(; Italian for King Lear) is an Italian operatic libretto in four acts written by Antonio Somma for the Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi. It was based on King Lear, "the Shakespeare play with which Verdi struggled for so many years, but without success". The Re Lear project is widely considered illustrative of Verdi's complex and enduring fascination with Shakespeare. Verdi commissioned the libretto first from Salvadore Cammarano, who died in June 1852 before he could complete it. Then, three years later, while working with Antonio Somma on what was eventually to become Un ballo in maschera, he proposed that Somma read King Lear and he re-read the play himself, then sought Somma's reactions. Their extensive correspondence has been preserved; it thoroughly documents Verdi's oversight and detailed supervision, the result being two completed and still extant versions of the libretto prepared by Somma in 1853 and 1855. However, while the idea of Re Lear remained with Verdi into the 1890s, no music for the opera was ever composed. Development of a libretto Working with Cammarano In a letter of 28 February 1850, Verdi outlined his thoughts to Cammarano: At first sight, Lear is so tremendous, so intricate, that it would seem impossible to make an opera of it. However, after examining it closely, it seems to me that the difficulties, great as they are, are not insuperable. You know, we need not turn Lear into the sort of drama that has been customary up to now. We must treat it in a completely new way, without any regard for convention. Right from the beginning, Verdi had ideas as to how the play should be adapted. His 1850 letter lays out what he sees as certain strategies, including the relative importance of the characters. Specifically, he saw only five main ones: Lear, Cordelia, the brothers Edgar and Edmund, and, as the Fool who would be sung by a contralto. The "Secondary roles would be reduced to four: Regan, Goneril, Kent, and Gloucester. The others, would be very subordinate roles and the work would only 8 or 9 scenes (as compared to the play's 22). However, Verdi sent an outline of 11 scenes (the same as in I Lombardi, he notes.) In his last letter to Cammarano, on 19 June 1852, Verdi wrote: "Cheer up, Cammarano, we have to make this Re Lear which will be our masterpiece." After the librettist's death,