During the 88 years allotted to him, Giuseppe Verdi wrote 29 works that became the pinnacles of the world opera and glorified him for centuries. The operas "La Traviata", "Rigoletto", "Aida", "Othello", "Don Carlos", "Il Trovatore" do not leave the theater stage today.
Let us recall some facts from the life of a brilliant Italian.
1. Margherita Barezzi, the daughter of his sponsor Antonio Barezzi, became the chosen one and legal wife of Verdi in 1836. A year later, the couple had a son, a year later - a daughter. However, the family idyll did not last long - the children died suddenly from unknown disease and his wife was diagnosed with encephalitis. After the composer lost all his loved ones, he decided to end his career, which had barely begun to climb, but the impresario persuaded him to wait. Verdi was brought out of a severe spiritual crisis by his work on the opera Nabucco, which made him a living classic.
2. One of the most popular works Verdi became the opera "Rigoletto", which he wrote at the time happy love with the owner of the fantastic soprano Giuseppina Strepponi. 10 years later they got married, which put an end to the scandals surrounding his person - a civil marriage in the 19th century was simply unthinkable for many.
3. The secret of Verdi's popularity among contemporaries lay not only in his genius, but also in his active political position. Into the plot more In his works, he inscribed transparent allusions to topical events in the life of society - primarily to the Austrian occupation of Italy. In the sufferings of the Israelites under the yoke of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar in "Nabucco" the misfortunes of the Italians under the rule of the Austrians are clearly read. Under the crusaders in the opera Lombards in the First crusade”Verdi means patriots of his fatherland. By the way, the motto “Viva, Verdi!”, chanted by fans at every concert of the composer, is nothing more than a veiled slogan Viva, V.E.R.D.I is an abbreviation for “Vittorio Emanuel, King of Italy”.
4. One novice musician tried for a long time to get Verdi to listen to his playing and express his opinion. Finally the composer agreed. At the appointed hour, the young man came to Verdi. He was a tall young man, apparently endowed with great physical strength, but he played very badly.
Having finished playing, the guest asked the maestro to speak.
- Just tell me the whole truth! he said resolutely, clenching his heavy fists in excitement.
“I can’t,” Verdi answered with a sigh.
- But why?
- Afraid...
5. Compatriots perceived the death of Verdi as a personal tragedy. 2,000 people came to say goodbye to their favorite composer. 800 strangers sang the chorus from the opera Nabucco at the funeral.
[impossible task]
Opposite in Milan famous theater"La Scala" is a tavern in which artists, musicians, stage connoisseurs have been gathering for a long time.
There, under glass, a bottle of champagne has long been stored, which is intended for those who can consistently and clearly retell in their own words the content of Verdi's opera Il trovatore.
This bottle has been stored for more than a hundred years, the wine is getting stronger, but there is still no "lucky" one.
[good sign]
Having finished work on the opera Il trovatore, Giuseppe Verdi most kindly invited one rather untalented music critic, his great detractor, to acquaint him with some of the most important fragments of the opera.
- Well, how do you like my New Opera? - asked the composer, rising from the piano.
- Frankly, - the critic said decisively, - all this seems to me rather flat and inexpressive, Mr. Verdi.
- My God, you can't even imagine how grateful I am for your feedback, how happy I am! exclaimed the overjoyed Verdi, warmly shaking the hand of his detractor.
- I do not understand your delight, - shrugged the critic. - I didn't like the opera...
“Now I am absolutely sure of the success of my Trovatore,” Verdi explained. - After all, if you didn’t like the work, then the audience will surely like it!
[Mistake came out...]
One day, a nineteen-year-old youth came to the conductor of the Milan Conservatory and asked to be examined. At the entrance exam, he played his compositions on the piano. A few days later, the young man received a stern answer: "Leave the thought of the conservatory. And if you really want to study music, look for some private teacher among the city musicians ..."
Thus the untalented young man was put in his place, and it happened in 1832. And after a few decades, the Milan Conservatory passionately sought the honor of bearing the name of a musician once rejected by it. This name is Giuseppe Verdi.
[ I will not say! ]
One aspiring musician tried for a long time to get Verdi to listen to his playing and express his opinion. Finally the composer agreed. At the appointed hour, the young man came to Verdi. He was a tall young man, apparently endowed with great physical strength. But he played badly...
Having finished playing, the guest asked Verdi to express his opinion.
- Just tell me the whole truth! - the young man said resolutely, clenching his pood fists in excitement.
“I can’t,” Verdi answered with a sigh.
- But why?
- Afraid...
[give applause!...]
Verdi once said:
- Applause is an integral part of some types of music, they should be included in the score.
