Page 222 - ESSENTIAL LISTENING TO MUSIC

Figure 13.2
La Scala Opera House about 1830. Verdi’s first four and last two operas had their premieres at La Scala, then as now the foremost opera house in Italy.
Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901)
The name Giuseppe Verdi (VAIR-dee) is vir- tually synonymous with Italian opera. For six decades, from the time of Nabucco in 1842 until Falstaff in 1893, Verdi had almost no rival for the affections of the opera-loving public in Italy and throughout Europe. Even today the best-loved of his twenty-six operas are more readily available—in opera hous- es, TV productions, DVDs, and HD broad- casts—than those of any other composer.
Verdi was born near Busseto in north- ern Italy in 1813, the son of a tavern keep- er. He was no musical prodigy: At the age of eighteen, Verdi was rejected for admis-
sion to the Conservatory of Music in Milan because he was already too old and his piano technique faulty. Indeed, not before the age of twenty-nine did he finally achieve musical success, with the opera Nabucco (1842). A surprise hit when premiered at La Scala Opera House in Milan (Figure 13.2), Nabucco launched Verdi’s career in Europe, and eventually North and South America as well.
Today Giuseppe Verdi (Figure 13.3) would be characterized variously as a political “leftist,” “rebel,” and/or “revolutionary.” He worked for the over- throw of the Austrian government, which then ruled most of northern Italy. By coincidence, the name “Verdi” (“Green” in Italian) had the same let- ters as Vittorio Emanuele Re d’Italia, the people’s choice to lead a new, free, unified Italy. Verdi willing lent his name to the nationalist Green Party. During the 1840s, popular cries of “Viva Verdi” (“Long Live the Green [Nationalist] Party”) echoed in support of Italian unification. Yet it was not only Verdi’s name but also his music that connected the composer to Italian nationalism. In Nabucco, for example, Verdi honors a suppressed people (in this case the Jews), who groan under the rule of a cruel foreign power (the Babylonians). Sensitive listeners heard Verdi’s choruses as “protest music,” singable street songs urging the expulsion of foreign rulers (in this case, the Austrians from northern Italy). In 1849, however, much to Verdi’s dismay, the nationalist revolu-
tion failed, crushed by foreign troops.
Disillusioned with Italian politics, in 1850 Verdi temporarily moved to
Paris and turned his attention from national to personal drama. In quick order, he composed a trio of works without which no opera house today could function: Rigoletto (1851), La traviata (1853), and Il tro- vatore (1853). Upon his return to Italy in 1857, the number, but not the quality, of Verdi’s operas declined. He composed only when the subject was of special interest or the money so great that he couldn’t refuse. His opera Aida (1871), commissioned to celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal, brought him an astonishing fee—the equivalent of about $720,000 in today’s dollars. Verdi had become wealthy, and he retired to
Figure 13.3
A photograph of Giuseppe Verdi, taken about 1885, on an early published score of his opera
La traviata
200 chapter thirteen romantic opera
Copyright 201 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
56797_ch13_ptg01.indd 200 29/08/14 3:36 PM
Mary Evans Picture Library/The Image Works
© Scala/Art Resource, NY
<
<