Giuseppe Verdi is a genius in the world of music. His works occupy a special place and are rightfully considered to be opera masterpieces. It is thanks to Verdi that opera has become one of the main types of elite art.
Biography
Giuseppe Verdi was born in 1813 in the small village of Roncole near the town of Bucetto. His parents were not rich people, his mother worked as a spinner, and his father was an innkeeper.
Giuseppe began studying musical notation and organ playing at the age of five. In 1823, his talent was noticed by a certain Antonio Barezzi - a wealthy man who was a member of the "Philharmonic Society" of Bucetto. Thanks to his support, the boy enters a gymnasium and at the same time takes counterpoint lessons. What is remarkable, this patron of the arts supported Verdi until his death.
Verdi wrote his first symphony at the age of 15. In 1830 he lived in the house of his benefactor and gave piano lessons to his daughter Margarita. The young people fell in love and in 1836 they got married.
Giuseppe failed to enter the Conservatory the first time. But he still stayed in Milan and took private lessons from Vincenzo Lavigny, a brilliant teacher and orchestra leader at the Teatro alla Scala. It was the theater that commissioned Verdi to write his first opera.
Creation
At first, Verdi composed small romances and marches. "Oberto, Comte di San Bonifacio" is an opera that became the first major production for the Teatro alla Scala. After that, the administration of the theater signed a contract with Giuseppe to write two more operas.
Verdi wrote the performances "King for an Hour" and "Nabucco". The first opera was poorly received by the audience, but Nabucco was an overwhelming success. Along with fame, the composer received recognition and orders for new productions.
Between 1840 and 1850, Verdi wrote 20 operas. In 1851 the premiere of the opera Rigoletto took place. From that year to the present, this work has been performed every year in theaters around the world.
The Troubadour, staged in Rome in 1853, becomes a real musical masterpiece. A distinctive feature of this opera is that its main part is written specifically for the mezzo-soprano voice. Previously, this timbre was awarded only minor parts.
In 1855 the premiere of the opera "The Sicilian Supper" took place on the stage of the Grand Opera in Paris. In it, the composer speaks directly about the freedom of his country, in which serious revolutionary sentiments flare up.
In 1861, Verdi accepted an invitation from the St. Petersburg Imperial Theater and came to the capital with the production of The Force of Destiny. This is not the strongest and most popular thing with Verdi, although it was also a success with the audience.
In 1867, the composer starts writing one of his best works. Don Carlos is based on a play by Schiller and staged in French at the Parisian Grand Opera.
In the fall of 1870, Verdi finished the opera Aida, commissioned by the Egyptian government. It becomes an unconditional masterpiece and is firmly included in the golden fund of operatic art. In total, the composer wrote 26 operas and 1 requiem.
Personal life of the composer
Verdi's first wife was the daughter of his patron, Margherita Barezzi. However, the marriage became tragic, the couple lost two children in infancy. And a year later, Margarita herself died of encephalitis.
At 35, Giuseppe falls in love with an opera singer - Giuseppina Strepponi. They lived in a civil marriage for a long time, causing rumors and irritation of the crowd. In 1859, they nevertheless got married officially.
The couple lived near Bucetto in the Villa Sant'Agata, which was personally designed by Verdi. The house turned out to be quite classic and laconic, but the garden around it was simply amazing. Verdi devoted all his free time to gardening. Giuseppina had three children from a previous relationship, the spouses did not have joint children. In 1867, the couple brought up their niece.
The wife has always been the muse and support of the genius. She died 13 years earlier than Verdi. He died in 1901 and is buried in Milan.
