Verdi, Giuseppe (Fortunino Francesco)

Verdi, Giuseppe (Fortunino Francesco), great Italian opera composer whose genius for dramatic, lyric, and tragic stage music has made him the perennial favorite of a multitude of opera enthusiasts; b. Le Roncole, near Busseto, Duchy of Parma, Oct. 9,1813; d. Milan, Jan. 27, 1901. His father kept a tavern, and street singing gave Verdi his early appreciation of music produced by natural means. Pietro Baistrocchi, a magister parvulorum and a church organist, noticed his love of musical sound and took him on as a pupil. When Baistrocchi died, Verdi, still a small child, took over some of his duties at the keyboard. His father sent him to Busseto for further musical training; there he began his academic studies and also took music lessons with Ferdinando Provesi, the director of the municipal music school.

At the age of 18 Verdi became a resident in the home of Antonio Barezzi, a local merchant and patron of music; Barezzi supplied him with enough funds so that he could go to Milan for serious study. Surprisingly enough, in view of Verdi’s future greatness, he failed to pass an entrance examination to the Milan Cons.; the registrar, Francesco Basili, reported that Verdi’s piano technique was inadequate and that in composition he lacked technical knowledge. Verdi then turned to Vincenzo Lavigna, an excellent musician, for private lessons, and worked industriously to master counterpoint, canon, and fugue. In 1834 he applied for the post of maestro di musica in Busseto, and after passing his examination received the desired appointment. On May 4, 1836, he married a daughter of his patron Barezzi; it was a love marriage, but tragedy intervened when their two infant children died, and his wife succumbed on June 18, 1840. Verdi deeply mourned, but he found solace in music.

In 1838 Verdi completed his first opera, Oberto, conte di San Bonifacio. In 1839 he moved to Milan. He submitted the score of Obertoto the directorship of La Scala; it was accepted for a performance, which took place on Nov. 17, 1839, with satisfactory success. He was now under contract to write more operas for that renowned theater. His comic opera Un giorno di regnowas performed at La Scala in 1840, but it did not succeed at pleasing the public. Somewhat downhearted at this reverse, Verdi began composition of an opera, Nabucodonosor,on the biblical subject (the title was later abbreviated to Nabucco). It was staged at La Scala on March 9,1842, scoring considerable success. Giuseppina Strepponi created the leading female role of Abigaille. Nabuccowas followed by another successful opera on a historic subject, I Lombardi alla prima Crociata,produced at La Scala on Feb. 11,1843. The next opera was Emani,after Victor Hugo’s drama on the life of a revolutionary outlaw; the subject suited the rise of national spirit, and its production in Venice on March 9, 1844, won great acclaim. Not so popular were Verdi’s succeeding operas, / due Foscari (1844), Giovanna d’Arco (1845), Alzira (1845), and Attila (1846). On March 14,1847, Verdi produced his first Shakespearean opera, Macbeth,in Florence. In the same year he received a commission to write an opera for London; the result was / Masnadieri,based on Schiller’s drama Die Räuber. It was produced at Her Majesty’s Theatre in London on July 22, 1847, with Jenny Lind taking the leading female role. A commission from Paris followed; for it Verdi revised his opera I Lombardi alla prima Crociatain a French version, renamed Jérusalem;it was produced at the Paris Opéra on Nov. 26, 1847; the Italian production followed at La Scala on Dec. 26,1850. This was one of the several operas by him and other Italian composers where mistaken identity was the chief dramatic device propelling the action.

During his stay in Paris for the performance of Jérusalem,Verdi renewed his acquaintance with Giusep-pina Strepponi; after several years of cohabitation, their union was legalized in a private ceremony in Savoy on Aug. 29,1859. In 1848 he produced his opera II Corsaro,after Byron’s poem The Corsair. There followed La battaglia di Legnano,celebrating the defeat of the armies of Barbarossa by the Lombards in 1176. Its premiere took place in Rome on Jan. 27, 1849, but Verdi was forced to change names and places so as not to offend the central European powers that dominated Italy. The subsequent operas Luisa Miller (1849), after Schiller’s drama Kabale und Liebe,and Stiffelio (1850) were not successful.

