J verdi biography. Giuseppe Verdi's operatic work: an overview

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Gian Verdi Executive Vice President January 26, 2006, Istanbul, office of Gian Verdi It's very difficult to tell about Akin Bey ... We met him either in late 1995 or early 1996. Garanti wanted to acquire Ottoman Bank. I was part of the team that worked on this project.

Giuseppe Verdi was born on October 10, 1813 in the village of Roncole, located near the town of Busseto and 25 kilometers from Parma. Verdi grew up in a poor family, his father traded in wine in the town of La Renzole in northern Italy.

Antonio Barezzi played an important role in the fate of Giuseppe. He was a merchant, but music played a big part in his life.

Barezzi recruited Verdi into the service of a clerk and accountant for commercial affairs. The office work was boring, but not burdensome; but a lot of time was absorbed by work on the musical part: Verdi diligently rewrote the scores and parts, participated in rehearsals, helped amateur musicians learn the parts.

Among the Busset musicians, the leading place was occupied by Ferdinando Provezi, a cathedral organist, conductor of the Philharmonic Orchestra, composer and theorist. He introduced Verdi to the basics of composition and conducting techniques, enriched his musical theoretical knowledge, and helped him improve his organ playing. Convinced of the young man's great musical talent, he predicted a brilliant future for him.

Verdi's first composer's experiments date back to the time of classes with Provezi. However, the young musician's writing was of an amateur nature and added almost nothing to his meager means of subsistence. It was time to take a more spacious creative path, but for this it was necessary to learn a lot. So the idea arose of entering the Milan Conservatory - one of the best in Italy. The funds necessary for this were allocated by the Busset "cash aid for those in need," on which Barezzi insisted: for a trip to Milan and conservatory studies (during the first two years), Verdi received a scholarship of 600 lire. This amount was somewhat replenished by Barezzi from personal funds.

In the late spring of 1832, Verdi came to Milan, the largest city in northern Italy, the capital of Lombardy. However, Verdi suffered a bitter disappointment: he was flatly refused admission to the conservatory.

When the doors of the Milan Conservatory slammed shut for Verdi, his first concern was to find a knowledgeable and experienced teacher among the city's musicians. From the persons recommended to him, he chose the composer Vincenzo Lavigna. He willingly agreed to study with Verdi and the first thing that he did for him was the opportunity to attend La Scala performances free of charge.

Many performances were performed with the participation of the best artistic forces of the country. It is not hard to imagine with what delight young Verdi listened to famous singers and singers. He also attended other Milanese theaters, as well as rehearsals and concerts of the Philharmonic Society.

Once the Society decided to perform the oratorio "Creation of the World" by the great Austrian composer Joseph Haydn. But it so happened that none of the conductors came to the rehearsal, and all the performers were in their places and expressed impatience. Then the head of the Society P. Mazini turned to Verdi, who was in the hall, with a request to help him out of the awkward situation. What followed next - says the composer himself in his autobiography.

“I quickly went to the piano and started rehearsal. I remember very well the ironic ridicule with which I was greeted ... My young face, my skinny appearance, my poor clothes - all this inspired little respect. But be that as it may, the rehearsal continued, and I myself gradually became inspired. I no longer limited myself to accompaniment, but began to conduct with my right hand, playing with my left. When the rehearsal was over, they paid me compliments from all sides ... As a result of this incident, the conducting of Haydn's concert was entrusted to me. The first public performance was so successful that it was immediately necessary to organize a repetition in the large hall of the noble club, which was attended ... by the entire high society of Milan. "

So for the first time, Verdi was noticed in the musical Milan. One count even ordered him a cantata for his family celebration. Verdi fulfilled the order, but “His Excellency” did not reward the composer with a single lyre.

But then came the long-awaited and joyful moment in the life of the young composer: he received an order for an opera - the first opera! This order was made by Mazini, who not only directed the Philharmonic Society, but was also the director of the so-called Philodramatic Theater. Libretto by A. Piazza, substantially revised by librettist F. Soler, formed the basis of Verdi's first opera Oberto. True, the order for the opera was not completed as soon as we wanted ...

