Verdi's parents, who were tavern-keepers, recognized his talent and allowed him to get what little musical instruction was available. But not until he was nearly 19 did he go to Milan for advanced study, thanks to the financial assistance of a Busseto merchant, Antonio Barezzi, whose daughter Verdi married in 1836. In 1839, his first opera, Oberto, was reasonably well received at La Scala, but in September 1840 Un giorno di regno, a comic opera, failed. This only added to the depression he was already suffering through personal loss: his wife and their two children had all died between August 1838 and June 1840. Verdi's astonishing success began in 1842, with the premiere of Nabucco at La Scala. Among his other early operas, Ernani, Macbeth and Luisa Miller are still heard frequently, and his post-1850 masterpieces are the cornerstone of most opera houses' repertoires: Rigoletto, Il Trovatore, La Traviata, Les vpres siciliennes (written for Paris), Simon Boccanegra and Un ballo in maschera in the 1850s, La forza del destino (1862, for St Petersburg), Don Carlos (1867, for Paris) and Aida (1871, for the Cairo Opera House). His extraordinarily long career ended in glory with two unparalleled masterpieces based on Shakespeare - Otello (1887) and Falstaff (1893), both premiered at La Scala. Verdi's innate gifts for melody and for delineation of character, unsurpassed by any other opera composer except Mozart, were matched by his intelligence and determination to broaden his harmonic and orchestral range. He enjoyed enormous popularity throughout Europe and the Americas; when he became wealthy, he bought and managed a large estate at Sant'Agata, near Busseto. From 1847 he lived with the soprano Giuseppina Strepponi; they married in 1859 and remained together until her death in 1897. Verdi died in Milan on 27 January 1901. According to his express wishes, his funeral was small and private. But a month later he and Giuseppina were entombed at the rest home for aged musicians that he had donated to Milan. The solemn ceremony was on a grand scale, with mourners filling the city's streets, and the Scala Orchestra and Chorus, under Toscanini's direction, performing the famous chorus from Nabucco.

Harvey Sachs

Biographical notes (c) 1996, reprinted by permission of Deutsche Grammophon GmbH, Hamburg

A selection of major works:

Chamber: String Quartet. Vocal: Songs.

Choral: Inno delle Nazioni, Quattro pezzi sacri, Messa da Requiem, Pater noster.

Stage works:

Operas: Aida, Attila, Un ballo in maschera, Don Carlos, Ernani, Falstaff, La forza del destino, Macbeth, I Masnadieri, Nabucco, Otello, Rigoletto, Simon Boccanegra, La Traviata, Il Trovatore, I vespri siciliani (Les vpres siciliennes).