BIOGRAPHY AND INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT GIUSEP VERDI
(Verdi, Giuseppe) (1813-1901), italian composer. Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was born on October 10, 1813 in Roncola, a village in the province of Parma, at that time part of the Napoleonic Empire. His father ran a wine cellar and a grocery store. In 1823, Giuseppe, who received his initial knowledge from a village priest, was sent to a school in the neighboring town of Busseto. He already showed musical ability and at the age of 11 he began to perform the duties of organist in Ronkol. The rich merchant A. Barezzi from Busseto, who supplied Verdi's father's shop and had a keen interest in music, drew attention to the boy. To this man Verdi owed his music education. Barezzi took the boy to his house, hired him the best teacher and paid for it further education in Milan. In 1832, Verdi was not admitted to the Milan Conservatory because he was over the legal age. He began to study privately with V. Lavigna, who taught him the basics of composing technique. Verdi comprehended the orchestration and opera writing in practice, visiting Milan opera houses. The Philharmonic Society commissioned him the opera Oberto, Count di San Bonifacio (Oberto, conte di san Bonifacio), which, however, was not then staged. Verdi returned to Busseto, hoping to take the post of church organist, but as a result of internal church intrigues, he was refused. Local musical society appointed him a three-year scholarship (300 lire); at this time he composed a number of marches and an overture (sinfonie) for the city brass band and also wrote church music. In 1836 Verdi married the daughter of his benefactor Margherita Barezzi. He again went to Milan, where on November 17, 1839, Oberto was performed at La Scala with enough success to secure a new commission, this time for a comic opera. comic opera King for a Day (Un giorno di regno) failed, mercilessly booed by the public. Verdi, shocked by the failure of the opera, vowed that he would no longer compose operas and asked the director of La Scala to break the contract concluded with him. (Only many years later, Verdi forgave the Milanese.) But the director Merelli believed in the composer's talent and, letting him recover, handed the libretto to Nabucco based on biblical history about King Nebuchadnezzar. While reading, Verdi's attention was drawn to a choir of Jews in Babylonian captivity, and his imagination started to work. The successful premiere of Nabucco (1842) restored the composer's reputation. Nabucco was followed by the Lombards (I Lombardi, 1843), an opera that also gave vent to oppressed patriotic feelings, and then by Ernani (Ernani, 1844) romantic drama V. Hugo is a work thanks to which Verdi's fame went beyond Italy. In subsequent years, the composer, according to his own words, worked like a convict. The opera followed the opera - Two Foscari (I due Foscari, 1844), Joan of Arc (Giovanna d "Arco, 1845), Alzira (Alzira, 1845), Attila (Attila, 1846), Robbers (I masnadieri, 1847), Corsair (Il corsaro, 1848), Battle of Legnano (La battaglia di Legnano, 1849), Stiffelio (Stiffelio, 1850). In these works, superficial and sometimes lightweight craft music is attached to weak librettos. Macbeth stands out among the operas of this period ( Macbeth, 1847) - the first fruit of the composer's enthusiastic reverence for Shakespeare, as well as Louisa Miller (Luisa Miller, 1849) - outstanding work more chamber style. From 1847 to 1849, Verdi was mainly in Paris, where he made a new, French edition of the Lombards, called Jerusalem (Jeruslem). Here the composer met Giuseppina Strepponi, a singer who took part in the Milan productions of Nabucco and the Lombards and had already become friends with Verdi. In the end, ten years later, they still got married. The period 1851-1853 accounts for three mature Verdi masterpieces - Rigoletto (Rigoletto, 1851), Trovatore (Il trovatore, 1853) and La traviata (La traviata, 1853). Each of them reflects a special side of the composer's talent. Rigoletto based on the play by V. Hugo. The king amuses himself, demonstrates, in addition to the ability to create lively, exciting melodies, a new operatic form for the composer - more coherent, with less contrast between the recitative, which takes on the character of a melodious arioso, and the aria, which does not obey the established patterns in everything. The action is furthered by free-form duets and other ensembles, including the famous quartet in the last act - an outstanding example of Verdi's ability to reflect in ensemble form conflict of characters and feelings of their characters. The Troubadour, based on a Spanish romantic melodrama, contains excellent examples of strong, heroic music, while La Traviata is based on " family drama» Dumas-son The lady with camellias captivates with the pathos of feelings. The success of these three operas opened up new possibilities for Verdi. In 1855, he was commissioned to compose for the Paris Opera in a characteristic Meyerbeer style, the Sicilian Vespers (Les vêpres siciliennes). For the same theater he made new edition Macbeth (1865), and also composed by Don Carlos (1867); for the St. Petersburg Mariinsky Theater created the Force of Destiny (La forza del destino, 1862). In parallel with the implementation of these grandiose projects, Verdi worked on more modest operas in the Italian taste - Simon Boccanegra (Simon Boccanegra, 1857) and Un ballo in maschera (1859). All these works are romantic melodramas based on more or less reliable historical events. Although none of the operas listed is dramatically perfect (which is hampered by Verdi's tendency to jump arbitrarily from one spectacular plot situation to another), they all show a growing mastery musical characteristic and orchestral dramaturgy (this is especially noticeable in Simone Boccanegra and Don Carlos). Verdi clearly needed a literary collaborator, and he found him in the person of A. Ghislanzoni, in collaboration with whom the libretto of Aida (Aida, 1871) was born - a masterpiece in the style of the French " grand opera”, ordered to the composer by the Egyptian government for performance at the opening of the Suez Canal. Even more fruitful was the joint work of Verdi in his later years with Arrigo Boito (1842–1918), author of the opera Mephistopheles and outstanding poet. Boito first reworked the unsatisfactory libretto of Simon Boccanegra (1881). He then turned Shakespeare's tragedy Othello into a libretto; this Verdi masterpiece was staged at La Scala in 1887, when the composer was already 74 years old. Othello was followed in 1893 by Falstaff: at 80, Verdi wrote a musical comedy that rewarded him for the failure of his first musical comedy King for an hour. Othello and Falstaff crowned Verdi's desire to create a real musical drama. In addition to operas, Verdi's heritage includes Requiem in memory of A. Manzoni (1874), Stabat Mater (1898) and Te Deum (1898), as well as choral compositions, romances and string Quartet in E minor (1873). Verdi died in Milan on January 27, 1901.