The years of study in Milan ended. It's time to head back to Busseto and work off the town's scholarship. Soon after his return, Verdi was approved as the conductor of the city commune ... Verdi spent a lot of time leading the Philharmonic Orchestra and studying with its musicians.

In the spring of 1836, Verdi's wedding to Margarita Barezzi took place, solemnly celebrated by the Busset Philharmonic Society. Soon Verdi became a father: in March 1837, the daughter of Virginia, and in July 1838, the son of Ichiliao.

During the years 1835-1838, Verdi composed a huge number of works of small form - marches (up to 100!), Dances, songs, romances, choirs and others.

His main creative powers were concentrated on the opera "Oberto". The composer was so eager to see his opera on stage that, having finished the score, he rewrote all the vocal and orchestral parts with his own hand. Meanwhile, the term of the contract with the Busset commune was coming to an end. In Busseto, where there was no permanent opera house, the composer could no longer stay. Having moved with his family to Milan, Verdi began energetic efforts to stage Oberto. By this time, Mazini, who ordered the opera, was no longer the director of the Philodramatic Theater, and Lavigna, who could have been very useful, died.

Masini, who believed in Verdi's talent and great future, provided invaluable assistance in this regard. He enlisted the support of influential people. The premiere was scheduled for the spring of 1839, but due to illness of one of the leading performers, it was postponed to late autumn. During this time, the libretto and music were partially reworked.

The premiere of "Oberto" took place on November 17, 1839 and was a great success. This was largely due to the brilliant cast of the performance.

The opera was a success - not only in Milan, but also in Turin, Genoa and Naples, where it was soon staged. But these years turn out to be tragic for Verdi: he loses one after another daughter, son and beloved wife. “I was alone! One! ... - wrote Verdi. "And in the midst of this terrible agony, I had to finish a comic opera." It is not surprising that the composer did not succeed in "King for an Hour". The performance was booed. The collapse of his personal life and the failure of the opera struck down Verdi. He didn't want to write anymore.

But one winter evening, wandering aimlessly through the streets of Milan, Verdi met Merelli. After talking with the composer, Merelli took him to the theater and almost forcibly handed him a manuscript libretto for the new opera Nebuchadnezzar. “Here is Soler's libretto! - said Merelli. - Think about what you can make of such a wonderful material. Take it and read it ... and you can bring it back ... "

Although Verdi definitely liked the libretto, he returned it to Merelli. But the latter did not want to hear about the refusal and, thrusting the libretto into the composer's pocket, unceremoniously pushed it out of the office and locked it with a key.

“What was to be done? - recalled Verdi. - I returned home with Nabucco in my pocket. Today - one stanza, tomorrow - another; here - one note, there - a whole phrase - so little by little the whole opera arose. "

But, of course, these words should not be taken literally: operas are not so easy to create. It was only thanks to enormous, hard work and creative inspiration that Verdi was able to finish the large score of Nebuchadnezzar in the fall of 1841.

The premiere of "Nebuchadnezzar" took place on March 9, 1842 at La Scala - with the participation of the best singers and singers. According to the testimony of contemporaries, such stormy and enthusiastic applause has not been heard in the theater for a long time. At the end of the action, the audience rose from their seats and warmly greeted the composer. At first, he even considered it as an evil mockery: after all, only a year and a half ago, he was so mercilessly booed here for the "Imaginary Stanislav." And suddenly - such a grandiose, stunning success! Until the end of 1842, the opera was performed 65 times (!) - an exceptional phenomenon in the history of La Scala.

The reason for the triumphant success lay primarily in the fact that in "Nebuchadnezzar", in spite of its biblical plot, Verdi was able to express the most cherished thoughts and aspirations of his compatriot patriots.

After the staging of Nebuchadnezzar, the stern, unsociable Verdi changed and began to visit the society of the progressive Milanese intelligentsia. This society constantly gathered in the house of an ardent patriot of Italy - Clarina Maffei. With her, Verdi developed friendly relations for many years, captured in the correspondence that lasted until her death. Clarina's husband, Andrea Maffei, was a poet and translator. Verdi composed two romances based on his poems, and later on his own libretto - the opera "The Robbers" based on Schiller's drama. The composer's connection with the Maffei society had a great influence on the final formation of his political and creative ideals.

