Like Verdi's first opera, Oberto, his second, Un giorno di regno (King for a Day), was swept aside by the success of those that soon followed, Nabucco, Lombardi, and Ernani. But unlike Oberto, Un giorno did not enjoy even a moderate run. Rather, though a comedy with a happy ending, it gave him his worst night in the theater. At the premiere at La Scala, Milan, on September 5, 1840, as custom then required of a new opera's composer, he took his seat at the start in the orchestra, between the first double bass and cello, and there, because La Scala then had no orchestra pit (not until the 1907–8 season), he was at floor level in the auditorium, visible to everyone. And thus on view he had to sit throughout the performance while the audience hissed and booed most of the opera's musical numbers.

Most critics saw in the fiasco a chance for sarcasm; the reviewer for the Figaro saw deeper:

La Scala at once canceled all further performances, and did not revive the opera until 2001, the centennial of Verdi's death. Meanwhile, in 1845 in Venice, a smaller house produced it with success, as the following year did one in Rome, and in 1859 one in Naples.2 After that, Un giorno was all but forgotten, as everywhere companies of all sizes and competence hurried to mount later works such as Ernani, Rigoletto, Trovatore, and Traviata. Even in Italy, for more than a hundred years, it seems, no house staged Un giorno—until 1963, when Parma's Teatro Regio revived it to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Verdi's birth.