INTERESTING FACTS
1. Young green
Giuseppe Verdi once said:
When I was eighteen years old, I considered myself great and said: "I". When I was twenty-five years old, I began to say: "Me and Mozart". When I turned forty, I said: "Mozart and I." Now I say "Mozart".
2. An error came out ...
One day, a nineteen-year-old youth came to the conductor of the Milan Conservatory and asked to be examined. At the entrance exam, he played his compositions on the piano. A few days later, the young man received a stern answer: "Leave the thought of the conservatory. And if you really want to study music, look for some private teacher among the city musicians ..." Thus, the untalented young man was put in his place, and it happened in 1832. And after a few decades, the Milan Conservatory passionately sought the honor of bearing the name of a musician once rejected by it. This name is Giuseppe Verdi.
4. I won't tell!
One aspiring musician tried for a long time to get Verdi to listen to his playing and express his opinion. Finally the composer agreed. At the appointed hour, the young man came to Verdi. He was a tall young man, apparently endowed with great physical strength. But he played very badly ... Having finished playing, the guest asked Verdi to express his opinion.
Just tell me the whole truth! - the young man said resolutely, clenching his pood fists in excitement.
I can’t,” Verdi replied with a sigh.
But why?
6. Not a day without a line
Verdi always carried with him music book, in which he daily recorded his musical impressions of the day he lived. In these original diaries of the great composer, one could find amazing things: from any sounds, whether it was the cries of an ice cream man on a hot street or the calls of a boatman to take a ride, the exclamations of builders and other working people or children's crying, Verdi extracted from everything musical theme! As a senator, Verdi once surprised his friends in the Senate. on four sheets music paper he very recognizably arranged in a complicated long fugue ... the speeches of temperamental legislators!
7. Good sign
Having finished work on the opera Il trovatore, Giuseppe Verdi most kindly invited a rather untalented music critic, his great detractor, to acquaint him with some of the most important fragments of the opera.
Well, how do you like my new opera? - asked the composer, rising from the piano.
Frankly, - the critic said decisively, - all this seems to me rather flat and inexpressive, Mr. Verdi.
My God, you have no idea how grateful I am for your feedback, how happy I am! exclaimed the overjoyed Verdi, warmly shaking the hand of his detractor.
I don't understand your enthusiasm, - the critic shrugged. - I didn't like the opera...
Now I am completely confident in the success of my "Troubadour", - explained Verdi.
After all, if you didn’t like the work, then the public will undoubtedly like it!
8. Give back the money, maestro!
Verdi's new opera "Aida" was received with admiration by the public! famous composer was literally bombarded with commendable reviews and enthusiastic letters. However, among them was this: "Noisy talk about your opera" Aida "made me go to Parma on the 2nd of this month and attend a performance ... At the end of the opera, I asked myself the question: did the opera satisfy me? The answer was negative "I get into the carriage and return home to Reggio. Everyone around me only talks about the merits of the opera. I was again seized by the desire to listen to the opera, and on the 4th I was again in Parma. The impression I got was the following: there is nothing outstanding in the opera ... After two or three performances, your "Aida" will be in the dust of the archive. You can judge, dear Mr. Verdi, how sorry I feel about the wasted lyre I have. Add to this that I am a family man and such an expense does not give me peace. Therefore, I appeal directly to you with a request to return the said money to me ... "At the end of the letter, a double bill was presented for railway back and forth, to the theater and dinner. Total sixteen lire. After reading the letter, Verdi ordered that his impresario pay the petitioner money. “However, with the deduction of four lire for two dinners,” he said cheerfully, “as this gentleman could have supped at his house.” And one more thing... Take his word that he will never listen to my operas again... To avoid new expenses.
