October 9th, 1813 marks the birth of Giuseppe Verdi, the leading Italian composer of the 19th century, who is particularly noted for composing operas such as “Rigoletto”, “Aida”, and “Otello”. Verdi was born of poor shopkeeper parents who kept a tavern. As a young man, Verdi went to Milan to study music, but was turned down by the Milan Conservatory due to his age and poor piano playing skills. Instead he studied with an older composer named Lavigna who worked at the opera house La Scala and made a number of lasting friendships with Milan aristocrats that helped further his musical career.
Verdi’s life had its share of tragedy that influenced the tonal character of his musical compositions. His wife Margherita and their two infant children quickly died in rapid succession in 1840 and a comic opera he wrote during this time period was critically lambasted. Verdi was devastated, became depressed and more dour as a result of these events. In 1842, his fortunes improved and his new opera “Nabucco” was well received. From 1843-1849, Verdi composed an average of two operas a year, but it was not until 1851 and later that Verdi began composing the operas that became his masterpieces.
Like many artists of his time, Verdi faced official censorship and other hassles concerning his musical compositions. His operas sometimes caused a scandal upon release owing to their subject matter and some of Verdi’s opera plots had to be re-written to receive approval for publication from the state censors. Verdi’s personal life was scandalous by the standards of the day and might be considered as such now. In spite of this, Verdi perservered and continued composing.
After 1855, Verdi devoted himself to composing operas that adhered to the Parisian operatic standard and his operas became more lush and grandiose. His life became more hectic and conflict prone as he became more successful. Verdi was a temperamental individual and easily upset. It did not take much of a perceived slight or personal injury to make a lifelong enemy of him.
In 1873, Verdi retired from composing and turned his attention to farming, where his despotic control of his estate led to him becoming a major, wealthy landholder. Verdi generously funded various charities, the best-known being the Casa Di Riposo Per Musicisti, a home for aged musicians that is still in operation today.
In the late 1880’s, Verdi’s publisher Ricordi convinced him to return to musical composition. Verdi then began composing operas based on Shakespearean stories that were to become some of his most famous musical works.
Verdi died January 27th, 1901 in Milan and was buried in the Casa Di Riposo Per Musicisti that he had founded.
Verdi’s operas are considered one of the crowning cultural achievements of the 19th century. He dominated Italian opera for over thirty years and his melodies are some of the most popular in the operatic oeuvre. Almost everyone has heard his music at some point. Throughout his life, Verdi shaped the form of Italian bel canto opera and always focused most heavily on the melodic structure of his compositions.
Here are some suggested Verdi resources to read or listen to that are available at
Hickory Public Library:
“Verdi With A Vengeance: An Energetic Guide To The Life And Complete Works Of The King Of Opera” by William Berger
“The New Grove Dictionary Of Music And Musicians” by John Tyrell
“Milton Cross Encyclopedia Of The Great Composers And Their Music” by Milton Cross
The library owns various CDs, videos, and digital files containing Verdi's music, including:
Aida, Leontyn Price; Opera Choruses: Opernchore, Choeurs D’Operas, Giuseppe Verdi; A Treasury Of Opera Libretto, David Legerman.
There are plenty of Net resources on Verdi. Try a Google search to find more of these. Here are some to get you started:
http://www.giuseppeverdi.it/Inglese/default.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giuseppe_Verdi
http://w3.rz-berlin.mpg.de/cmp/verdi.html
