YMMV / Simon Boccanegra

• Badass Decay: Paolo Albiani in the prologue is set to be an extremely interesting morally grey character, and not of the kind you usually find in operas. He is a goldsmith turned politician who orchestrates Simon Boccanegra’s election so that the plebeians of Genoa would finally come to power after being oppressed by the patrician families. A Time Skip later... and he becomes the blandest villainous baritone ever to twirl the moustache, with no aims beyond wanting to marry Amelia and then being as evil as possible when it doesn’t happen. The narrative isn’t even clear on whether he wants Amelia that badly because of her wealth or because of her looks (after seeing her in person for the grand total of several seconds).
• Values Resonance: The historical Boccanegra received several letters from the poet Petrarch, urging him to stop the wars with neighboring city-states (primarily Genoa) and work towards Italian unity. Verdi, who was a pro-Unification Italian Nationalist, found this very sympathetic.