Haliee Patel

April 12, 2011

MU 107

Verdi with a Vengeance

Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was operas best-loved, Italian Romantic composer.

Verdi was born on October 10, 1813 in the small village of Le Roncole in French-dominated

northern Italy (then the Duchy of Parma), where his middle-class parents ran a tavern visited by

itinerant musicians (Berger 22). His first musical experience was as a street singer with a spinet

(an upright harpsichord) his father gifted when he turned eight and later he began studying the

organ at the Church across his tavern. At the age of twelve, young Giuseppe become the church

organist and the local became proud of its “pint-sized maestro” (24). While being the organist in

his town, he was also enrolled to study academics and music in the nearby, larger town of

Busseto’s Philharmonic Society run by Provesi. After six years, he found a patron, Antonio

Barezzi, who sent him to Milan where he could receive more advanced training. However,

Verdi’s application to the Milan Conservatory, the best music school in the Italy during that

time, was rejected on the basis that he was too old and less-skilled for admissions. He ended up

taking private lessons and became professional musician. At the age of 23 (1836), he married the

daughter of his patron, Barezzi. Verdi and his wife had two children, both of whom died as

infants followed by the tragic death of his wife as well. In 1859, he re-married to Giuseppina

Strepponi, an opera soprano, who lived with her into old age.

Verdi began his opera career in 1838, his first opera was Oberto, conte di San

Bonifacio and was announced for production at La Scala, the famous opera company in Milan.

Although, his next opera, Un giorno de regno was a spectacular flop in 1840, the same year his

young wife passed away. After the loss of his family and the failure in music career, he decided
to give one more chance to himself and came with another opera in 1842, Nabucco. “The

premiere of this opera was one of the great sensations of theatrical history” and continued to be

popular that it set a new attendance records at La Scala (32). Verdi’s first masterpiece was

premiered in 1847, Macbeth, this was a turning point in his development. Soon, the streets of

Italy and Verdi’s future performances were roared with “Viva Verdi!” by their own citizens.

Over the next decade, Verdi wrote one successful opera after another including his final

Shakespearean operas, Othello and Falstaff. Between 1839 and 1893, he had composed 28

operas and the Requiem (Greenburg). When Verdi died on 27 January, 1901, at the age of 88,

about 200,000 mourners blocked the streets to see off Italy’s most prestige citizen (Phillips-Matz

764).

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Apart from a string quartet, Verdi composed just one non-operatic work: Messa da

Requiem or Requiem Mass on May 22 of 1874. “The Requiem is not opera, since it is not staged,

but it uses the musical techniques of Italian opera to explore the issues at stake in the Requiem

Mass” (Berger 381). This sacred composition was written in seven movements to commemorate

the first anniversary death of the nationalist Italian writer Alessandro Manzoni and was premiere

in the church of San Marco, Milan.

Guide: Movement IV known as ‘Sanctus’, a holy hymn in counterpoint

polyphonic texture

Composer: Verdi, Giuseppe

Genre: Classical Music – Requiem (Choral and Religious works)

consisting of four solo voices, chorus and orchestra.

Duration: Approximately 90 minutes (1 ½ hours)

Scalchi, Gloria; conducted by Morandi, Pier Giorgio

Orchestra: Hungarian State Opera Chorus, Hungarian State

Opera Orchestra Source: VERDI: Requiem / Quattro Pezzi Sacri (NAXOS)

0.0 a fanfare of trumpets and rejoicing cries of ‘Sanctus’ from the entire

chorus and orchestra in threefold repetition

0.15 sopranos of the two choirs announce the double full-blown fugue with

basoons, horns, trumpets, tuba, timpani, bass drum, strings in

continuous movement

0.48 both choirs in descending order.

1.05 high pitch again; progression of four bars giving an

angelic sound with dance-like rhythm

1:23 descending with intensity getting softer making it a lyrical

homophony.

2:07 the orchestra and choir trembles as cord progress in fast harmony

2:22 the fugue brilliantly ends and continues with trumpets.

