Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901)

The son of a village innkeeper, Verdi received his first lessons from the local organist and was then supported by Antonio Barezzi, a merchant from Busseto. Refused by the Milan Conservatory, he studied privately in that city.

The success of Nabucco (1842) and its chorus “Va, pensiero” made him famous. A series of masterpieces followed: Rigoletto (1851), Il trovatore and La traviata (1853), then Don Carlos, Aida (1871) and the Requiem (1874).

After years of relative silence he wrote, in his seventies, his last two operas on librettos by Arrigo Boito after Shakespeare: Otello (1887) and the comedy Falstaff (1893). He died in Milan in 1901.

Verdi wrote almost nothing for piano, but his tunes have been arranged and paraphrased countless times (notably by Liszt). Playing Verdi on the piano teaches above all how to sing: bel canto phrasing, breathing, and “guitar-like” accompaniments that must stay light.