The Life of Verdi (Musical Lives)
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: August 28, 2000
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 216
ISBN-13: 9780521660112
Subjects: Biography: film, television & music; Composers & musicians; Genres & Styles - Classical; Composers; Music; Biography / Autobiography; Verdi, Giuseppe,; General; History & Criticism - General; Composers & Musicians - Classical Composers; Music / Opera; Verdi, Giuseppe,--1813-1901; 1813-1901; Biography; Italy
First sentence: According to a dubious story Verdi liked to tell, his mother, her five-month-old son clutched to her breast, hid in the village church tower from Russian troops which in the last months of the Napoleonic wars swept across northern Italy.
Description: "Verdi's long life spanned Napoleonic rule and the age of broadcasting. He was the last great composer to give direct voice to basic human emotions, yet he was not always as straightforward as the directness of his work suggests: he was neither the uneducated peasant he claimed to be nor the conservative nationalist he seemed to become in his later years. In this new biography, John Rosselli traces the life and work of a boldly innovative artist.

He investigates Verdi's businesslike running of a landed estate as well as a highly successful career, and looks into his complex relationships - still not quite clear - with two women singers: his second wife Giuseppina Strepponi and his probable lover Teresa Stolz. At the same time he considers the music with clarity and insight, dwelling on the most important operas and showing us why they still fill theatres and rouse enthusiasm today."--BOOK JACKET.