, 1874-08-23
GIUSEPPE VERDI.
The Celebrated Opera-Conlposel

The Celebrated Orera-Conlposer"
From the illustrate! i2eristr-
There ls no country III the present day more
prolific OF operate composers than Italy, and yet
very few Of Ilem ever attain to I hearing beYond
the little theatre Of tucir native town. III
their case the prophet has no honor out
OF his own country. The uames OF Ponchie!l. OF
pe.fellA, and Ut tiohltti, are known perhaps to
q few stray travellers or musical amateurs, tut
have scarcely penetrated beyoud tho confines OF
the peninsula. Even Verdi. by far the most
celebrated OF modern Italian composers, and III
many RESPECTS the greatest composer whom
lLaly has produced, has gained u favorable hear
ing lor very few works. aud is perhaps best
known by those by which ho would the least
care to be remembered, aud ha5 been almost Us
perslsteutty decried as Wagner himself. Aid
yet Lis career has shown remarkable amount Of
talent aud perseverance, inferior to that OF no
other musician.
Giuseppe Verdi was born on the 9th OF October,
1914, 1t Busseto I. little village Ut the Duchy Of
Parma. HIS parents were i'll hunlbis rank Ut
lie and unable TO provide him with aLy better
musical instruction than that Afforded nun Dy
proyesi the organist of the village church. Hap
ply, however, among the inhabltants OF Busseio
Was one mole discerning aud at tile 6a1ne umo
in better circumstances than those around him.
SiGnor Antonio Barczzi, namo which deserves
well to be handed down to poster1ty among tbs
feW real patrons Of urt was abe to SEQ II! tae
crude efforts OF young Verdi traces OF the tai
eut he waa afterwards to display. aud Eener-
ous1y offered to defray the expenses Of his
education at tie Consersatoire of MlaD. Feril
accepted the otler aud Proceeded to Allan III the
summer Of 1885, but WAS me. at the very outset
with repulee. francesca BasilI, at that time
Director OF tho Conseryatoire, repelled as 1t VAS
said by tho cold and uusyml'a:heilc iooks OF The
applicant, hatly refused to admit him to any Of
his classes. Verdi was however hot discouraged.
He placed himself under tue tuition Of La'1gna,
the maestro al ceM10le, or pianlst at the grand
tieat1e Of La Scala, = musician who d1d !lttlo
more than look over aid correct the colnpostions
OF his pupils. For three years Verdi worked
hero under the direction Of Lavigna writing
pieces Of various styles, amoug them being
| - S.abat Ma1er." but to tue want Of more
thorough instruction aud more careful guloanco
may be traced many OF those inequalities OF
manner a.1 cI'uda Writing WHICH SO HlaIIJ cIlttce
tame i'll his operas.
| His first debut IL composer took place on the
171h OF November, lSa9, when his Io1uantc op-
era, Oberto, Conte I'll San BonIfuzio,' was pro-
| duced ut La Scala. The influence Of Belllni- es-
| peciully of his ~ Norma, WAS noticeable IN the
! work. which showed, moreover, sigus Of that
| dramatic spirit which runs through all Verdi i
| operas, and .'Oberto was received with much
| fayor. His second attempt was less fortunate.
