VERDI

Giuseppe Verdi was born at Rancola, in the Duchy of Parma, Italy, 10th October, 1813; died at Busseto, in January, 1901. He received his musical education at Busseto and Milan. He was appointed organist at Rancola at the age of ten years; and when but twenty years old he became Director of the Philharmonic Society at Busseto. He settled in Milan in 1838, and there his first opera, Oberto di San Bonifazio, was produced at La Scala in 1839. The opera that first brought him European fame was Ernani (1844). Rigoletto was produced in 1851, and Il Trovatore in 1853; and these two operas, through all changes of taste and style, still continue to hold their own in popular favour. He wrote many other operas, the best known of which are: La Traviata (1853), AÃ¯da (1871), Othello (1877), Macbeth (1847), Falstaff (1893), I Lombardi (1843), Un Ballo in Maschera (1859), Simon Boccanegra (1857), Les Vespres Siciliennes (1855), etc. His other works include a Requiem Mass (1847), and other sacred compositions, etc.