 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.