11. The best is the kindest
Once Verdi was asked which of his creations he considers the best? - The house I built in Milan for elderly musicians...
LITERATURE
1. Tarozzi G. Verdi. M., 1984
2. Gal G. Brahms. Wagner. Verdi. Three masters - three worlds. M., 1986
3. Solovtsova L.A. G. Verdi. M., 1986
BIOGRAPHY AND INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT GIUSEPPE VERDI (Verdi, Giuseppe) (1813–1901), Italian composer. Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was born on October 10, 1813 in Roncola, a village in the province of Parma, at that time part of the NapoleonicOne of the colors of the flag of the Italian Republic - green, verde, verdi ... Amazing providence chose a man with consonant name, Giuseppe Verdi, to become a symbol of the unification of Italy and a composer, without whom the opera would never have been the way we know it, so contemporaries called the maestro the voice of their country. His works, reflecting an entire era and becoming the pinnacle of not only Italian, but the entire world opera, centuries later are the most popular and most performed on the stages of the best musical theaters. From the biography of Verdi, you will learn that the composer had a difficult fate, but, overcoming everything life difficulties, he left future generations priceless creations.
Read a brief biography of Giuseppe Verdi and many interesting facts about the composer on our page.
Brief biography of Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi was born on October 10, 1813 into a poor family of an innkeeper and a spinner who lived in the village of Roncole near the town of Busetto (now it is the Emilia-Romagna region). From the age of five, the boy begins to study musical notation and play the organ in a local church. Already in 1823 young talent notes a wealthy businessman, and at the same time a member of the Philharmonic Society of Busetto, Antonio Barezzi, who will support the composer until his death. Thanks to his help, Giuseppe moved to Busetto to study at the gymnasium, and two years later he began taking lessons in counterpoint. Fifteen-year-old Verdi is already the author of a symphony. After graduating from the gymnasium in 1830, the young man settled in the house of his benefactor, where he gives vocal and piano lessons to Margherita, daughter of Barezzi. In 1836, the girl becomes his wife.
According to Verdi's biography, an attempt to enter the Milan Conservatory was unsuccessful. But Giuseppe cannot return to Busetto with his head bowed. After staying in Milan, he takes private lessons from one of the best teachers and the head of the La Scala orchestra, Vincenzo Lavigna. Thanks to a fortunate combination of circumstances, he receives an order from La Scala for his first opera. In subsequent years, the composer's children are born. However, happiness is deceptive. Not having lived even a year and a half, my daughter dies. Verdi moves to Milan with his family. This city was destined to witness both the grand glory of the maestro and his most bitter losses. Dies suddenly in 1839 little son, and less than a year later, Margherita also died. So, by the age of twenty-six, Verdi had lost his entire family.
For almost two years, Verdi barely made ends meet and wanted to quit music. But again chance intervened, thanks to which Nabucco was born, after the premiere of which in 1842 came to him resounding success and European recognition. The 40-50 years were the most productive in terms of creativity: Verdi wrote 20 of his 26 operas. Since 1847, Giuseppina Strepponi, the singer who performed the part of Abigail at the premiere of Nabucco, became the actual wife of the composer. Verdi affectionately called her Peppina, but he married her only 12 years later. Giuseppina had a past that was questionable from the point of view of morality of that era and three children from different men. The couple had no joint children, and in 1867 they adopted a little niece.
Since 1851, Verdi has been living in Sant'Agata, his own estate near Busetto, agriculture and horse breeding. The composer actively participated in political life of his country: in 1860 he became a deputy of the first Italian parliament, and in 1874 - a senator in Rome. In 1899, a boarding house for elderly musicians, built at his expense, was opened in Milan. Verdi, who died in Milan on January 27, 1901, was buried in the crypt of this institution. He outlived his Peppina by as much as 13 years ... His funeral grew into a large procession to see the composer off last way more than 200,000 people came.
Interesting facts about Giuseppe Verdi
- The main operatic opponent of G. Verdi - Richard Wagner - was born with him in the same year, but died 18 years earlier. It is noteworthy that over the years Verdi wrote only two operas - “ Othello" And " falstaff". The composers have never met, but there are many intersections in their destinies. One of them is Venice. There were premieres in this city Traviata" And " Rigoletto", and Wagner died at the Palazzo Vendramin Calergi. F. Werfel's book “Verdi. Opera novel.
- The native village of the composer is now officially called Roncole Verdi, the Milan Conservatory is also named after him, in which the musician could not enter.
- The composer's fifth opera, Ernani, brought Verdi a record fee for him, which allowed him to think about buying his own estate.
- Britain's Queen Victoria, after attending the premiere of "Robbers", wrote in her diary that the music was "noisy and banal".
