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Giuseppe
Verdi
Verdi,
Giuseppe (1813-1901), Italian operatic
composer, whose works stand among the
greatest in the history of
opera.
Born
the son of illiterate peasants on October
10, 1813, in Roncole in the
French-governed state of Parma, he first
studied music in the neighbouring town of
Busseto. Then, upon being rejected in
1832, because of his youth, by the Milan
Conservatory, he became a pupil of the
Milanese composer Vincenzo Lavigna. He
returned to Busseto in 1833 as conductor
of the Philharmonic Society.
Early
Works
At the age of 25 Verdi again went to
Milan. His first opera, Oberto, was
produced at La Scala with some success in
1839. His next work, the comic opera Un
giorno di regno (King for a Day, 1840),
was a failure, and Verdi, lamenting also
the recent deaths of his wife and two
children, decided to give up composing.
After more than a year, however, the
director of La Scala succeeded in inducing
him to write Nabucco (1842). The opera
created a sensation; its subject matter
dealt with the Babylonian captivity of the
Jews, and the Italian public regarded it
as a symbol of the struggle against
Austrian rule in northern Italy. I
Lombardi (1843) and Ernani (1844), both
great successes, followed, but of the next
eleven of Verdi's operas only Macbeth
(1847) and Luisa Miller (1849) have
survived in the permanent operatic
repertory. Verdi's three following works,
Rigoletto (1851), Il Trovatore (1853), and
La Traviata (1853), brought him
international fame and remain among the
most popular of all operas.
Middle
Period
Operas written in the middle of
Verdi's career, including Un ballo in
maschera (A Masked Ball, 1859), La forza
del destino (The Force of Destiny, 1862),
and Don Carlo (1867), exhibit a greater
mastery of musical characterization and a
greater emphasis on the role of the
orchestra than his earlier works.
Aïda (1871), also of this period and
probably Verdi's most popular opera, was
commissioned by the khedive of Egypt to
celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal;
it was first performed in Cairo. Three
years later, Verdi composed his most
important non-operatic work, the Requiem
Mass in memory of the Italian novelist
Alessandro Manzoni (although a version of
the Libera me had been written in memory
of Rossini, who had died in 1868). Verdi's
other non-operatic compositions include
the dramatic cantata Inno delle nazioni
(Hymn of the Nations, 1862) and the String
Quartet in E minor (1873).
Late
Works
In his 70s, Verdi produced perhaps the
finest of his operas, Otello (1887),
composed to a libretto skilfully adapted
by the Italian composer and librettist
Arrigo Boito from Shakespeare's tragedy
Othello. This was followed by Verdi's last
opera, Falstaff (1893), also adapted by
Boito from Shakespeare, and generally
considered one of the greatest of all
comic operas. Verdi died on January 27,
1901, in Milan.
In
general, Verdi's works are most noted for
their emotional intensity, tuneful
melodies, and dramatic characterizations.
He transformed the Italian opera, with its
traditional set pieces, old-fashioned
librettos, and emphasis on vocal display,
into a unified musical and dramatic
entity. His operas are among those most
frequently produced in the world
today.
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