Opera and the Frankfurt Opera in recent years, and the Teatro San Carlo in Naples staged the work in March 2012 and a DVD was made of the production, the first commercial release in that format. Further productions are planned in European opera houses.