Among the poets of the Renaissance and A. Manzoni's closest friends was Tommaso Grossi, the author of satirical poems, dramas and other works. Based on one of the sections of the famous poem "Jerusalem Liberated" by the outstanding Italian poet Torquato Tasso Grossi, he wrote the poem "Giselda". This poem served as material for Soler's opera libretto, on which Verdi wrote the next, fourth opera, entitled "The Lombards in the First Crusade."

But just as in "Nebuchadnezzar" the biblical Jews meant modern Italians, so in the "Lombards" the crusaders meant the patriots of modern Italy.

This "encryption" of the idea of ​​the opera soon determined the tremendous success of the "Lombards" throughout the country. However, the patriotic essence of the opera did not escape the attention of the Austrian authorities: they obstructed the production and allowed it only after changes in the libretto.

The premiere of "The Lombards" took place at the Teatro alla Scala on February 11, 1843. The performance turned into a vivid political demonstration, which greatly alarmed the Austrian authorities. The final chorus of the Crusaders was perceived as a passionate call for the Italian people to fight for the freedom of their homeland. After the staging in Milan, the triumphal procession of "Lombards" began in other cities of Italy and European countries, and it was staged in Russia as well.

"Nebuchadnezzar" and "Lombards" made Verdi famous throughout Italy. Opera houses one after another began to offer him orders for new operas. One of the first orders was made by the Venetian theater "La Fenice", leaving the choice of the plot at the discretion of the composer and recommending the librettist Francesco Piave, who has since become one of Verdi's main collaborators and closest friends for many years. A number of his subsequent operas, including such masterpieces as Rigoletto and La Traviata, were written in Piave's libretto.

Having accepted the order, the composer set about searching for a plot. After going through several literary works, he settled on the drama "Hernani" by the French writer, playwright and poet Victor Hugo, who had already won European fame with his novel "Notre Dame Cathedral".

The drama "Hernani", first staged in Paris in February 1830, is imbued with a freedom-loving spirit, romantic emotion. Working on Ernani with passion, the composer wrote the score for a four-act opera in a few months. The premiere of "Hernani" took place on March 9, 1844 at the Venetian theater "La Fenice". The success has been tremendous. The plot of the opera, its ideological content turned out to be consonant with the Italians: the noble appearance of the persecuted Ernani reminded of patriots expelled from the country, in the chorus of conspirators there was a call to fight for the liberation of the homeland, glorification of knightly honor and valor awakened a sense of patriotic duty. Hernani's performances turned into vibrant political demonstrations.

During those years, Verdi developed an extremely intense creative activity: the premiere followed the premiere. Less than eight months after the premiere of Hernani, on November 3, 1844, the first performance of the new, already sixth, opera by Verdi, The Two Foscari, took place at the Argentina Theater in Rome. The literary source for her was the tragedy of the same name by the great English poet and playwright George-Gordon Byron.

After Byron, Verdi's attention was drawn to the great German poet and playwright Friedrich Schiller, namely, his historical tragedy The Maid of Orleans. The heroic and at the same time touching image of the patriotic girl, embodied in Schiller's tragedy, inspired Verdi to create the opera Giovanna d'Arco (libretto by Soler). It was premiered at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan on February 15, 1845. At first, the opera was a rather resounding success - mainly thanks to the famous young prima donna Erminia Fredzolini, who played the main role, but as soon as this role passed to other performers, interest in the opera cooled down, and she left the stage.

Soon a new premiere took place - the opera "Alzira" - based on the tragedy of Voltaire. Neapolitan theatergoers quite amicably applauded the new opera, but its success was also short-lived.

Attila is the title of Verdi's next opera. The material for her libretto was the tragedy of the German playwright Tsacharias Werner - "Attila - King of the Huns".

The premiere of Attila, which took place on March 17, 1846, at the Venetian theater La Fenice, was held with an ardent patriotic enthusiasm for performers and listeners. A storm of enthusiasm and shouts - "For us, for us Italy!" - Summoned the phrase of the Roman commander Aetius, addressed to Attila: "Take the whole world for yourself, only Italy, leave Italy to me!"

