17352. OPERA REVIEW: VERDI’S “THE MASKED BALL”. . This paper provides a highly favorable review of Giuseppe Verdi’s 1859 opera “Un Ballo in Maschera” (“The Masked Ball”). Includes background information on Verdi and a summary of the plot. Notes that one of the most interesting things about the opera is its use of dramatic and musical contrasts. Also describes and comments favorably on the opera’s two famous “laughing choruses”. KEYWORDS: opera laughing chorus verdi. Written 2005. 7 pages, 13 footnotes, 6 bibliographic sources. 1,793 words.