Giuseppe Verdi

Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (October 10, 1813 – January 27, 1901) is to date the most influential composer of the Italian School of Opera. His greatest works (i.e. Rigoletto, La Traviata, Aida), known for their abundance of expressive melody, are frequently performed in opera houses throughout the world and, transcending the boundaries of the genre, some of his themes have long since taken root in popular culture (La donna è mobile, from Rigoletto). Oftentimes scoffed at by the critics, in his lifetime and today, as catering to the tastes of the common folk, overly simple in chromatic texture and shamelessly melodramatic, Verdi?s masterpieces dominate the standard repertoire a century and a half after their composition.

Verdi's role in the Risorgimento

In the 1840s, the popularity of Verdi's music coincided with the Risorgimento, the campaign for a unified Italian nation. The wild success of Nabucco in particular put Verdi's name and music in the minds of many Italians at the time. They perceived in Verdi's works a sadness that reflected their own unhappiness with the status quo, and a vibrant strain conjuring romantic visions of Italian unification. Verdi's songs were especially resonant in Milan, then under Austrian occupation.

Related Topics:
Risorgimento - Nabucco

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In particular, Nabuccos "Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves", the tender lament of captives in Babylonia, was an immense success, and reportedly could be heard sung in the streets of Milan in 1843. Also known as Va' Pensiero from its first line, the song has been proposed from time to time as the Italian national anthem. It begins:

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Fly, thought, on wings of gold;

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go settle upon the slopes and the hills

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where the sweet airs of our

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native soil smell soft and mild!

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...Oh, my country, so lovely and lost!

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Oh remembrance so dear yet unhappy!

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Va, pensiero, sull'ali dorate;

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va, ti posa sui clivi, sui colli

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ove olezzano tepide e molli

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l'aure dolci del suolo natal!

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...Oh, mia patria sì bella e perduta!

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Oh, membranza sì cara e fatal!

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Full lyrics can be found here: http://www.r-ds.com/opera/verdiana/lyrics.htm#Va,%20pensiero and a recording (MP3 format) here: http://www.r-ds.com/domingo/Soundfiles/vapensiero.mp3.

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Milan was still under Austrian occupation and was beginning to consider supporting Victor Emmanuel's effort in Italian reunification, as it afterwards did. Clandestine partisans started therefore plotting to have the then-King of Sardinia conquer Milan. Due to severe Austrian censorship, this campaign was given a codename: "Viva VERDI." Verdi was a secret acronym for Vittorio Emanuele Re D'Italia (Victor Emmanuel, King of Italy). This enabled nationalists to freely shout their support for Victor Emmanuel, while outsiders assumed they were fans of the composer. Giuseppe Verdi was aware of this use of his name and is supposed to have consented.

Related Topics:
Milan - Victor Emmanuel - Sardinia

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Other references to political events have been seen in Verdi's I Lombardi.

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