From his youth, Verdi admired Shakespeare's genius - he enthusiastically read and re-read his tragedies, dramas, historical chronicles, comedies, and also attended their performances. His cherished dream - to compose an opera based on a Shakespearean plot - he realized at the age of 34: he chose the tragedy Macbeth as a literary source for his next, tenth opera.

The premiere of Macbeth took place on March 14, 1847 in Florence. The opera was a great success both here and in Venice, where it was soon staged. The scenes of Macbeth, in which the patriots act, aroused great enthusiasm in the audience. One of the scenes, where it is sung about a devoted homeland, especially captivated the audience; so when staging Macbeth in Venice, they, seized by a single patriotic impulse, with a powerful chorus picked up the melody with the words "They betrayed their homeland ..."

In the middle of the summer of 1847, London hosted the premiere of the composer's next opera, The Robbers, based on the drama of the same name by F. Schiller.

After London, Verdi spent several months in Paris. The historic year 1848 came, when a powerful revolutionary wave swept across Europe. In January (even before the start of revolutions in other countries!), A grandiose popular uprising broke out in Sicily, more precisely, in its capital, Palermo.

In close connection with the revolutionary events of 1848 is the creation by the composer of the outstanding heroic-patriotic opera "The Battle of Legnano". But even before her, Verdi managed to complete the opera Le Corsaire (libretto by Piave based on the poem of the same name by Byron).

In contrast to Le Corsaire, the opera Battle of Legnano was a resounding success. The plot, drawn from the heroic past of the Italian people, resurrected on the stage a historical event: the defeat in 1176 by the united Lombard troops of the conquering army of the German emperor Frederick Barbarossa.

The performances of the Battle of Legnano, held in a theater decorated with national flags, were accompanied by vivid patriotic demonstrations by the Romans who proclaimed a republic in February 1849.

Less than a year after the Roman premiere of The Battle of Legnano, in December 1849, Verdi's new opera Louise Miller was staged at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples. Its literary source is Schiller's "philistine drama" Treachery and Love, directed against class inequality and princely despotism.

"Louise Miller" is Verdi's first lyrical and everyday opera, in which ordinary people are the protagonists. After the production in Naples, Louise Miller went around a number of stages in Italy and other countries.

Verdi was tired of leading a nomadic lifestyle, he wanted to firmly settle somewhere, especially since he was no longer alone. Just at this time, in the vicinity of Busseto, a rather rich estate of Sant'Agata was on sale. Verdi, who then had significant funds, bought it and at the beginning of 1850 moved here with his wife for permanent residence.

An ebullient composer's activity forced Verdi to travel around Europe, but Sant'Agata since then became his favorite residence until the end of his life. Only the winter months the composer preferred to spend either in Milan or in the seaside city of Genoa - in the Palazzo Dorna.

The first opera composed in Sant'Agata was Stiffelio, the fifteenth in Verdi's creative portfolio.

While working on Stiffelio, Verdi considered plans for future operas and partly sketched music for them. Even then, he was already considered one of the greatest composers, but the highest flowering of his work was only approaching: there were operas ahead, which brought him the glory of the "musical ruler of Europe."

Rigoletto, Troubadour and La Traviata became the most popular operas in the world. Created one after another in less than a two-year period, close to each other in the nature of the music, they form a kind of trilogy.

Literary source "Rigoletto" - one of the best tragedies by Victor Hugo "The King is Amused". First presented in Paris on November 2, 1832, immediately after the premiere, by order of the government, the opera was excluded from the repertoire - as a play "offensive to morality", since the author denounced in it the dissolute French king of the first half of the 16th century, Francis I.

After retiring to Busseto, Verdi worked so hard that he wrote an opera in 40 days. The premiere of "Rigoletto" took place on March 11, 1851 at the Venetian theater "La Fenice", commissioned by which the opera was composed. The performance was a huge success, and the Duke's song, as the composer expected, made a splash. Leaving the theater, the audience hummed or whistled her playful tune.

After the opera was staged, the composer said: "I am pleased with myself and I think that I will never write a better one." Until the end of his life, he considered Rigoletto his best opera. It was appreciated by both Verdi's contemporaries and subsequent generations. Rigoletto is still one of the most popular operas in the whole world.