Verdi’s great triumph came in 1851 with the production of Rigoletto,fashioned after Victor Hugo’s drama Le Roi s’amuse;it was performed for the first time at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice on March 11, 1851, and brought Verdi lasting fame; it entered the repertoire of every opera house around the globe. The aria of the libidinous Duke, La donna è mobile,became one of the most popular operatic tunes sung, or ground on the barrel organ, throughout Europe. This success was followed by an even greater acclaim with the production in 1853 of II Trovatore (Rome, Jan. 19, 1853) and La Traviata (Venice, March 6, 1853); both captivated world audiences without diminution of their melodramatic effect on succeeding generations in Europe and America, and this despite the absurdity of the action represented on the stage. Il Trovatoreresorts to the common device of unrecognized identities of close relatives, while La Traviatastrains credulity when the eponymous soprano sings enchantingly and long despite her struggle with terminal consumption. The character of Traviata was based on the story of a real person, as depicted in the drama La Dame aux caméliasby Alexandre Dumas fils. The Italian title is untranslatable, Traviatabeing the feminine passive voice of the verb meaning “to lead astray,” and it would have to be rendered, in English, by the construction “a woman who has been led astray.”

Another commission coming from Paris resulted in Verdi’s first French opera, Les Vêpres siciliennes,after a libretto by Scribe to Donizetti’s unfinished opera Le Duc d’Albe;the action deals with the medieval slaughter of the French occupation army in Sicily by local patriots. Despite the offensiveness of the subject to French patriots, the opera was given successfully in Paris on June 13, 1855. His next opera, Simone Boccanegra,was produced at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice on March 12,1857. This was followed by Un ballo in maschera,which made history. The original libretto was written by Scribe for Auber’s opera Gustave III,dealing with the assassination of King Gustave III of Sweden in 1792. But the censors would not have regicide shown on the stage, and Verdi was compelled to transfer the scene of action from Sweden to Mass. Ridiculous as it was, Gustave III became Governor Riccardo of Boston; the opera was produced in this politically sterilized version in Rome on Feb. 17,1859. Attempts were made later to restore the original libretto and to return the action to Sweden, but audiences resented the change of the familiar version.

Unexpectedly, Verdi became a factor in the political struggle for the independence of Italy; the symbol of the nationalist movement was the name of Vittorio Eman-uele, the future king of Italy. Demonstrators painted the name of Verdi in capital letters, separated by punctuation, on fences and walls of Italian towns (V.E.R.D.L, the initials of Vittorio Emanuele, Re D’Italia), and the cry “Viva Verdi!” became “Viva Vittorio Emanuele Re D’Italia!”

In 1861 he received a commission to write an opera for the Imperial Opera of St. Petersburg, Russia; he selected the mystic subject La forza del destino. The premiere took place in St. Petersburg on Nov. 10, 1862, and Verdi made a special trip to attend. He then wrote an opera to a French text, Don Carlos,after Schiller’s famous drama. It was first heard at the Paris Opéra on March 11, 1867, with numerous cuts; they were not restored in the score until a century had elapsed after the initial production. In June 1870 he received a contract to write a new work for the opera in Cairo, Egypt, where Rigolettohad already been performed a year before. The terms were most advantageous, with a guarantee of 150,000 francs for the Egyptian rights alone. The opera, based on life in ancient Egypt, was Aida;the original libretto was in French; Antonio Ghislanzoni prepared the Italian text. It had its premiere in Cairo on Christmas Eve of 1871, with great éclat. A special boat was equipped to carry officials and journalists from Italy to Cairo for the occasion, but Verdi stubbornly refused to join the caravan despite persuasion by a number of influential Italian musicians and statesmen; he declared that a composer’s job was to supply the music, not to attend performances. The success of Aidaexceeded all expectations; the production was hailed as a world event, and the work itself became one of the most famous in opera history.

After Rossini’s death, in 1868, Verdi conceived the idea of honoring his memory by a collective composition of a Requiem, to which several Italian composers would contribute a movement each, Verdi reserving the last section, Libera me,for himself. He completed the score in 1869, but it was never performed in its original form. The death of the famous Italian poet Alessandro Manzoni in 1873 led him to write his great Messa da Requiem,which became known simply as the “Manzoni” Requiem, and he incorporated in it the section originally composed for Rossini. The Messa da Requiemreceived its premiere on the first anniversary of Manzo-ni’s death, on May 22, 1874, in Milan. There was some criticism of the Requiem as being too operatic for a religious work, but it remained in musical annals as a masterpiece. After a lapse of some 13 years of rural retirement, Verdi turned once more to Shakespeare; the result this time was Otello;the libretto was by Arrigo Boito, a master poet who rendered Shakespeare’s lines into Italian with extraordinary felicity. It received its premiere at La Scala on Feb. 5,1887. Verdi was 79 years old when he wrote yet another Shakespearean opera, Falstaff,also to a libretto by Boito; in his libretto Boito used materials from The Merry Wives of Windsorand Henry IV Falstaffwas performed for the first time at La Scala on Feb. 9, 1893. The score reveals Verdi’s genius for subtle comedy coupled with melodic invention of the highest order. His last composition was a group of sacred choruses, an Ave Maria, Laudi alla Vergine Maria, Stabat Mater,and Te Deum,publ, in 1898 as 4 pezzi sacri;in the Ave Maria,Verdi made use of the so-called scala enigmatica (C, D, E, F, G, A, B, and C).

