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Giuseppe Verdi was born:
He was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was born in La Roncole, Buseeto and he was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century. He came from a poor family . The next day, he was baptized in the Roman Catholic Church in Latin as Joseph Fortuninus Franciscus. -
Period: to
His life:
He was one of the most important composer from the Romantic period. -
When he was still a child:
Verdi's parents moved to Busseto, where the future composer's education was facilitated by visits to the large library belonging to the local Jesuit school.Also in Busseto, Verdi was given his first lessons. -
When he was twenty :
Verdi went to Milan to continue his studies. He took private lessons in counterpoint while attending operatic performances, as well as concerts of, specifically, German music. Milan's beaumonde association convinced him that he should pursue a career as a theatre composer. -
Margherita
Barezzi invited Verdi to be his daughter Margherita's music teacher, and both fell in love. They were married on 4 May 1836 and Margherita gave birth to two children, Both died in infancy while Verdi was working on his first opera and Margherita died of encephalitis on 18 June 1840,when she was 26. Verdi adored his wife and children, -
His first Opera
Oberto was his first opera it was produced in Milan ( November 1839) achieved a degree of success, after which Bartolomeo Merelli, La Scala's impresario, offered Verdi a contract for two more works. -
His second Opera
Un giorno di regno was his second opera. The opera, given in September 1840, was a flop and he fell into despair and vowed to give up musical composition forever. However, Merelli persuaded him to write Nabucco and its opening performance in March 1842 that made that Verdi became famous -
Nabucco
Merelli persuaded him to write Nabucco and its opening performance in March 1842 made Verdi famous. Legend (and Verdi's own "An Autobiographical Sketch" of 1879 has it) that it was the words of the famous Va pensiero chorus of the Hebrew slaves that inspired him to write music again. -
Some of his Operas
He wrote a large number of operas – 14 in all – followed in the decade after 1843, a period which Verdi was to describe as his "galley years". These included his I Lombardi in 1843, and Ernani in 1844. The most original and important opera that Verdi wrote is Macbeth in 1847. -
Rigoletto
Verdi created one of his greatest masterpieces, Rigoletto, which premiered in Venice in 1851. Based on a play by Victor Hugo , the libretto had to undergo substantial revisions in order to satisfy the epoch's censorship, and the composer was on the verge of giving it all up a number of times. The opera quickly became a great success -
Otello :
Otello, based on William Shakespeare's play, with a libretto written by the younger composer of Mefistofele, Arrigo Boito, premiered in Milan in 1887. Its music is "continuous" and cannot easily be divided into separate "numbers" . -
His last Opera
Verdi's last opera, Falstaff, was a libretto by Boito, was based on Shakespeare's Merry Wives of Windsor and Victor Hugo's subsequent translation. It was an international success and is one of the supreme comic operas which shows Verdi's genius as a contrapuntist. -
His death:
While staying at the Grand Hotel in Milan, Verdi had a stroke on 21 January 1901. He grew gradually more feeble and died six days later, on 27 January. Arturo Toscanini conducted the vast forces of combined orchestras and choirs composed of musicians from throughout Italy at the state funeral for Verdi in Milan.
