Giuseppe Verdi

His first wife was Margherita, whom he married in 1836. Two children were born to them in quick succession. Their happiness however was short-lived as both the children died early. To add to Verdi’s tragedies, Margherita too died young after suffering from encephalitis.

Several years later, Verdi married Giuseppina Strepponi in 1859, after a long time of cohabitation. She was quite a loving and supportive wife, who supported him in every way possible.

He had a stroke while he was in Milan in early 1901, which led to his death six days later on 27 January 1901 at the age of 87. His funeral was attended by musicians from all over Italy.

Giuseppe Verdi was born to a family of innkeepers on 9 October 1813, in Le Rancole, a village near Bussetto. His parents were Carlo Giuseppe Verdi and Luigia Uttini. He also had a younger sister, Giuseppa, who passed away at the age of 17 in 1833.

Verdi became associated with their local church at the tender age of seven, serving in the choir, acting as an altar boy, as well as well as taking organ lessons.

He was enrolled by his parents in a school, when he was ten, but he returned to Bussetto every Sunday to play the organ, by covering several kilometers of distance on foot. When he was 13, he was asked to act as a replacement in the first public event that took place in his home town. He played his own music, and his performance was a great success, earning him much local recognition.

After completing his studies, he set his sights on Milan, where he was introduced to an amateur choral group, ‘Società Filarmonica’, which was led by Pietro Massini. He attended the Societa frequently. Later, he got an opportunity to function as rehearsal director and continuo player for an opera by Giaochino Rossini, which proved to be the turning point in his career. It was after this, that he wrote his first opera, which was titled ‘Rocester’.

Giuseppe Verdi was composing his second opera ‘Un giorno di regno’ when his wife passed away at just the age of 26, because of encephalitis. His work was premiered shortly, after but it turned out to be a flop, which led Verdi into a state of depression.

He started composing again, and began to work on the music for ‘Nabucco.’ It was first performed on 9 March 1842, and its success made Verdi a new hero of Italian music. It became so successful and popular that within a decade it reached as far as Petersburg, Russia and Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Following the success of ‘Nabucco,’’ he settled in Milan, where he became acquainted with several influential people. Later, he wrote, ‘I Lombardi alla Prima Crociata’, based on an epic poem by Tommasso Grossi. It was dedicated to Margia Luigia, the Habsburg Duchess of Parma, who died shortly after the premier in 1843.

Verdi took on Emanuele Muzio, a junior, as his only pupil. Shortly, as he grew close to Verdi, he became indispensable. He used to assist Verdi in preparing scores, transcriptions, and in conducting many of his works in the USA and places outside of Italy.

’Rigoletto’ (1851), ‘II trovatore’ (1853), ‘La traviata’ (1853), and ‘Don Carlos’ (1867) were some of his successful and popular works. In 1874, he completed ‘Messa da Requiem’, which was also a huge success.

The ‘Messa da Requiem’ which he composed in memory of Italian poet Alessandro Manzoni is one of the most frequently performed major choral works composed since the compilation of Mozart's Requiem. It continues to be popular to this day and is regularly performed in choral societies.

His ‘Otello’, an opera in four acts set to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare's play ‘Othello’ is counted amongst his best works. The opera was a grand success upon its Milan premier in 1887 and was soon staged at leading theatres throughout Europe and America.