The success of Verdi's first opera, Oberto, led Bartolomeo Merelli, La Scala's impresario, to offer Verdi a contract for three more works.
After the failure of his second opera Un giorno di regno (completed in 1840 towards the end of a brutal two-year period during which both of his infant children and then his 26-year-old wife died), Verdi vowed never to compose again.

In "An Autobiographical Sketch", written in 1879, Verdi tells the story of how he came to be twice persuaded by Merelli to change his mind and to write the opera.
The distance of 38 years from the event may have led to a somewhat romanticized view; or, as Verdi scholar Julian Budden puts it: "he was concerned to weave a protective legend about himself [since] it was all part of his fierce independence of spirit."
However, in Volere è potere ("Where there's a will ...") – written ten years closer to the event – the zoologist Michele Lessona provides a different account of the events, as allegedly recounted by Verdi himself.

After a chance meeting with Merelli close to La Scala, the impresario gave him a copy of Temistocle Solera's libretto which had been rejected by the composer Otto Nicolai.
Verdi describes how he took it home, and threw "it on the table with an almost violent gesture.
 ... In falling, it had opened of itself; without my realising it, my eyes clung to the open page and to one special line: 'Va pensiero, sull' ali dorate'."

While it has been noted that "Verdi read it enthusiastically" (and certainly he states that, while he attempted to sleep, he was kept awake and read and re-read the libretto three times), others have stated that he read the libretto very reluctantly or, as recounted by Lessona, that he "threw the libretto in a corner without looking at it anymore, and for the next five months he carried on with his reading of bad novels ... [when] towards the end of May he found himself with that blessed play in his hands: he read the last scene over again, the one with the death of Abigaille (which was later cut), seated himself almost mechanically at the piano ... and set the scene to music."

Nevertheless, Verdi still refused to compose the music, taking the manuscript back to the impresario the next day.
But Merelli would accept no refusal and he immediately stuffed the papers back into Verdi's pocket and "not only threw me out of his office, but slammed the door in my face and locked himself in".
Verdi claims that gradually he worked on the music: "This verse today, tomorrow that, here a note, there a whole phrase, and little by little the opera was written" so that by the autumn of 1841 it was complete.
At the very least, both Verdi's and Lessona's versions end with a complete score.
The success of Verdi's first opera, Oberto, led Bartolomeo Merelli, La Scala's impresario, to offer Verdi a contract for three more works. After the failure of his second opera Un giorno di regno (completed in 1840 towards the end of a brutal two-year period during which both of his infant children and then his 26-year-old wife died), Verdi vowed never to compose again.
In "An Autobiographical Sketch", written in 1879, Verdi tells the story of how he came to be twice persuaded by Merelli to change his mind and to write the opera. The distance of 38 years from the event may have led to a somewhat romanticized view; or, as Verdi scholar Julian Budden puts it: "he was concerned to weave a protective legend about himself [since] it was all part of his fierce independence of spirit." However, in Volere è potere ("Where there's a will ...") – written ten years closer to the event – the zoologist Michele Lessona provides a different account of the events, as allegedly recounted by Verdi himself.
After a chance meeting with Merelli close to La Scala, the impresario gave him a copy of Temistocle Solera's libretto which had been rejected by the composer Otto Nicolai. Verdi describes how he took it home, and threw "it on the table with an almost violent gesture. ... In falling, it had opened of itself; without my realising it, my eyes clung to the open page and to one special line: 'Va pensiero, sull' ali dorate'."
While it has been noted that "Verdi read it enthusiastically" (and certainly he states that, while he attempted to sleep, he was kept awake and read and re-read the libretto three times), others have stated that he read the libretto very reluctantly or, as recounted by Lessona, that he "threw the libretto in a corner without looking at it anymore, and for the next five months he carried on with his reading of bad novels ... [when] towards the end of May he found himself with that blessed play in his hands: he read the last scene over again, the one with the death of Abigaille (which was later cut), seated himself almost mechanically at the piano ... and set the scene to music."
Nevertheless, Verdi still refused to compose the music, taking the manuscript back to the impresario the next day. But Merelli would accept no refusal and he immediately stuffed the papers back into Verdi's pocket and "not only threw me out of his office, but slammed the door in my face and locked himself in". Verdi claims that gradually he worked on the music: "This verse today, tomorrow that, here a note, there a whole phrase, and little by little the opera was written" so that by the autumn of 1841 it was complete. At the very least, both Verdi's and Lessona's versions end with a complete score.
Nabucco