The La Scala production enjoyed "a fair success" and the theatre's impresario, Bartolomeo Merelli, commissioned two further operas from the young composer.

[1] During his student days in Milan, Verdi began the process of making connections to the world of music in that city which were to stand him in good stead.

These included an introduction by his teacher Lavigna to an amateur choral group, the Società Filarmonica, where he functioned as rehearsal director and continuo player for Haydn's The Creation in 1834, as well as conducting Rossini's La cenerentola himself the following year.

Whether Rocester actually became the basis for Oberto when Verdi was able to return to Milan in February 1839 after fulfilling two and a half years of his contract in Busseto is subject to some disagreement amongst scholars.

"[3] In his recollections in 1881 (quoted in Budden) following his return to Milan from Busseto in 1838, Verdi describes how he was invited to meet the La Scala impresario, Bartolomeo Merelli, who had heard a conversation about the music of the opera between soprano Giuseppina Strepponi and Giorgio Ronconi in which she praised it.

[citation needed] As noted by Roger Parker, the opera, while having a somewhat limited success at La Scala, did receive revivals over the following three years, during which Verdi took the opportunity to compose new numbers or supply new or revised music to fit particular voices.

[7] It appeared in Turin and Milan in 1840, the latter in the autumn after the failure of Verdi's second opera, Un giorno di regno; again, it was seen in Naples and Genoa (both in 1841), and in Barcelona in 1842.

[13] Before the action takes place, a battle has been fought between Oberto, Count of San Boniface, and the Salinguerra, led by Ezzelino da Romano.

Leonora arrives swearing to avenge Riccardo's desertion and she sings of the love which she had and a hope of recovering those innocent days (Sotto il paterno tetto...Oh potessi nel mio core- "Beneath my father's roof an angel appeared to me").

But Oberto's initial anger at Leonora's actions quickly turns to fatherly affection as the pair makes plans to disrupt the wedding.

Cuniza laments the love she had, but following her aria, Oh, chi torna l'ardente pensiero – "Oh, who can turn my fevered thoughts", she instructs Imelda to tell Riccardo that he should return to Leonora, concluding in Più che i vezzi e lo splendore – "More persuasive to my conscience" that she has made the right decision.

Contemporary critical reactions to Verdi's first effort were mixed, as noted by scholar Francis Toye, writing in 1931, when he quoted two Milanese critics: 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.

[3] 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.

[citation needed] 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.

[3] Toye notes that, in spite of its weaknesses, the opera: Franceska Lombardi, Manuela Custer, Norman Reinhardt Theater Gießen Cat: OC959 The historical Cunizza da Romano, whose life was as at least as interesting as this fictionalised account.