- The maestro rightly called Rigoletto an opera of duets, almost completely devoid of arias and traditional choral finales.
- It is believed that not every opera house can afford to stage " Troubadour" or " Masquerade ball”, since both require four magnificent voices at once - soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor and baritone.
- Statistics show that Verdi is the most performed opera composer, and "La Traviata" is the most opera performed on the planet.
- "Viva VERDI" is both a tribute to the composer and an acronym for the supporters of Italian unification, where VERDI meant: Vittorio Emanuele Re D'Italia (Victor Emmanuel - King of Italy).
- There are two " Don Carlos- French and Italian. They differ not only in the language of the libretto, in fact they are two different versions operas. So what is considered to be the "genuine" "Don Carlos"? It is impossible to answer this question unequivocally, since there are even differences between the version presented at the Paris premiere and the one performed at the second performance two days later. There are not one, but at least three Italian versions: the first, created for a production in Naples in 1872, a four-act version of 1884 for La Scala, a five-act version without a ballet in 1886 for a performance in Modena. The most famous, performed and published on discs today are the classic French version and the "Milanese" Italian version.
- Since 1913, the annual opera festival "Arena di Verona" has been held in the ancient Roman amphitheater of Verona. The first performance was " Aida” in honor of the centenary of Verdi. In 2013, "Aida" was also the center of the anniversary festival program.
Creativity Giuseppe Verdi
first opera, "Oberto, Count di San Banifacho", was approved for a charity performance at La Scala. Its premiere was a success, and the theater signed a contract with the budding author for three more operas. But the next one, King for a Day, was a devastating fiasco. This work was given to Verdi with incredible difficulty. How to write a comic opera after just burying a child and a wife? All the pain experienced by the composer found its way out in the music for the dramatic biblical story about Nebuchadnezzar. Verdi received the manuscript of the libretto by Temistocle Solera by chance meeting the impresario La Scala on the street. And at first he wanted to refuse, but the plot captured him so much that the music "Nabucco" became a huge event. And the chorus from her "Va, pensiero" turned into unofficial anthem Italy, which Italians today know by heart.
Repeat the success of "Nabucco" were called upon "Lombards in the First Crusade", which La Scala presented to the public a year later. And a year later, the premiere of an opera written by order of another prestigious and influential theater took place - for the Venetian La Fenice, Verdi created "Ernani", which became the first joint work of the composer and librettist Francesco Maria Piave, a Venetian, with whom they will create seven more works. "Ernani" spoke to the viewer in a completely different way musical language than his previous writings. It was a story about personalities and passions, expressed so vividly and authentically that it is rightfully called the first truly "Verdi" opera. The one in which the unique author's style of its creator was formed. This style was consolidated by subsequent works: "Two Foscari" And "Joan of Arc".
The third most important Italian theater of those years was the Neapolitan San Carlo, for which in 1845 Verdi wrote "Alziru" based on tragedy of the same name Voltaire. It was a work in collaboration with the famous librettist Salvatore Cammarano. However, the opera was given to him hard and without inspiration, he was sick a lot. This is probably why her stage destiny turned out to be short. Much later, the maestro recognizes it as perhaps his most unsuccessful creation. The best reception awaited the premiere in Venice "Attila" in 1846, although its creation also did not bring creative satisfaction to the composer. "The years of my imprisonment”- this is how he himself will characterize the period of 43-46, when he wrote 5 operas.
From the biography of Verdi, we learn that after a short recovery, the composer takes on two operas at once: "Macbeth" for Florence and "Robbers" for London's Covent Garden. And, if he works enthusiastically on the first, then the second becomes another burden. Next appear "Corsair" And "Battle of Legnano", completing a series of bravura-heroic works of the maestro. "Louise Miller", staged in 1849, became a continuation of the Ernani theme, in which human fates and feelings. The formation of Verdi's true style was consolidated by his next work, "Stiffelio", and to this day little known, completely, however, undeservedly. In parallel with it, the composer begins to compose his first undoubted masterpiece, " Rigoletto».
"Rigoletto" since its premiere in Venice in 1851, it has never ceased to be staged in theaters around the world. Verdi took up the plot of Victor Hugo's play "The King Amuses", filmed from Parisian scenes local censorship for the immorality of the plot. The opera almost suffered the same fate, but Piave edited the plot, and the performance went out to the audience, becoming almost a revolution in operatic art: the orchestra no longer played as one accompanying instrument, its sound became expressive and complex. "Rigoletto" tells the whole dramatic story, almost without breaking the outline of the narrative into isolated arias. The opera opens the so-called "romantic trilogy", continued by Il trovatore and La Traviata.
