Maestro Riccardo Muti is sticking to the original text of “Un Ballo in Maschera.”

In a recent interview with the Associated Press in anticipation of his performances of the Verdi opera, the conductor commented on a racially charged text in the original score which states, “dell’immondo sangue de’ negri (“she has filthy Black blood).”

The conductor decided not to alter the text which is sung by a white Judge toward Ulrica, a Black fortune teller accused of witchcraft because Muti said Verdi meant the line to highlight the Judge’s intolerance.

He said, “In many theaters in this country and abroad, for the story of politically correct they change the phrase. We should not change so that the next generations must know the abomination that has been done for centuries. If you don’t change, you don’t solve the problem.”

Muti also said that he rejects revisionist takes on such operas “Otello” and “Carmen” in which Otello is portrayed as white and Desdemona as Black while Carmen kills Don Jose.

He said, “We cannot change the history, because if we want to change the history, we should change everything, starting from the Greeks, from the Phoenicians, from the Romans. We have to keep the horrible things of the past, to tell the young people that it was wrong.”

Performances of “Un Ballo in Maschera” run through June 28, 2022.