(1486.1)

Giuseppe Verdi
(1813–1901)

Other names: Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi^[E6Y]

Positions Held

Deputy for Borgo San Donnino (now Fidenza), 1861-65^[E6Y]

Biographical

An Italian classical composer, Verdi started music lessons at the age of four, and learnt the spinet at the age of seven.  At the age of ten, he went to school at Busseto and was later composing music for the town's church and orchestra.  He was taken under the wing of music enthusiast Antonio Barezzi (who later gave him his daughter in marriage) in 1831 and helped him study in Milan. He later studied privately under the composer Vincenzo Lavigna. He enjoyed some success with his first opera Oberto, conte di San Bonifacio, produced at La Scala in 1839, but his next opera, Un giorno di regno, was a failure which, coupled with the deaths of his wife and two children, led to his severe depression.  His opera Nabucco was first performed in 1842 and after its great success, Verdi was considered a hero of Italian music. He continued to produce operas regularly, many regarded as masterpieces. He entered politics in 1861 at the encouragement of Cavour. In around 1873, he went through a period of public scandal because of his relationship with the soprano Teresa Stolz. He retired to his farm at Sant'Agata, near Roncole, in 1873, but returned to the stage with his opera Otello which opened at La Scala in 1887. He then retired once again, but was persuaded one more time to return with his final opera, Falstaff, in 1893.  During retirement, he composed some sacred music.^[E6Y]

Place of birth Roncole, Parma^[E6Y]
Place of death: Milan^[E6Y]
Place of burial: Cimitero Monumentale, Milan; transferred a month later to the Casa di Riposo, Milan^[E6Y]

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