The only miscellaneous work composed by Verdi was String quartet in E minor. It was
composed in Naples, where the rehearsals of Aida were delayed. He wrote that it for personal
amusement and refused first to have it published or publicly performed, but later on the piece
went for printing as it was greatly admired by chamber musicians.

Guide: Movement III ‘Prestissimo’

Composer: Verdi, Guiseppe

Genre: Quartet (Chamber Music) – 2 violins, 1 viola and 1 cello.

Duration: Consists of IV movements, approximately 23 minutes

Performer: N/A
 Orchestra: Verdi Quartet

Source: Haenssler Classic

0:0 First theme Fast, vibrant, forceful, prestissimo tempo in 16 beats; Uses

dynamics of pianissimos to deal with this tempo; sung by cello, then

first violin over the other descending pizzicato strings; ends with

crescendo in last two measure.

1:02 Contrast Slow and quiet mood; decrease in loudness and speed of the scale

supporting the melody

2:10 Return Same, repeated-tone patterns of first theme; intensity builds; range of

the violins is intense.

Overall, This was in ternary form (ABA).

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Verdi was 25 training under his music master in Busseto when the firm of Canti in Milan

brought out his Sei Romanze (set of six romance songs) for voice and piano in 1838 (Naxos).

Guide: No.1 ‘Non t’accostare all’urna’, by Vittorelli, a lover warns his faithless

sweetheart not to approach his funeral urn with floral tributes but to let his bruised

spirit rest in peace (Naxos).

Composer: Verdi, Guiseppe

Genre: Opera, Vocal

Duration: Approximately 4 minutes

Performer: Dennis O’Neill, Tenor; Ingrid Surgenor, Piano; produced by Adam Gatehouse

Orchestra: N/A (recorded at St. Silas’ Church, London, 1997)

Source: Verdi: Songs

0:0 Opens with a slow, somber melody played on the piano in minor.
0:27 Introduction of vocal theme in minor. First stanza proceeds with a repetitive

emphasis to its final cadence.

1:23 Going mezzo-piano on keys while vocal pitch is increasing.

1:44 Voice breaks into declamatory recitative (‘Empia! Empia!’)

1:50 Vocal lines become irregular and convulsive; the accompaniment throbs and sighs in

the tragic manner

3:17 Last two lines only of the third strophe is enhanced by more powerful harmonies

than the first two lines of first strophe.

3:47 Vocal fade and ends with ritrando on piano.

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“Giuseppe Verdi was one of the greatest, the most successful, and the longest-

lived of all composers” (Phillips-Matz). Many of his operas still remain intact such as

Rigoletto, Il trovatore, La traviata and Aida are among the most popular of all operas.

Verdi’s death marked an end of the Romantic time period in Italy. Today, there are at

least two institutes where Verdi’s music and life are studied,The Instituto di Studi

Verdiani inParma (near Verdi’s birthplace), founded 1959, and the American Institute for

Verdi Studies, founded in 1976, at New York University (Greenburg).

"No. 1. Non t'accostare all'urna." VERDI: Songs. BBC, London, 1997. Web. 24 Apr. 2011.

<http://0-grcc.naxosmusiclibrary.com.lib.grcc.edu/catalogue/item.asp?cid=8.557778>.

"III Prestissimo." VERDI: String Quartet in E minor / B. Haenssler Classic, n.d. Web. 24 Apr.

2011. <http://0-grcc.naxosmusiclibrary.com.lib.grcc.edu/catalogue/item.asp?cid=

CD98.394>.

"IV Sanctus." VERDI: Requiem / Quattro Pezzi Sacri. Hungary, 1996. Web. 24 Apr. 2011.

<http://0-grcc.naxosmusiclibrary.com.lib.grcc.edu/catalogue/item.asp?cid=8.550944-

45#>.

Berger, William. Verdi with a Vengeance. New York: Random House, Inc., 2000.

Greenberg, Robert Ph.D.. Life and Operas of Verdi. San Francisco Performance: University of

California, Berkeley. <http://www.thegreatcourses.com/tgc/courses/course_detail.aspx>

Phillips-Matz, Mary Jane. Verdi: A Biography. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993.