Home

Verdi 1813 - 1901 (88)

I love art.. when I'm alone with my notes, my heart beats fast and tears run from my eyes.


QUOTES



Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian composer, one of the most famous in opera. He was born on October 10, 1813 in Roncola a village near Bussetto in present-day Italy. His family moved to Bussetto where he showed his inclination towards music; Sinse the age of 7, he helped the organist in the church, who was his first teacher. At the age of twenty he went to study music in Milan, in 1836 he took the position of director of Bussetto's philharmonic and in the same year he married one of his students from the philharmonic. In 1838 his wife gave birth to a stillborn baby girl, in 1839 a stillborn baby boy and in 1840 she herself died of encephalitis. Giuseppe found himself in great despair and for a time stopped working, finding everything in vain, but in 1842, he accepted the offer to resume writing operas for La Scala in Milan. He wrote Nabucco (Nebuchadnezzar) which became his first great success, since then he devoted himself to the composition of opera and enjoyed great successes with works such as: Rigoletto, Traviata, Aida.

Verdi was very closely associated with the efforts for the political unification of Italy, a trend that he himself encouraged with many of his works that were inspired by the historical past, so he became especially beloved by Italians. He quickly became famous outside of Italy, his works were performed in opera houses in many countries. In 1891, Aida premiered on the occasion of the opening of the Suez Canal and in the same year he was elected a member of the House of Representatives. In addition to being a great musician, he was also a great philanthropist, among other things he financed the construction and operation of a hospital and created a care home for ailing musicians. He wrote his last opera at the age of 84 in 1897 (Othello) and died on January 27, 1901 after suffering a stroke. His funeral was attended by approximately 200,000 people, indicative of how beloved he was.