.'Uu gioruo di reguo, brought OUT at La Scala
| in the December Of tho next year, vas per
| formed only once. Verdi, however, aud bus
| librcttlst, Felice Romanl, temodcled the
| work. and under the title of IS Ii into Stan
iBlao.s' 1t brought out at Milan again IN tue
| and geulality. Uumor. except in veET few IN
stances, 6uch as the convent ecene IN the
last act OF + La Forza del Destino," is not
characteristic Of Verdi, and opera-boufle not III
| his line. Tie opera Is curious, however, az
showing the germs OF many Of lis celebrated
| orchestral effects. But his failure Was amply
| redeemed in tie March of 1913, when - Natuc-
CO.. WAS brought out and enthusiastically re-
| ceived- Tie pa11 of the King etl4 remains 8
| fayorite with dramatic bati1ones, and Ronconi
fo11n1 ODI1OTtuulsleH Tor acting
! in it. The music il. however, noislly written:
full OF earpiefcing passages for the brass lnstru-
mcuts aud, except melodious chorus VI
| captiyes, is now but little heard. The work Was
! produced in Paris in lSi5, and IN London III
| 1876, the name on the Inst occasion being
| chauged to >. Aino," in order to avoid shocking
! religious euscept1bilities- 1t has never proved
very attractive here, owing in great degree to
the sIlghsness OF the tenor part a1ld On tue oc~
caslou OF its revival for sgnor Corsl's debut In
] 1857 WAS received with complete Indifference
During the next two years Verdi produced
two comparatively successful WorSs- - tom-
bsrdi, - brought out 1t Milan on the 3d OF
February, 1913 found its way to London in
1876. aud, greatly expanded, was introduced to
Partisan audience at the Grand Opera under she
title Of ..Jorusaeul, - on the 2Gth OF November,
15is III England the spirited aud dramatic srlo,
EQUAL volutta. is still heard IN the coacers-
room. aud tne tenor air. L. mia letiZia, has
long been ground on the barrel-orsan but
otherwise the music failed to please he1e. though.
both in France and Italy the work hus proved
successful 'Eruani. y founded on victor Hugo .
well-known drama, was produced at Venice IN
March. 1874, with immense success. Tho
| poet objected TO the title, and to
GRITTY his scruDles the name was changed
to I'll Proscritto," aud tile ecene
transferred from Spain to Italy. Victor Hugo y
wrath was very short-llved. and = Ernani soon
resumed lts rigLtfui name It was the nT5t
| oper. By Verdi which was played In England, out
neither on the occasion oi Its first production at
Her Maiessy's in 1916, or on those OF its subse-
| ouept reyiyals, has it ever obtalned more than
very limited amount OF popular tavor IL ths
For seven years Verdi had next to encounter a
series Of reverses and habitual ill-succes5. winch
| would hare broken down the spirit OF most men,
Out Of niue operas, one ouly gained any favor at
| the time OF production, and most OF them lalled
utterly, or have been revived occasionally only
| to e.1atify the caprices of Individual artists
| due Foscari." gwen at the Theatre Argentina
| OF Rome, in November, 1874. partly o"ln@ to q
bad aud repulsve tbretto, faiIed utterly, and ~as
| scarcely more successful in England. "Giovan-
ue 'Arco," produced at Milan in February, 1845.
il which the librettist makes the Maid Of Orleans
the mistress of the Dauphin, sas colby received.
/ and even the efforts of Madame Patti, owing to
| whose desire to appear in armor the work was
I produced at the Theatre Italien Of Paris in
| 1865. on grand scale, failed to make it sue.
| cess The music though unequal, Was admitted
| to contain many beauties, but the bad taste
| of the lbretto Was utterly repulrlTe to the
French. s.Alzira." brought out at Naples III
| 1915, is known only By name. '.Attlla," pro-
duced originally at Venice IN March. 1916, and In
London at Her Majesty's on March Il. 1876, was
dreary failure, ''Macbeth," unarpreclated Ut
Florence IN March. ls47, has lately been revived
| successfully Ut Milan. and is not unfrequently
given by vi; Mspesons troupe in the p1oxiness, =,
| ..Ile Robbers" OF Schiller, was brought out IN
London By Nr Lumley on 5al 2 1Sa aEst},;o! hasing
for an opera on the subject Of King Lear; y
which he WAS commissioned to write Athough
Jenny Lind sang the music OF the leading par:,
II Masnaaiera,H the only part she ever created
fell hat and Jared but little better when given
not long ago at Paris.
| 4 slight gIeam OF light in the success of tJe-
r11sAlem"" at Paris. in 1873, che@red Verdi, btlt
the clouds soon sottled down aSaln. II Cor.
! saro," played at Trieste in the October OF
the same year, and the Baitag!ia di Legnano,
produced at Rome IN January. 1849, enjoyed
each but one brief and stormy night OF existence
''Luisa Miller" the book taken from scllller,a
'sKntale und Liebe, by the best Of Verdi lbret-
lists. Cammarano. was well received gu It's tirst
production at Naples, in December, 1349, and has
| r n11 porfs h1tt