Giuseppe Verdi

Giuseppe Verdi showed musical promise at the age of seven when he played organ for a local church. Around this time he was given an old piano, which he quickly learned to play with proficiency. He moved to Busseto in 1823 and began study the following year with Ferdinando Provesi. By age 15 he had become an assistant church organist and had already started composing. Beginning in 1832, he studied privately with Vincenzo Lavigna in Milan.

He returned to Busseto and married Margherita Barezzi in 1836. Having achieved publication of some songs, he moved to Milan in 1839 and composed his first opera, Oberto. It was a success, and he started his next opera, Un giorno di regno, soon after. Verdi's two children and wife died from illness during this process, leaving him quite shaken. Stunned and depressed, the composer struggled on to rebound with Nabucco and I lombardi. Macbeth, Luisa Miller, and other operas came in the 1840s, most with great success.

Around 1847, Verdi developed a relationship with soprano Giuseppina Strepponi and the two lived together for many years on Verdi's farm, Sant'Agata, before finally marrying in 1859. In the period 1851-1853, the composer wrote three of his most popular operas. Rigoletto and Il trovatore were instant successes, but La traviata was a disappointment at its premiere, though a year later, with minor revisions, it was warmly received. After an extended excursion to Paris in 1853, Verdi returned to Busseto and turned out Simon Boccanegra and Un ballo in maschera, both embroiling him in politics, an activity he was already immersed in, since he served in the local parliament and later in national parliament as senator.

In his later years, Verdi worked to found a hospital and, in Milan, a home for retired musicians. In 1897, his second wife died and the composer thereafter lived at the Grand Hotel in Milan. A year later, his Quatro pezzi sacri premiered in Paris. This would be the composer's last work. On January 21, 1901, Giuseppe Verdi suffered a stroke and died six days later.