"Troubadour", staged in Rome in 1853, became one of the most popular operas during Verdi's lifetime. It is a real treasure trove of amazing melodies. The Il trovatore is also interesting because one of the main parts was written for mezzo-soprano - a voice that was usually given to minor roles. Subsequently, the composer will create a whole gallery of magnificent heroines for a low female voice: Ulrika, Eboli, Amneris. Meanwhile, the maestro's imagination has already captured the plot of the recently released play by Alexandre Dumas son "The Lady of the Camellias" - tragic history love and self-sacrifice. Verdi worked furiously on this opera and the music was completely written in 40 days. "La Traviata"- this is the worship of a woman, perhaps this is Verdi's creative dedication to his companion Giuseppina Strepponi. It's hard to imagine, but this absolute masterpiece was a resounding failure at the premiere in La Fenice. The audience was outraged that the heroine of the opera was a fallen woman, moreover, not from distant eras, but their contemporary. However, Verdi perceives this fiasco more calmly than before - he is confident in his music, its genius fully protects its creator. And the maestro turns out to be right again: only a year will pass and, having undergone a small revision, La Traviata will triumphantly return to the Venetian stage.
The next order comes from Paris, and in 1855 the stage of the Grand Opera is staged "Sicilian Vespers" based on the libretto by the famous French playwright Eugene Scribe. This opera is also significant because the composer again speaks about freedom from enslavers, in fact, about the freedom of his Italy, in which revolutionary moods are ripening. The following years are spent on creating "Simona Boccanegra", which awaits a difficult fate. One of the maestro's most ambitious plans, one of his darkest operas, one of his most significant, did not win success with the public after the Venetian production of 1857. The reason for this was probably a bleak, dark plot with a focus on the political line, depressive characters. Critics blamed the composer for heavy music, bold handling of harmony and rough vocal style. Will pass yet more than twenty years, and Verdi will return to Boccanegra, completely reworking it. This a new version with a libretto by Arrigo Boito is still in theaters today.
Verdi turns to the plot of Scribe next time. The choice fell on "Masquerade Ball"- the story of the death of the Swedish king Gustav III. The censorship rejected the libretto, since it was unthinkable to show on stage the murder of a royal person by a deceived husband, and what happened so recently ( real event happened in 1792). As a result, the libretto had to be changed - the action was transferred to America, and the governor of Boston, Richard, fell victim to the jealous. The success after the production in Rome was overwhelming, the opera quickly sold out into "hits", which were sung even by passers-by on the street. In 1861, Verdi finally agrees to another proposal from the Imperial Theater of St. Petersburg and at the end of the same year stays in Russian capital for staging "Forces of Destiny", the premiere of which, for a number of reasons, was delayed until November 10, 1862. The opera was a success, however, to a greater extent because of the name of the composer than because of self-worth. Nevertheless, despite the convoluted plot and somewhat old-fashioned epic narrative, The Force of Destiny established itself as an undoubted success during Verdi's lifetime.
Several years pass, which the composer spends in Sant'Agata for routine rural affairs and the alteration of Macbeth. Only in 1866 did Verdi take on a new work, which would become the longest and most ambitious. The primary source is again a play by Schiller, this time - "Don Carlos". The libretto is created on French, since its customer is the Parisian Grand Opera. Verdi works for a long time and with enthusiasm, but the premiere is met with coolness from the public and criticism. Paris did not appreciate the unusual musical style"Don Carlos", the triumphal procession of the opera on world stages, began with the London production of the same, in 1867.
In November 1870, the maestro completed the opera commissioned by the Egyptian government. "Aida" comes out in Cairo and just a few months later - in La Scala. The Italian premiere was an unqualified victory for the composer, and he considers it a fitting end to his operatic career. In 1873, the writer Alessandro Manzoni, whom Verdi admired, dies. In memory of him, as well as of Rossini, to whose death a few years earlier the composer created part of the funeral mass, Verdi writes a Requiem, dedicating it to two great contemporaries.
After Aida, it was not easy to lure Verdi back to the theatre. Only a Shakespearean story could do that "Othello". Since 1879, the maestro has been working on an opera based on a libretto by Arrigo Boito, creating one of the most complex tenor parts of the 19th century. In Othello, Verdi's mastery finds its completeness, his music has never been so inseparably connected with dramatic basis. Six years later, the eighty-year-old composer decides to arrange a real farewell to the stage by composing a comic opera - the second in his biography, which was separated from the first by almost half a century. The plot, again Shakespearean, was proposed by Boito. Verdi, who over the years has gained a reputation as an unsurpassed dramatic master, is also asserting himself as a master of comedy towards the end of his career. The culmination of the composer's work was the opera "Falstaff" filled with such a joy of life, which is found only in truly greatest works art.
