Giuseppe Verdi

Jeremy Tambling (University of Hong Kong)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.6.1: Italian Writing and Culture, 453-present.
Vol. editors: Carla Bregman (Independent Scholar - North America), Jo Ann Cavallo (Columbia University)

Dates

Born 10 Oct 1813
Died 27 Jan 1901
Activity 1836-1901

Places

Born in Italy
Active in Italy

Activities

Primary

Composer

Resources

Verdi's Works

Save to Bookshelf

Most famous of Italian opera composers, writer of some its most familiar melodies – “La donna è mobile” (

Rigoletto

) the Brindisi in

La traviata

and the “Anvil” chorus from

Il Trovatore

, parodied in

A Night at the Opera

– Giuseppe Verdi was born 10 October 1813 at Romcole, near Busseto in the Duchy of Parma, and died in Milan 27 January 1901. He began opera-writing in 1836 in Busseto. The first opera by which he became known,

Oberto, conte di San Bonifacio

, was put on at Milan, 1839, followed by

Un giorno de regno

(1840), his only comedy until

Falstaff

(Milan 1893). The contrast with Rossini is striking. Popularity came with

Nabucco

(Milan, 1842), to a libretto by Temistocle Solera (1815-1878) who specialized in theatrical effects. Its unison chorus “Va pensiero”, sung by…

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

2110 words

Citation: Tambling, Jeremy. "Giuseppe Verdi". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 March 2002 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4534, accessed 26 November 2024.]

View recommended reading for this article