After the premiere of Rigoletto, Verdi almost immediately set about developing the script for the next opera, The Troubadour. However, it took about two years until this opera saw the light of the stage. The reasons that impeded the work were different: the death of a beloved mother, and troubles with the censorship associated with the production of Rigoletto in Rome, and the sudden death of Cammarano, whom Verdi recruited to work on the libretto of Troubadour.

Only by the autumn of 1852 the unfinished libretto was completed by L. Bardare. Months of hard work passed, and on December 14 of the same year, the composer wrote to Rome, where the premiere was planned: “...” The troubadour is completely finished: all the notes are in place, and I am satisfied. Enough for the Romans to be happy! "

The Troubadour premiered at the Apollo Theater in Rome on January 19, 1853. Although in the morning the Tiber, raging and overflowing from the banks, almost disrupted the premiere. Not even seven weeks had passed since the Roman premiere of Troubadour, when on March 6, 1853, Verdi's new opera La Traviata was staged at the Venetian theater La Fenice.

Using rich vocal and orchestral means of expression, Verdi created a new kind of opera. La Traviata is a deeply true psychological musical drama from the life of contemporaries - ordinary people. For the middle of the 19th century, this was new and bold, since earlier historical, biblical, mythological plots prevailed in operas. Verdi's innovations were not to the liking of ordinary theatergoers. The first Venetian production was a complete failure.

On March 6, 1854, the second Venetian premiere took place, this time at the Teatro San Benedetto. The opera was a success: the audience not only understood it, but also loved it dearly. Soon La Traviata became the most popular opera in Italy and other countries of the world. It is characteristic that Verdi himself, when asked once which of his operas he loves most, replied that as a professional he puts Rigoletto higher, but as an amateur he prefers La Traviata.

In the years 1850-1860, Verdi's operas were performed on all major stages in Europe. For St. Petersburg, the composer writes the opera "The Force of Destiny", for Paris - "Sicilian Vespers", "Don Carlos", for Naples - "Masquerade Ball".

The best of these operas is Masquerade Ball. The fame of the Masquerade Ball quickly spread throughout Italy and far beyond its borders; he has taken a firm place in the world opera repertoire.

Another Verdi's opera, The Force of Destiny, was commissioned by the management of the St. Petersburg imperial theaters. This opera was intended for the Italian troupe, which has performed continuously in St. Petersburg since 1843 and enjoyed exceptional success. The premiere took place on November 10, 1862. Petersburgers warmly greeted the renowned composer. On November 15, he wrote to one of his friends in a letter: "There were three performances ... in a crowded theater and with excellent success."

In the late 1860s, Verdi received an offer from the Egyptian government to write for the new theater in Cairo an opera with a patriotic storyline from Egyptian life to embellish the opening of the Suez Canal. The unusualness of the proposal at first puzzled the composer, and he refused to accept it; but when in the spring of 1870 he got acquainted with the script developed by the French scientist (specialist in ancient Egyptian culture) A. Mariette, he was so carried away by the plot that he accepted the offer.

The opera was largely completed by the end of 1870. The premiere was originally scheduled for the winter season of 1870-1871, but due to the tense international situation (Franco-Prussian war) it had to be postponed.

The Cairo premiere of Aida took place on December 24, 1871. According to Academician B. V. Asafiev, "it was one of the most brilliant and enthusiastic performances in the entire history of opera."

In the spring of 1872, Aida began its triumphal march through other Italian opera stages, and soon it became famous throughout Europe, including Russia, and in America. From now on, they began to talk about Verdi as a genius composer. Even those professional musicians and critics who treated Verdi's music with prejudice now recognized the composer's enormous talent, his exceptional services in the field of operatic art. Tchaikovsky recognized the creator of "Aida" as a genius and said that Verdi's name should be inscribed on the tablets of history next to the greatest names.