(Verdi, Giuseppe) (1813-1901), Italian composer. Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was born on October 10, 1813 in Roncola, a village in the province of Parma, at that time part of the Napoleonic Empire. His father ran a wine cellar and a grocery store. In 1823, Giuseppe, who received his initial knowledge from a village priest, was sent to a school in the neighboring town of Busseto. He has already shown musical ability and at the age of 11 he began to perform the duties of organist in Ronkol. The rich merchant A. Barezzi from Busseto, who supplied Verdi's father's shop and had a keen interest in music, drew attention to the boy. Verdi owed his musical education to this man. Barezzi took the boy into his home, hired the best teacher for him and paid for his further education in Milan. In 1832, Verdi was not admitted to the Milan Conservatory because he was over the legal age. He began to study privately with V. Lavigna, who taught him the basics of composing technique. Verdi comprehended the orchestration and opera writing in practice, visiting the Milan opera houses. The Philharmonic Society commissioned him the opera Oberto, Count di San Bonifacio (Oberto, conte di san Bonifacio), which, however, was not then staged. Verdi returned to Busseto, hoping to take the post of church organist, but as a result of internal church intrigues, he was refused. The local musical society awarded him a three-year scholarship (300 lire); at this time he composed a number of marches and an overture (sinfonie) for the city brass band, and also wrote church music . In 1836 Verdi married the daughter of his benefactor Margherita Barezzi. He again went to Milan, where on November 17, 1839, Oberto was performed at La Scala with enough success to secure a new commission, this time for a comic opera. The comic opera The King for a Day (Un giorno di regno) failed, mercilessly booed by the public. Verdi, shocked by the failure of the opera, vowed that he would no longer compose operas and asked the director of La Scala to break the contract concluded with him. (Only many years later, Verdi forgave the Milanese.) But director Merelli believed in the composer's talent and, giving him time to recover, handed the libretto to Nabucco based on the biblical story of King Nebuchadnezzar. While reading, Verdi's attention was drawn to a choir of Jews in Babylonian captivity, and his imagination started to work. The successful premiere of Nabucco (1842) restored the composer's reputation. Nabucco was followed by the Lombards (I Lombardi, 1843), an opera that also gave vent to oppressed patriotic feelings, and then Ernani (Ernani, 1844) based on the romantic drama by V. Hugo, a work that made Verdi's fame go beyond Italy. In subsequent years, the composer, in his own words, worked like a convict. The opera followed the opera - Two Foscari (I due Foscari, 1844), Joan of Arc (Giovanna d "Arco, 1845), Alzira (Alzira, 1845), Attila (Attila, 1846), Robbers (I masnadieri, 1847), Corsair (Il corsaro, 1848), Battle of Legnano (La battaglia di Legnano, 1849), Stiffelio (Stiffelio, 1850). In these works, superficial and sometimes lightweight craft music is attached to weak librettos. Macbeth stands out among the operas of this period ( Macbeth, 1847) - the first fruit of the composer's enthusiastic reverence for Shakespeare, as well as Louise Miller (Luisa Miller, 1849) - an outstanding work of a more chamber style. From 1847 to 1849 Verdi was mainly in Paris, where he made a new, French edition of the Lombards, called Jerusalem (Jeruslem). Here the composer met Giuseppina Strepponi, a singer who took part in the Milan productions of Nabucco and the Lombards and had already become close to Verdi. In the end, ten years later they still got married. Between 1851-1853, there are three mature Verdi masterpieces - Rigoletto (Rigoletto, 1851), Troubadour (Il trovatore, 1853) and La traviata (La traviata, 1853). Each of them reflects a special side of the composer's talent. Rigoletto based on the play by V. Hugo. The king amuses himself, demonstrates, in addition to the ability to create lively, exciting melodies, a new operatic form for the composer - more coherent, with less contrast between the recitative, which takes on the character of a melodious arioso, and the aria, which does not obey the established patterns in everything. The development of the action is facilitated by free-form duets and other ensembles, including the famous quartet in the last act - an outstanding example of Verdi's ability to reflect in an ensemble form the conflict of characters and feelings of his characters. The Troubadour, based on a Spanish romantic melodrama, contains excellent examples of strong, heroic music, while La Traviata, based on the “family drama” of Dumas, the son of the Camellia, captivates with the pathos of feelings. The success of these three operas opened up new possibilities for Verdi. In 1855, he was commissioned to compose for the Paris Opera in a characteristic Meyerbeer style, the Sicilian Vespers (Les vêpres siciliennes). For the same theatre, he made a new edition of Macbeth (1865) and also composed Don Carlos (1867); for Petersburg Mariinsky Theater created the Force of Destiny (La forza del destino, 1862). In parallel with the implementation of these grandiose projects, Verdi worked on more modest operas in the Italian taste - Simon Boccanegra (Simon Boccanegra, 1857) and Un ballo in maschera (1859). All these works are romantic melodramas based on more or less authentic historical events. While none of the operas listed is dramatically perfect (which is hampered by Verdi's tendency to jump without good reason from one spectacular plot situation to another), they all demonstrate a growing mastery of musical characterization and orchestral dramaturgy (this is especially noticeable in Simone Boccanegra and Don Carlos). Verdi clearly needed a literary collaborator, and he found him in the person of A. Ghislanzoni, in collaboration with whom the libretto of Aida (Aida, 1871) was born - a masterpiece in the style of the French “grand opera”, ordered by the Egyptian government to the composer for performance at the opening of the Suez Canal. Even more fruitful was the collaboration of Verdi in his later years with Arrigo Boito (1842-1918), author of the opera Mephistopheles and an outstanding poet. Boito first reworked the unsatisfactory libretto of Simon Boccanegra (1881). He then turned Shakespeare's tragedy Othello into a libretto; this Verdi masterpiece was staged at La Scala in 1887, when the composer was already 74 years old. Othello was followed in 1893 by Falstaff: at 80, Verdi wrote a musical comedy that rewarded him for the failure of his first musical comedy, The King for an Hour. Othello and Falstaff crowned Verdi's desire to create a real musical drama. In addition to operas, Verdi's heritage includes Requiem in memory of A. Manzoni (1874), Stabat Mater (1898) and Te Deum (1898), as well as choral compositions, romances and a string quartet in E minor (1873). Verdi died in Milan on January 27, 1901.
