Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was born in Roncole in the former duchy of Parma, he first
studied music in the neighboring town of Busseto. Then, upon being
rejected in 1832, because of his age, 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.
Thomas Hampson and Samuel Ramey sings "Provero che degno" from Un giorno di regno:
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 ten productions 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.
Christian Van Horn Banco's sings "Come dal ciel precipita" from Macbeth:
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. 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).
Jonas Kaufmann & Dmitri Hvorostovsky sing "Solenne in quest'ora" from La forza del destino:
In his 70s, Verdi produced the supreme expression of his genius,
Otello (1887), composed to a libretto skillfully adapted by the Italian composer and librettist
Arrigo Boito from the Shakespearean 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.
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 displays, into a unified
musical and dramatic entity. His operas are among those most frequently
produced in the world today.