The melodic richness of "Aida" amazes with its richness and variety. In no other opera did Verdi display such a generous and inexhaustible melodic ingenuity as here. At the same time, the melodies of "Aida" are marked by exceptional beauty, expressiveness, nobility, originality; in them there is not even a trace of the cliche, routine, "charm", which were often sinned by old Italian opera composers, and even Verdi himself in the early and partly middle periods of creativity. In May 1873, Verdi, who was then living in Sant'Agata, was deeply saddened by the news of the death of 88-year-old Alessandro Manzoni. Verdi's love and respect for this patriotic writer was boundless. In order to adequately honor the memory of his glorious compatriot, the composer decided to create a Requiem on the first anniversary of his death. It took Verdi no more than ten months to create the Requiem, and on May 22, 1874, it was first performed under the direction of the author in Milan's St. Mark's Church. The richness and expressiveness of melody, freshness and boldness of harmonies, colorful orchestration, harmony of form, mastery of polyphonic technique put Verdi's Requiem among the most outstanding works of this genre.

The formation of a unified Italian state did not live up to the hopes of Verdi, like many other patriots. The composer's political reaction evoked deep bitterness. Verdi's fears were also caused by the musical life of Italy: neglect of national classics, blind imitation of Wagner, whose work Verdi greatly appreciated. A new upsurge came for the aged author in the 1880s. At the age of 75, he began writing an opera based on the plot of Shakespeare's Othello. Opposite feelings - passion and love, loyalty and intrigue are conveyed in her with tremendous psychological authenticity. Othello brings together all that genius that Verdi has achieved in his life. The music world was overwhelmed. But this opera did not at all become the finale of the creative path. When Verdi was already 80 years old, he wrote a new masterpiece - the comic opera Falstaff based on Shakespeare's play Windsor Ridiculous - a work so perfect, realistic, with an amazing polyphonic ending - a fugue, that it was immediately recognized as the highest achievement of world opera.

On September 10, 1898, Verdi turned 85 years old. “... My name smells like the era of mummies - I myself dry up when I just mutter this name to myself,” he admitted sadly. The quiet and slow extinction of the composer's vitality continued for more than two years.

Soon after mankind solemnly met the XX century, Verdi, who lived in a Milan hotel, was struck with paralysis and a week later, early in the morning on January 27, 1901, at the age of 88, died. National mourning was declared throughout Italy.

Giuseppe Verdi - (full name Giuseppe Fortunato Francesco) is an Italian composer. The master of the opera genre, who created high examples of psychological musical drama.

Operas: Rigoletto (1851), Troubadour, La Traviata (both 1853), Masquerade Ball (1859), The Force of Destiny (for the Petersburg Theater, 1861), Don Carlos (1867), Aida (1870), Othello (1886), Falstaff (1892), Requiem (1874).

Giuseppe Verdi was born October 10, 1813, Le Roncole, near Busseto, Duchy of Parma. Died on January 27, 1901, in Milan. Libra.

In art, as in love, you first need to be frank.

Verdi Giuseppe

Giuseppe's childhood

Giuseppe Verdi was born in the remote Italian village of Le Roncole in the north of Lombardy into a peasant family. The child's extraordinary musical talent and a passionate desire to make music appeared very early. Until the age of 10, Giuseppe studied in his native village, then in the town of Busseto. An acquaintance with the merchant and music lover Barezzi helped to obtain a city scholarship to continue his musical education in Milan.

The shock of the thirties

However, Giuseppe Verdi was not admitted to the conservatory. He studied music privately with the teacher Lavigna, thanks to whom he attended La Scala performances free of charge. In 1836 he married his beloved Margherita Barezzi, the daughter of his patron, from whose marriage he had a daughter and a son.

You can take the whole world for yourself, but leave me Italy.

Verdi Giuseppe

A lucky chance helped to get an order for the opera Lord Hamilton, or Rochester, which was successfully staged in 1838 at La Scala under the title Oberto, Count of Bonifacio. In the same year, 3 vocal compositions by Verdi were published. But the first creative successes coincided with a number of tragic events in his personal life: in less than two years (1838-1840), his daughter, son and wife died. D. Verdi is left alone, and the comic opera “The King for an Hour, or the Imaginary Stanislav,” composed at that time on request, fails. Shocked by the tragedy, Verdi writes: "I ... made a decision never to compose again."

Way out of the crisis. First triumph

Giuseppe Verdi's work on the opera "Nebuchadnezzar" (Italian name "Nabucco") brought Giuseppe Verdi out of a difficult mental crisis.

