The Life of Verdi [Hardcover]

Relates the life of a boldly innovative composer whose operas still fill theatres today.Verdi's long life spanned Napoleonic rule and the age of broadcasting. In this new biography, John Rosselli considers a boldly innovative artist whose twenty-eight operas still speak to us. He investigates Verdi's businesslike running of a landed estate as well as a highly successful career, and looks into his complex relationships with two women singers: his second wife Giuseppina Strepponi and his probable lover Teresa Stolz. At the same time he reinterprets the operas with novel insights showing us why Verdi still fills theatres and rouses enthusiasm.Verdi's long life spanned Napoleonic rule and the age of broadcasting. In this new biography, John Rosselli considers a boldly innovative artist whose twenty-eight operas still speak to us. He investigates Verdi's businesslike running of a landed estate as well as a highly successful career, and looks into his complex relationships with two women singers: his second wife Giuseppina Strepponi and his probable lover Teresa Stolz. At the same time he reinterprets the operas with novel insights showing us why Verdi still fills theatres and rouses enthusiasm.Verdi's long life spanned Napoleonic rule and the age of broadcasting. In this new biography, John Rosselli considers a boldly innovative artist whose twenty-eight operas still speak to us. He investigates Verdi's businesslike running of a landed estate as well as a highly successful career, and looks into his complex relationships with two women singers: his second wife Giuseppina Strepponi and his probable lover Teresa Stolz. At the same time Roselli reinterprets the operas with novel insights showing us why Verdi still fills theaters and rouses enthusiasm.Introduction: truth and theatre; 1. The innkeeper's son, 18131842: Oberto to Nabucco; 2. The galley slave, 18421847: Nabucco to Macbeth; 3. Turning-points, 184749: I masnadieri to La battaglia di Legnano; 4. The people's coml³5