and monotonous." The paper then goes on to praise two arias and a quartet in the second act, a judgment shared by the periodical Figaro which, incidentally, advised the composer to make a further study of the classics. As a matter of fact, the quartet in question may be described as an afterthought, Merelli himself having suggested it when Verdi was making certain alterations in the opera to meet the requirements of the new cast. Julian Budden comments on the performance reviews of the time, especially one which indicates that Verdi's music was not inspired by Donizetti, Bellini, Mercadante nor Rossini, and he states "in detail it owes a little to all of them. But what finally emerges is often subtly different, with a flavour of its own. Above all, it has that ultra-Verdian quality of gathering momentum as it proceeds." Music Given the need at the time for composers to take into account singers' strengths and weaknesses, Verdi's writing for the four principals (rather than the more conventional three of that era) who became the cast for the premiere of Oberto well accommodated the limitations of Mary Shaw's voice and played to the strengths of Antonietta Rainieri-Marini's in the lower register. Ignazio Marini, the bass who sang the title role, was "a performer of impressive vocal and dramatic range, for whom Verdi would later write the title role of Attila, notes Parker. He continues by adding that "la Marini" was undoubtedly grateful to Verdi in that it was she who quite probably helped to secure most of the revivals of the opera during the following few years where she appeared as Leonora in four of the five of them. Agreeing with Parker that the support given to "la Marini" helped with stagings of further performances from 1840 to 1843 (and, therefore, allowed the composer the opportunity to make additions and changes as these performances were played in different cities and with different singers). For the 1840 revival after the failure of Un giorno di regno, the role of Cuniza was sung by Luigia Abbadia and it was for her that Verdi wrote an entrance aria in act 1 and a duet for Cuniza and Riccardo also in act 1, the latter described as being "full of that intensely condensed melodic expressiveness that will characterise the best of his early music. It is on quite a different level of invention