The opera, staged in 1842, was a huge success, which was also facilitated by excellent performers (one of the main roles was sung by Giuseppina Strepponi, who later became Verdi's wife). The success inspired the composer, bringing new compositions every year. In the 1840s he created 13 operas, including Ernani, Macbeth, Louise Miller (based on F. Schiller's drama Cunning and Love) and others. And if the opera Nabucco made Giuseppe Verdi popular in Italy, then already "Hernani" brought him European fame. Many of the compositions written at that time are still staged on the opera stages of the world today.

The works of the 1840s belong to the historical and heroic genre. They are distinguished by impressive crowd scenes, heroic choirs imbued with courageous marching rhythms. In the characteristics of the characters, the expression is not so much of temperament as of emotion. Here Verdi creatively develops the achievements of his predecessors Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti. But in individual works (Macbeth, Louise Miller), the features of the composer's own, unique style - an outstanding opera reformer - mature.

In 1847 Giuseppe Verdi made his first trip abroad. In Paris, he becomes close to J. Streppony. Her idea of ​​living in the countryside, being creative in the bosom of nature, led, upon her return to Italy, to purchase a plot of land and create the estate of Sant'Agata.

"Trizvezdie". Don Carlos

In 1851, Rigoletto appeared (based on Victor Hugo's drama The King Amuses himself), and in 1853 Troubadour and La Traviata (based on the play by A. Dumas The Lady of the Camellias), which made up the composer's famous “three stars”. In these works, Verdi departs from heroic themes and images, ordinary people become his heroes: a jester, a gypsy, a woman of the half-world. Giuseppe seeks not only to show feelings, but also to reveal the characters of the characters. The melodic language is marked by organic links with Italian folk song.

In the operas of the 1850s and 60s. Giuseppe Verdi turns to the historical and heroic genre. During this period, the operas Sicilian Vespers (staged in Paris in 1854), Simon Boccanegra (1875), Masquerade Ball (1859), The Force of Destiny, commissioned by the Mariinsky Theater, were created; in connection with its production, Verdi twice visited Russia in 1861 and 1862. Don Carlos (1867) was written by order of the Paris Opera.

New takeoff

In 1868, the Egyptian government approached the composer with a proposal to write an opera for the opening of a new theater in Cairo. D. Verdi refused. Negotiations lasted two years, and only the script of the scientist-Egyptologist Mariette Bey, based on an ancient Egyptian legend, changed the composer's decision. The opera "Aida" became one of his most perfect innovative creations. She is noted for the brilliance of dramatic skill, melodic richness, mastery of the orchestra.

The death of the writer and patriot of Italy Alessandro Manzoni prompted the creation of Requiem, a magnificent work of the sixty-year-old maestro (1873-1874).

For eight years (1879-1887) the composer worked on the opera Othello. The premiere, which took place in February 1887, turned into a national celebration. In the year of his eightieth birthday, Giuseppe Verdi creates another brilliant creation - "Falstaff" (1893, based on W. Shakespeare's play "The Wicked Wives"), in which he, based on the principles of musical drama, carried out the reform of the Italian comic opera. "Falstaff" is distinguished by the novelty of the drama, built on expanded scenes, melodic ingenuity, bold and sophisticated harmonies.

In the last years of his life, Giuseppe Verdi wrote works for choir and orchestra, which in 1897 he combined into the cycle "Four Spiritual Pieces". In January 1901, he was paralyzed and a week later, on January 27, he died. The basis of Verdi's creative heritage was made up of 26 operas, many of which were included in the world's musical treasury.

Giuseppe Verdi also composed two choirs, a string quartet, and works of church and chamber vocal music. Since 1961, the "Verdi Voices" vocal competition has been held in Busseto.

Giuseppe Verdi - quotes

Don't hesitate, don't give in when it comes to art.

In art, as in love, you first need to be frank.

In music, as in love, you must first of all be sincere.

Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was born on October 10, 1813 in Roncole, a village in the province of Parma, then part of the Napoleonic Empire. His father ran a wine cellar and grocery store. In 1823, Giuseppe, who received his elementary knowledge from the village priest, was sent to school in the neighboring town of Busseto. He was already showing musical talent and at the age of 11 began to perform the duties of organist in Roncole. The boy was noticed by the wealthy merchant A. Barezzi from Busseto, who supplied Verdi's father's shop and had a keen interest in music. Verdi owed his musical education to this man. Barezzi took the boy to 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, as he was older than the legal age. He began to study privately with V. Lavigna, who taught him the basics of compositional technique. Verdi learned orchestration and opera writing in practice, visiting Milan opera houses. The Philharmonic Society commissioned him for the opera Oberto, conte di san Bonifacio, which, however, was not staged at that time.

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 music society awarded him a three-year stipend (300 lire); during this time he composed a series 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, Margarita Barezzi. He again went to Milan, where on November 17, 1839, Oberto was performed at La Scala with sufficient success to secure a new commission, this time for a comic opera. The comic opera King for a Day (Un giorno di regno) failed, booed mercilessly by the audience. Shaken by the failure of the opera, Verdi vowed that he would no longer compose operas and asked the director of La Scala to break the contract he had signed with him. (It was only many years later that Verdi forgave the Milanese.) But director Merelli believed in the composer's talent and, having let him come to his senses, presented him with a libretto to Nabucco based on the biblical story of King Nebuchadnezzar. While reading, Verdi's attention was drawn to a chorus of Jews in Babylonian captivity, and his imagination took off. The successful premiere of Nabucco (1842) restored the composer's reputation.

Nabucco was followed by the Lombardians (I Lombardi, 1843), an opera that also gave vent to oppressed patriotic feelings, and then Ernani (Ernani, 1844) based on the romantic drama of V. Hugo, a work thanks to which Verdi's fame spread beyond Italy. In the following years, the composer, in his own words, worked like a convict. Opera followed opera - Two Foscari (I due Foscari, 1844), Jeanne d "Arco (Giovanna d" Arco, 1845), Alzira (Alzira, 1845), Attila (Attila, 1846), The Robbers (I masnadieri, 1847), Corsair (Il corsaro, 1848), Battle of Legnano (La battaglia di Legnano, 1849), Stiffelio (1850). In these compositions, superficial and sometimes lightweight artisan music is added to weak librettos. Among the operas of this period, Macbeth (1847), the first fruit of the composer's enthusiastic reverence for Shakespeare, and Luisa Miller (1849), an outstanding work of a more chamber style, stand out.

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 Milanese productions of Nabucco and the Lombardians and who had already become close to Verdi. In the end, ten years later, they did get married.

For the period 1851-1853, there are three mature masterpieces by Verdi - 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 demonstrating, in addition to the ability to create lively, exciting melodies, a new operatic form for the composer - more coherent, with less contrasts between the recitative, which takes on the character of a melodious arioso, and the aria, which does not obey the established schemes in everything. Free-form duets and other ensembles contribute to the development of the action, 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 the Spanish romantic melodrama, contains beautiful examples of strong, heroic music, while La Traviata, based on the “family drama” of Dumas, the son of the Lady of the Camellias, captivates with the pathos of the senses.

The success of these three operas opened up new possibilities for Verdi. In 1855 he was commissioned to compose for the Paris Opera in the characteristic Meyerbeer style - Sicilian Vespers (Les vpres siciliennes). For the same theater he made a new version of Macbeth (1865), and also composed 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 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. While none of these operas is dramatic perfection (this is hindered by Verdi's tendency to jump without sufficient reason from one spectacular plot situation to another), they all demonstrate a growing mastery of musical character and orchestral drama (this is especially noticeable in Simone Boccanegre and Don Carlos).

Verdi clearly needed a literary collaborator, and he found him in the person of A. Gislanzoni, in collaboration with whom the libretto of Aida (Aida, 1871) was born - a masterpiece in the style of the French “grand opera” commissioned by the Egyptian government to perform 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), the author of the opera Mephistopheles and an outstanding poet. Boito first reworked Simon Boccanegra's unsatisfactory libretto (1881). He then turned Othello's Shakespearean tragedy into a libretto; this masterpiece by Verdi 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 ambition to create a true musical drama.

In addition to operas, Verdi's legacy 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).