Innumerable honors were bestowed upon Verdi. In 1864 he was elected to membership in the Académie des Beaux Arts in Paris, where he filled the vacancy made by the death of Meyerbeer. In 1875 he was nominated a senator to the Italian Parliament. Following the premiere of Falstaff,the King of Italy wished to make him “Marchese di Busserò,” but he declined the honor. After the death of his 2^ndwife, on Nov. 14, 1897, he founded in Milan the Casa di Riposo per Musicisti, a home for aged musicians; for its maintenance, he set aside 2,500,000 lire. On Jan. 21, 1901, Verdi suffered an apoplectic attack; he died six days later at the age of 87.

Historic evaluation of Verdi’s music changed several times after his death. The musical atmosphere was heavily Wagnerian; admiration for Wagner produced a denigration of Verdi as a purveyor of “barrel-organ” music. Then the winds of musical opinion reversed their direction; sophisticated modern composers, music historians, and academic theoreticians discovered unexpected attractions in the flowing Verdian melodies, easily modulating harmonies, and stimulating symmetric rhythms; a theory was even advanced that the appeal of Verdi’s music lies in its adaptability to modernistic elaboration and contrapuntal variegations. By natural transvaluation of opposites, Wagnerianism went into eclipse after it reached the limit of complexity. The slogan “Viva Verdi!” assumed, paradoxically, an aesthetic meaning. Scholarly research into Verdi’s biography greatly increased. The Istituto di Studi Verdiani was founded in Parma in 1959. An American Inst. for Verdi Studies was founded in 1976 with its archive at N.Y.U.

Works

dramatic: Opera: In the literature on Verdi, mention is sometimes made of two early operatic attempts, Lord Hamiltonand Rocester;however, nothing definitive has ever been established concerning these two works. The accepted list of his operas is as follows: Oberto, conte di San Bonifacio (1837-38; La Scala, Milan, Nov. 17,1839; libretto rev. by Graffigna and given as I Bonifazi ed i Salinguerrain Venice in 1842); Un giorno di regno (later known as // finto Stanislao),melodramma giocoso (La Scala, Milan, Sept. 5, 1840); Nabucodonosor (later known as Nabucco),dramma lirico (1841; La Scala, Milan, March 9, 1842); / Lombardi alla prima Crociata,dramma lirico (1842; La Scala, Milan, Feb. 11,1843; rev. version, with a French libretto by Royer and Vaëz, given as Jérusalemat the Paris Opéra, Nov. 26, 1847); Emani,dramma lirico (1843; Teatro La Fenice, Venice, March 9, 1844); / due Foscari,tragedia lirica (Teatro Argentina, Rome, Nov. 3, 1844); Giovanna d’Arco,dramma lirico (1844; La Scala, Milan, Feb. 15, 1845); Alzira,tragedia lirica (Teatro San Carlo, Naples, Aug. 12, 1845); Attila,

