Verdi, Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco 1813-1901
Italian composer

Verdi was of humble rural origin, the son of a local innkeeper. He was born in Roncole, near Busseto, and much of his early musical education came from Provesi, organist of Busseto Cathedral. Subsidized by locals who admired his talent, he was sent to Milan, but was rejected by the Conservatory because he was over age and was judged to be a poor pianist. Instead he studied profitably under Lavigna, maestro al cembalo at La Scala. On returning home he failed in his ambition to succeed Provesi as cathedral organist, but was given a grant by the Philharmonic Society. Three years later he married the daughter of his friend and patron Barezzi, but both she and their two children died in the space of three years (1838-40).

Verdi's first opera, Oberto, conte di San Bonifacio, was produced at La Scala in 1839, but it was with Nabucco (1842) that he achieved his first major success. In 1847 I Masnadieri ('The Robbers', based on Schiller's drama) was performed in London, with Jenny Lind in the cast. Of his other works up to 1850, only Macbeth (1847) and Luisa Miller (1849) are now regularly performed. Rigoletto (1851), Il Trovatore (1853) and La Traviata (1853) then established his position as the leading Italian operatic composer of the day, and this was confirmed by Simon Boccanegra (1857) and Un Ballo in Maschera (1859, 'A Masked Ball'). In all these works Verdi faced the opposition of the censors, especially when plots recalled current events; in the political climate of 19th-century Italy this was a constant difficulty. His next three works were all written for performance outside Italy: La Forza del Destino (1862, 'The Force of Destiny', for St Petersburg), Don Carlos (1867, for Paris) and A�da (1871, commissioned for the new opera house in Cairo, built in celebration of the Suez Canal).

Apart from the Requiem (1873), written in commemoration of Alessandro Manzoni, there was a 16-year break in output until, in his old age, inspired by his literary collaborator Arrigo Boito, Verdi produced his two final masterpieces, Otello (1887) and Falstaff (1893, his only comic opera apart from an early work). Both had their premi�res at La Scala, so ending nearly 20 years of feud with that theatre. Apart from completing the Quattro Pezzi Sacri (1888-97, 'Four Sacred Pieces'), Verdi wrote no more before his death. Although his reputation was worldwide he remained at heart a country man, preferring above all to cultivate his property at Busseto in the intervals between composition. He formed a long association with the former operatic soprano Giuseppina Strepponi, and married her in 1859.

Recurring themes in Verdi's compositions include the relationship of father and daughter (eg Rigoletto, Simon Boccanegra and La Forza del Destino) and of mother and son (Il Trovatore) and the conflict of political power and human love (notably in Don Carlos and Otello). He wrote two great tragic operas based on Shakespeare (Macbeth and Otello), and long contemplated the subject of King Lear but did not realize it. His life coincided with the emergence of Italy as a nation, and he was himself an ardent nationalist, especially in his younger days; some of his choruses were freely construed by patriots as being anti-Austrian, and their performance often led to demonstrations. He himself took little active part in politics, and soon resigned his deputyship in the first Italian parliament (1860), although later in life he became a senator.

Verdi's music is characterized by intimate tenderness as well as by moments of rousing splendour. Though rich and greatly esteemed, Verdi led a simple life, and took almost as much pride in his estate management and in the founding of a home for aged musicians in Milan as in his creative work. He died in a Milan hotel in 1901. His funeral was accompanied by national mourning, and as his coffin passed by, the crowd spontaneously sang 'Va, pensiero', the chorus of exiled Hebrews in Nabucco.

Bibliography: Verdi's letters have been published in English versions in The Letters of Giuseppe Verdi (ed C Osborne, 1971). See also J Budden, Verdi (rev edn, 1993) and The Operas of Verdi (rev edn, 3 vols, 1992); Mary Jane Phillips-Matz, Verdi: A Biography (1993); Paul Hume, Verdi (1977); Carlo Gatti, Verdi: The Man and his Music (1955).