Verdi, Giuseppe
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian composer, mainly of opera. He was the most influential member of the 19th century's Italian School of Opera. His works are frequently performed in opera houses throughout the world and, transcending the boundaries of the genre, some of his themes have long since taken root in popular culture - such as "La donna è mobile" from Rigoletto and "Libiamo ne' lieti calici" from La traviata. Oftentimes scoffed at by the critics, in his lifetime and today, as catering to the tastes of the common folk, overly simple in chromatic texture and shamelessly melodramatic, Verdi’s masterpieces dominate the standard repertoire a century and a half after their composition.


Born: October 10, 1813 in Le Roncole, Busseto
Died: January 27, 1901 in Milan

Verdi's musical education began at an early age, although it is not known exactly when he began formal study. It is known that he was captivated by music and that his parents early on decided to give him an instrument of his own, a little spinet. Verdi studied organ and by age seven he had become an organist at San Michele Arcangelo, the parish church just across from the birthplace. It was there that he served as an altar boy, and San Michele was the church where, according to the famous myth (or fact), his mother saved him in 1814 when French troops invaded the territory.

In 1823 Verdi moved to Busseto, a town within walking distance of Roncole. He in fact did walk that distance to continue playing organ at San Michele. Although a small town, Busseto had a Philharmonic Society and a music school. Verdi attended the music school run by Antonio Provesi. "At age 14, he was teaching Provesi's pupils" (Phillips-Matz 1993, 30). Verdi composed marches and other types of music under Provesi's guidance.

After finishing the four-year music school in Busseto, Verdi applied for admission to the prestigious Milan Conservatory. As has often been stated, he was rejected for admission. Verdi made formal application to the Conservatory on June 22 and appeared before the examining board one day at the end of June. Verdi appeared with some of his own compositions and a score of a well-known caprice by the Viennese composer Heinrich Herz. He played it as the first part of his examination and composed a four-part fugue for the second part. After eight days Verdi went to see Rolla (one of the examiners), as planned. The old man simply told him not to think any further about the Conservatory, but to 'choose a maestro in the city; I advise either Livigna or Negri'.

Verdi studied composition in Milan with Vincenzo Lavigna, a composer and maestro al cembalo at La Scala. Lavigna instructed Verdi in counterpoint and helped him get to know Milan. After two years Verdi returned to Busseto as members of the Philharmonic campaigned to have him appointed head of the Philharmonic. Things did not work out and Verdi returned to Milan at the end of the year, 1834. Two years later he returned again to Busseto and "Verdi was named maestro di musica on 5 March 1836. . . [and] Verdi and Margherita [Barezzi], or Ghita, as he called her were married on 4 May 1836." (Phillips-Matz 1993, 74-75). They had their first child in 1837, a daughter, and their second, a son in 1838. By 1840 his wife, and both children were dead, and Verdi was alone and without a job (he had resigned his job in Busseto to move to Milan).

Verdi was in despair, and he had to complete a comic opera, Un Giorno di Regno. It was not successful like his first opera, Oberto. He persuaded himself that there was no consolation in his art and resolved never to compose again. A member of the management at La Scala, Bartolomeo Merelli, forced a libretto on Verdi. Now continuing with Verdi's description of the events: He forced the manuscript [of the libretto] in my hands. . . . I rolled it up, took leave of Merelli, and started back to my lodgings. . . . Back home I threw the manuscript on the table with an almost violent gesture, and remained standing before it. In falling, it had opened of itself; without realizing it, my eyes clung to the open page and to one special line: Va, pensiero, sull' ali dorate. I skimmed through the following verses and was so deeply moved by them, the more so since they were almost a paraphrase from the Bible, which I have always loved to read. I read one fragment, I read another. . . . I got up and read the poem not once, but twice, three times, so many times that by morning I can say I knew Solera's libretto by heart from beginning to end. (Werfel 1973, 88-89)

Verdi's story continued, but of course he did compose the opera, his third. Va, pensiero became the famous chorus from Nabucco, and with it the foundation for his fame. "Nabuco established Verdi in the front rank of Italian composers . . . [and] became quite simply the most meaningful opera there was, the opera in which the moods of the risorgimento were voiced most authentically" (Kimbell 1981, 445). The risorgimento was a period in Italian history when foreign-ruled Italy was yearning to become a united nation. Nabucco was a biblical story about Jewish captivity, but Italian patriots, according to the myth, heard in the opera (especially in the chorus Va,pensiero) their own emotions after failings to end the foreign capitivity. "In no other Verdi opera does the nation, as a political and religious institution, occupy the stage so continuously; in no other opera do the individual characters so regularly act as symbols of political and religious realities; in no other opera is the musical language so impregnated with the great popular repertories of march music and hymnody" (Kimbell 1981, 447). Verdi composed nine operas in the decade of the forties and most had at least one scene that struck a patriotic response. Verdi became a symbol of Italian patriotism and the slogan VIVA VERDI (Verdi being an acronym for Vittorio Emanuele Re D'Italia) was used to symbolize the favorite among Italians to be king of a united Italy.

Operas of Verdi

In the following list of Verdi operas, all the operas, including revisions are listed; therefore, the total is 32 works. One could number differently by not counting the revisions and attain a total of 26 operas. Some revisions are rather extensive, such as Simon Boccanegra, and should be counted as separate operas.

A. Early Works

1. Oberto 1839 Milan
2. Un Giorno di Regno 1840 Milan
3. Nabucco 1842 Milan
4. I Lombardi alla prima Crociata 1843 Milan
5. Ernani 1844 Venice
6. I Due Foscari 1844 Rome
7. Giovanna d'Arco 1845 Milan
8. Alzira 1845 Naples
9. Attila 1846 Venice
10. Macbeth I 1847 Florence
11. I Masnadieri 1847 London
12. Jérusalem (I Lombardi revised) 1847 Paris
13. Il Corsaro 1848 Trieste
14. La Battaglia di Legnano 1849 Rome
15. Luisa Miller 1849 Naples
16. Stiffelio 1850 Trieste
17. Rigoletto 1851 Venice
18. Il Trovatore 1853 Rome
19. La Traviata 1853 Venice

B. Middle Works
20. Les Vepres Siciliennes 1855 Paris
21. Simon Boccanegra I 1857 Venice
22. Aroldo (Stiffelio revised) 1857 Rimini
23. Un Ballo in Maschera 1859 Rome
24. La Forza del Destino I 1862 St. Petersburg
25. Macbeth II 1865 Paris
26. Don Carlos 1867 Paris
27. La Forza del Destino II 1869 Milan
28. Aida 1871 Cairo (Italian Premiere 1872)
29. Simon Boccanegra II 1881 Milan
30. Don Carlo II 1884 Milan

C. Late Works
31. Otello 1887 Milan (Paris 1894)
32. Falstaff 1893 Milan