dramma lirico (1845-46; Teatro La Fenice, Venice, March 17, 1846); Macbeth (1846-47; Teatro alla Pergola, Florence, March 14, 1847; rev. version, with a French tr. by Nuittier and Beaumont of the Italian libretto, Théâtre-Lyrique, Paris, April 21, 1865); I Masnadieri (1846-47; Her Majesty’s Theatre, London, July 22, 1847); II Corsaro (1847-8; Teatro Grande, Trieste, Oct. 25,1848); La battaglia di Legnano,tragedia lirica (1848; Teatro Argentina, Rome, Jan. 27, 1849); Luisa Miller,melodramma tragico (Teatro San Carlo, Naples, Dec. 8,1849); Stiffelio (Teatro Grande, Trieste, Nov. 16, 1850; later rev. as Amido); Rigoletto,melodramma (1850-51; Teatro La Fenice, Venice, March 11,1851); II Trovatore,dramma (1851-52; Teatro Apollo, Rome, Jan. 19,1853; rev. 1857); La Traviata (Teatro La Fenice, Venice, March 6, 1853); Les Vêpres siciliennes (1854; Opéra, Paris, June 13,1855); Simone Boccanegra (1856-57; Teatro La Fenice, Venice, March 12,1857; rev. 1880-81; La Scala, Milan, March 24, 1881); Amido (revision of Stiffelio;1856-57; Teatro Nuovo, Rimini, Aug. 16, 1857); Un ballo in maschera,melodramma (1857-58; Teatro Apollo, Rome, Feb. 17, 1859); La forza del destino (1861; Imperial Theater, St. Petersburg, Nov. 10, 1862; rev. version, La Scala, Milan, Feb. 27, 1869); Don Carlos (1866; Opéra, Paris, March 11,1867; rev. version, 1883-84, with Italian libretto by Lauzières and Zanardini, La Scala, Milan, Jan. 10, 1884); Aida (1870-71; Opera House, Cairo, Dec. 24, 1871); Otello,dramma lirico (1884-86; La Scala, Milan, Feb. 5,1887); Falstaff,commedia lirica (1889-93; La Scala, Milan, Feb. 9, 1893). OTHER: Inno popolarefor Men’s Voices and Piano (1848); Inno delle Nazionifor Solo Voice, Chorus, and Orch. (London, May 24, 1862; composed for the London Exhibition); Libera mefor Soprano, Chorus, and Orch. (1868-69; composed for the Rossini Requiem,and later incorporated in the Messa da Requiem);String Quartet in E minor (1873); Messa da Requiemfor Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass, Chorus, and Orch., the “Manzoni” Requiem (1873-74; San Marco, Milan, May 22,1874); Ave Mariafor Soprano and Strings (1880); Pater nosterfor 5-part Chorus (1880); 4 pezzi sacri: Ave Mariafor Chorus (1888-89), Stabat Materfor Chorus and Orch. (1895-97), Laudi alla Vergine Mariafor Women’s Chorus (1888-89), and Te Deumfor Soprano, Double Chorus, and Orch. (1895-97). SONGS: 6 romanze (1838; Non t’accostare all’urna; More, Elisa, lo stanco poeta; In solitaria stanza; Nell’orro di notte oscura; Perduta ho la pace; Deh, pietoso, oh Addolorata); Notturnofor Soprano, Tenor, Bass, and Piano, with Flute obbligato (1839); L’Esule (1839); La seduzione (1839); Chi i bei di m’adduce ancora (1842); 6 romanze (1845; // tramonto [2versions]; La Zingara; Ad una stella; Lo Spazzacamino; II mistero; Brindisi); II Poveretto (1847); Suona la tromba (1848); L’Abandonnée (1849); Barcarola (1850); La preghiera del poeta (1858); II brigidino (1863); Tu dici che non m’ami (1869); Cupo e il sepolcro mutolo (1873); Pietà, Signor (1894). Also a Tantum ergofor Tenor and Orch. (1836?); Romanza senza parolefor Piano (1865); Waltz for Piano.

Bibliography

COLLECTED WORKS, SOURCE MATERIAL: There is still no complete critical ed. of Verdi’s works, but Ricordi and the Univ. of Chicago Press are preparing a definitive ed. Important sources include the following: C. Vanbianchi, Nel I centenario di G. V, 1813-1913: Saggio di bibliografia verdiana (Milan, 1913); C. Hopkinson, A Bibliography of the Works of G. V., 1813-1901 (2 vols., N.Y., 1973,1978); M. Chusid, A Catalog ofV.’s Operas (Hackensack, N.J., 1974); M. Mila, La giovinezza di V (Turin, 1974); D. Rosen and A. Porter, eds., V’s Macbeth: A Sourcebook (Cambridge, 1984); G. Harwood, G. V: A Guide to Research (N.Y., 1998). BIOGRAPHICAL: G. Monaldi, V e le sue opere (Florence, 1878); L. Parodi, G. V (Genoa, 1895); Prince de Valori, V et son oeuvre (Paris, 1895); F. Crowest, V: Man and Musician (London, 1897); G. Cavarretta, V:Garibaldi, G. V. nelle lettere di Emanuele Muzio ad Antonio Barezzi (Milan, 1931); A. Luzio, Carteggi verdiani (Rome; Vols. I-II, 1935; Vols. III-IV, 1947); H. Schultz, G. V, 1813-1901: Sein Leben in Bildern (Leipzig, 1938); C. Gatti, V nelle immagini (Milan, 1941); C. Graziani, G. V: Autobiografia dalle lettere (censored ed., Milan, 1941; complete ed., 1951, under Graziani’s real name, Aldo Oberdorfer); E. Downes, V: The Man in His Letters (N.Y., 1942); H. Kuehner, G. V. in Selbstzeugnissen und Bilddokumenten (Rein-bek bei Hamburg, 1961); R. Petzoldt, G. V, 1813-1901: Sein Leben in Bildern (Leipzig, 1961).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire