In the months following the staging of Ballo, Verdi was approached by several opera companies requesting a new work or offering to stage one of his existing operas, but he declined them all. However, in December 1860, an offer from Saint Petersburg's Imperial Theatre—60,000 francs plus all expenses—proved to be a strong incentive. Verdi then came up with the idea of adapting the 1835 Spanish play Don Alvaro o la fuerza del sino by Ángel Saavedra, which became La forza del destino, with Francesco Maria Piave writing the libretto. The Verdis arrived in St. Petersburg in December 1861 for the premiere, but due to casting issues, it had to be postponed.
Returning via Paris from Russia on 24 February 1862, Verdi met two young Italian writers, the twenty-year-old Arrigo Boito and Franco Faccio. Verdi had been invited to compose a piece of music for the 1862 International Exhibition in London, and he tasked Boito with writing the text, which became the Inno delle nazioni. Boito, a supporter of Giacomo Meyerbeer's grand opera and an opera composer himself, later in the 1860s criticized Verdi for his "reliance on formula rather than form," which provoked Verdi's anger. Despite this, Boito would go on to become Verdi's close collaborator in his final operas. The St. Petersburg premiere of La forza del destino finally took place in September 1862, and Verdi was awarded the Order of St. Stanislaus.
A revival of Macbeth in Paris in 1865 was not successful, but Verdi received a commission for a new work, Don Carlos, based on the play Don Carlos by Friedrich Schiller. He and Giuseppina spent late 1866 and much of 1867 in Paris, where they attended performances of Giacomo Meyerbeer's last opera, L'Africaine, and Richard Wagner's overture to Tannhäuser, both of which failed to impress them. The premiere of Don Carlos in 1867 received mixed reviews. While the critic Théophile Gautier praised the opera, composer Georges Bizet expressed disappointment with Verdi's evolving style, stating: "Verdi is no longer Italian. He is following Wagner."
During the 1860s and 1870s, Verdi devoted significant attention to managing his estate near Busseto, purchasing more land, dealing with problematic stewards (one of whom embezzled), improving irrigation, and coping with inconsistent harvests and economic downturns. In 1867, Verdi suffered personal losses with the deaths of both his father Carlo, with whom he had recently reconciled, and his early patron and father-in-law Antonio Barezzi. Verdi and Giuseppina decided to adopt Filomena Maria Verdi, Carlo's great-niece, who was seven years old at the time. In 1878, she married the son of Verdi's friend and lawyer Angelo Carrara, and her family eventually became the heirs to Verdi's estate.
Aida was commissioned by the Egyptian government for the opera house built by Khedive Isma'il Pasha to celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869. However, the opera house opened with a production of Rigoletto. The prose libretto for Aida, written in French by Camille du Locle and based on a scenario by Egyptologist Auguste Mariette, was transformed into Italian verse by Antonio Ghislanzoni. Despite Verdi's confessed disinterest in Ancient Egypt ("a civilization I have never been able to admire"), he accepted the offer of an enormous sum of 150,000 francs. Aida premiered in Cairo in 1871.
Verdi spent much of 1872 and 1873 overseeing Italian productions of Aida in Milan, Parma, and Naples, where he effectively acted as a producer, demanding high standards and sufficient rehearsal time. During the rehearsals for the Naples production, Verdi composed his String Quartet, the only surviving chamber music by him and a rare example of 19th-century Italian chamber music.
In 1869, Verdi had been asked to contribute to a requiem mass in memory of Rossini, which he completed, though its performance was ultimately canceled and did not take place until 1988. Five years later, Verdi reworked the Libera Me section of the Rossini Requiem into what became his Requiem, in honor of Alessandro Manzoni, who had died in 1873. The Requiem was first performed at the Milan Cathedral on the anniversary of Manzoni’s death on 22 May 1874. Teresa Stolz, who had created Aida in its European premiere, was the soprano soloist in the first and many subsequent performances of the Requiem. Stolz became closely associated with Verdi (the extent of their personal relationship is debated), though she remained a companion to him after Giuseppina Verdi’s death in 1897.
Verdi conducted his Requiem in Paris, London, Vienna, and Cologne between 1875 and 1876. At that time, it seemed as though this might be his final work, with biographer John Rosselli describing it as confirmation of Verdi as the "unique presiding genius of Italian music." Now in his sixties, Verdi appeared to withdraw into retirement, avoiding public attention and involvement with new productions. However, secretly he began work on Otello, a project proposed by Arrigo Boito, with whom Verdi had reconciled thanks to Ricordi. The composition of Otello was delayed by revisions to Simon Boccanegra (produced in 1881) and Don Carlos. Even when Otello was nearly finished, Verdi teased, "Shall I finish it? Shall I have it performed? Hard to tell, even for me." Eventually, after much anticipation, Otello was triumphantly premiered at La Scala in February 1887.
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