INTERESTING FACTS
1. Young green
Giuseppe Verdi once said:
When I was eighteen years old, I considered myself great and said: "I". When I was twenty-five years old, I began to say: "Me and Mozart". When I turned forty, I said: "Mozart and I." Now I say "Mozart".
2. An error came out ...
One day, a nineteen-year-old youth came to the conductor of the Milan Conservatory and asked to be examined. At the entrance exam, he played his compositions on the piano. A few days later, the young man received a stern answer: "Leave the thought of the conservatory. And if you really want to study music, look for some private teacher among the city musicians ..." Thus, the untalented young man was put in his place, and it happened in 1832. And after a few decades, the Milan Conservatory passionately sought the honor of bearing the name of a musician once rejected by it. This name is Giuseppe Verdi.
4. I won't tell!
One aspiring musician tried for a long time to get Verdi to listen to his playing and express his opinion. Finally the composer agreed. At the appointed hour, the young man came to Verdi. He was a tall young man, apparently endowed with great physical strength. But he played very badly ... Having finished playing, the guest asked Verdi to express his opinion.
Just tell me the whole truth! - the young man said resolutely, clenching his pood fists in excitement.
I can’t,” Verdi replied with a sigh.
But why?
6. Not a day without a line
Verdi always carried a music notebook with him, in which he daily wrote down his musical impressions of the day he lived. In these peculiar diaries of the great composer, one could find amazing things: from any sounds, whether it was the cries of an ice cream man on a hot street or the calls of a boatman to take a ride, the exclamations of builders and other working people or children's crying, Verdi extracted a musical theme from everything! As a senator, Verdi once surprised his friends in the Senate. On four sheets of musical paper, he very recognizably arranged in a complicated long fugue ... the speeches of temperamental legislators!
7. Good sign
Having finished work on the opera Il trovatore, Giuseppe Verdi most kindly invited a rather untalented music critic, his great detractor, to acquaint him with some of the most important fragments of the opera.
Well, how do you like my new opera? - asked the composer, rising from the piano.
Frankly, - the critic said decisively, - all this seems to me rather flat and inexpressive, Mr. Verdi.
My God, you have no idea how grateful I am for your feedback, how happy I am! exclaimed the overjoyed Verdi, warmly shaking the hand of his detractor.
I don't understand your enthusiasm, - the critic shrugged. - I didn't like the opera...
Now I am completely confident in the success of my "Troubadour", - explained Verdi.
After all, if you didn’t like the work, then the public will undoubtedly like it!
8. Give back the money, maestro!
Verdi's new opera "Aida" was received with admiration by the public! The famous composer was literally bombarded with commendable reviews and enthusiastic letters. However, among them was this: "Noisy talk about your opera" Aida "made me go to Parma on the 2nd of this month and attend a performance ... At the end of the opera, I asked myself the question: did the opera satisfy me? The answer was negative "I get into the carriage and return home to Reggio. Everyone around me only talks about the merits of the opera. I was again seized by the desire to listen to the opera, and on the 4th I was again in Parma. The impression I got was the following: there is nothing outstanding in the opera ... After two or three performances, your "Aida" will be in the dust of the archive. You can judge, dear Mr. Verdi, how sorry I feel about the wasted lyre I have. Add to this that I am a family man and such an expense does not give me peace. Therefore, I appeal directly to you with a request to return the said money to me ... "At the end of the letter, a double bill was presented for the round trip railway, for the theater and dinner. Total sixteen lire. After reading the letter, Verdi ordered that his impresario pay the petitioner money. “However, with the deduction of four lire for two dinners,” he said cheerfully, “as this gentleman could have supped at his house.” And one more thing... Take his word that he will never listen to my operas again... To avoid new expenses.
