Giuseppe Verdi

Italian opera composer

Photo by: Ferdinand Mulnier · Public Domain · Wikimedia Commons

Born:October 10, 1813

Died:January 27, 1901

Age at death:87

Manner of death:Natural Causes

Cause of death:Stroke

Zodiac Sign:Libra

Children:2

Born in:Le Roncole, Italy

Buried in:Italy

Languages:Italian

Conductor Writer Politician Composer

Signature

Links

Wikipedia Official Website IMDb

Famous For

Notable Work

La traviataAidaRigolettoNabuccoIl trovatore

Books

Ernani : [programme] : opera in four partsAida : [programme] : opera in four actsCorws y gwrachod : S'allontanarono = Enciliant draw yn awr : MacbethDon Carlos : [programme] : grand opera in five actsLa Traviata : [programme] : opera in three acts

Songs & Albums

Ernani

Awards

Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour (1894)Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus (1887)Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour (1880)Order of Saint Stanislaus (1862)Knight of the Legion of Honour (1847)

Giuseppe Verdi

Italian opera composer

Biography

Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi ( VAIR-dee; Italian: [dʒuˈzɛppe ˈverdi]; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto, a small town in the modern province of Parma, to a family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the help of a local patron named Antonio Barezzi. Verdi came to dominate the Italian opera scene after the era of Gioachino Rossini, Vincenzo Bellini, and Gaetano Donizetti, whose works significantly influenced him. He was also strongly influenced by the French Grand opera style, particularly Giacomo Meyerbeer and Gaspare Spontini. In his early operas, Verdi demonstrated sympathy with the Risorgimento movement which sought the unification of Italy. He also served briefly as an elected politician. The chorus "Va, pensiero" from his early opera Nabucco (1842), and similar choruses in later operas, were much in the spirit of the unification movement, and the composer himself became esteemed as a representative of these ideals. Macbeth (1847) has been called his first masterpiece. An intensely private person, Verdi did not seek to ingratiate himself with popular movements. As he became professionally successful, he was able to reduce his operatic workload and sought to establish himself as a landowner in his native region. He found further fame with the three peaks of his "middle period": Rigoletto (1851), Il trovatore and La traviata (both 1853). He surprised the musical world by returning, after his success with the opera Aida (1871), with three late masterpieces: his Requiem (1874), and the operas Otello (1887) and Falstaff (1893). Verdi's operas remain among the most popular in the repertoire. In 2013, the bicentenary of his birth was widely celebrated around the world with television and radio broadcasts and live performances.

This biography uses content from the Wikipedia article “Giuseppe Verdi”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License.

Quotes

“Let us turn to the past: that will be progress.”

— Letter to Francesco Florimo, January 5, 1871, cited from Francesco Florimo Riccardo Wagner ed i wagneristi (Ancona: A. G. Morelli, 1883) p. 108; translation from Charles Osborne (ed. and trans.) Letters of Giuseppe Verdi (London: Victor Gollancz, 1971) p. 169.

“I deny that either singers or conductors can "create" or work creatively – this, as I have always said, is a conception that leads to the abyss.”

— Letter to Giulio Ricordi, April 11, 1871, cited from Franco Abbiati Giuseppe Verdi (Milano: Ricordi, 1959) vol. 3, p. 448; translation from Franz Werfel and Paul Stefan (eds.), Edward Downes (trans.) Verdi: The Man in His Letters (New York: L. B. Fischer, 1942) pp. 301-2.

“To copy the truth can be a good thing, but to invent the truth is better, much better.”

— Letter to Clara Maffei, October 20, 1876, cited from James P. Cassaro (ed.) Music, Libraries and the Academy (Middleton, Wisconsin: A-R Editions, 2007) p. 218; translation from the same source.

Quotes sourced from the Wikiquote article "Giuseppe Verdi", available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License.

Photos

Picture of Giuseppe Verdi.

Sujet : Verdi, Giuseppe (1813-1901) -- Caricatures et dessins humoristiques Caricatures Appartient à l’ensemble documentaire : IconMUS1 Appartient à l’ensemble documentaire : IconMUSNum Appartient à l’ensemble documentaire : IconMUS0 Éditeur : Ad. Tournachon jeune, 17, boult. des Italiens (Paris)

Title : Verdi e l'Otello : numero unico pubblicato dalla Illustrazione italiana... : Fratelli Treves Editori, via Palermo 2 Milano : [affiche] / [non identifié] Publisher : [s.n.] Publisher : Stab. Tip. Lit. Flli Treves (Milano) Publication date : 1887 Subject : Théâtre lyrique (genre) Subject : Edition Subject : Presse Subject : Musique Subject : Opéra Relationship : http://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb404805513 Type : image Type : still image Type : engraving Language : italian Format : 1 est. : lithographie, coul. ; 166 x 100 cm Format : image/jpeg Format : Nombre total de vues : 1 Description : Affiche Rights : Public domain Identifier : ark:/12148/btv1b9013720p Source : Bibliothèque nationale de France, département Estampes et photographie, ENT DO-1 (TREVES)-ROUL Provenance : Bibliothèque nationale de France Online date : 30/04/2011

Sujet : Verdi, Giuseppe (1813-1901) -- Portraits Portraits Appartient à l’ensemble documentaire : IconMUS1 Appartient à l’ensemble documentaire : IconMUSNum Appartient à l’ensemble documentaire : IconMUS0

Sujet : Verdi, Giuseppe (1813-1901) -- Mort Appartient à l’ensemble documentaire : IconMUS1 Appartient à l’ensemble documentaire : IconMUSNum Appartient à l’ensemble documentaire : IconMUS0