Daily Mail - Daily Mail Weekend Magazine
Mu sic’s first mega star
Verdi’s smash- hit operas, packed with patriotic zeal, made him a legend in his own lifetime
We join Maestro Verdi, aged 23, recently married to Margherita ‘Ghita’ Barezzi, a former pupil and daughter of a wine merchant, while he is working as musical director of the town of Busseto in northern Italy.
26 MARCH 1837 A daughter! I have a daughter, a beautiful daughter – Virginia. My wife Ghita is well.
11 JULY 1838 Ghita gave birth to a boy today, whom we shall call Icilio Romano, named, like his sister, after a Roman Republican martyr. What a wonderful thing it is to have a family. But I must finish Oberto, my first opera, and see it staged in
Milan. I have spent four years toiling away at this. I am determined to make a name for myself and I need success in a big city for that to happen.
12 AUGUST 1838 The blackest day. Virginia has not survived. She was just 16 months old. We must leave Busseto for Milan. I cannot stay in this town a day longer, if I have no daughter by my side.
22 OCTOBER 1839 God has snatched Icilio from us too. Cruel, cruel fate.
18 NOVEMBER 1839 The premiere of Oberto was staged in La Scala opera house, Milan, last night. It seems to have gone down well. And about time too: Ghita has had to pawn her jewellery to pay for the rent here.
Bartolomeo Merelli, who runs La Scala, is pleased enough to commission three further operas. I can feel success coming, if I keep plugging away.
18 JUNE 1840 On the feast of Corpus Christi, my wife has died of a disease that seems a mystery to the doctors. I am now completely alone. Life is a cruel tragedy and it is too painful to have to write jaunty tunes for my comic opera Un Giorno di Regno.
10 MARCH 1842 Last night was a wonderful premiere at La Scala of Nabucco, my third opera, based on the biblical story of the exile of the Jews from their homeland. Giuseppina Strepponi [ Peppina], the prima donna, was in good voice.
30 OCTOBER 1842 We have now had 50 performances of Nabucco at La Scala and it is to be staged in Lisbon, Vienna and possibly London. I think I may have a hit on my hands.
5 JANUARY 1843 I have discovered that my portrait is for sale in shops in Milan. It is proof, I suppose, that the people like my music.
11 OCTOBER 1843 Francesco Piave, the stage manager at Venice’s La Fenice Theatre, has sent me a libretto [lyrics] about Oliver Cromwell, which he hopes
may tickle my fancy. It does not. But Piave shares with me a belief that the historical can be modern. This is what inspires me – old stories that speak to our modern, turbulent age.
7 JANUARY 1844 Have made good progress on my opera Ernani, based on a play by Victor Hugo, though Piave is nervous about the blasted censors in Venice. In the first scene of Ernani, the king hides in a cupboard. According to Piave, the censors will think it is unbecoming for a king to do this. What rot.
10 MARCH 1844 The opera went down quite well last night in La Fenice: 17 curtain calls. The only problem is Peppina, who, despite looking lovelier than ever, is struggling with her throat.
17 JULY 1844 I am like a slave in a galley ship, always working. But if I keep at it hard enough I might be able to retire in a few years. I dream of buying a palazzo back in Le Roncole where I grew up. What is the point of all this toil if I cannot enjoy the fruits of it?
5 MAY 1845 I am in Naples for rehearsals of Alzira, my opera set in the Americas, and it is impossible to have a cof- fee in a café without members of the public staring at me. It is most irksome. Worse, if I should choose to have a stroll through the streets with Peppina, the filthy looks we get are insufferable. She is no more than a supporter and unofficial secretary to me. But even if she were my lover – so what? It’s none of their business.
25 JUNE 1847 I am in London to help launch I Masnadieri, my opera which has been commissioned for Her Majesty’s Theatre. Queen Victoria has asked to see me, but I have ducked out of an audience with her to see Jenny Lind, the ‘Swedish Nightingale’, perform. I want to ensure the part she is due to sing in my opera is right for her.
26 JULY 1847 I was honoured to meet my fellow countryman, the politician Giuseppe Mazzini, who is in exile here in London. He dreams of Italian unification and wants to kick out the Austrian Empire, which ‘imprisons’ most of northern Italy. He wants me to write a patriotic hymn to stir the people. The people, whether I like it or not, believe my music is their battle cry. They think most of my operas have a revolutionary meaning, but I write mostly to take opera to another level. I share Mazzini’s dream of a free, united Italy. I’m just not sure it’s going to happen soon or that my music will usher it in.
18 SEPTEMBER 1847 Paris. Peppina is now much more than my secretary. It is liberating to be in this city where few know my face. Here we can behave as man and wife and no one asks us questions, unlike in stuffy old Milan.
20 MARCH 1848 News reaches me in Paris that the revolutionaries have thrown the Austrians out of Milan. Italy could yet become a free country! I am drunk with joy and making plans to rush back to Milan to witness this wonder. I was also finally able to buy a delightful villa in Sant’Agata, near Le Roncole.
5 MARCH 1849 Dreams of Italian unification are over. The Kingdom of Sardinia has been defeated by the Austrian Empire and though I may be in Paris, my Italian heart bleeds a little. But if Italy cannot be free, at least I can provide her people with great operas. And Rigoletto may be my best yet.
FEBRUARY 1851 The idiotic, meddlesome censors have claimed the first draft of Rigoletto was ‘a repugnant example of immorality’ because I dared show a womanising king. Fine, we’ll make him a duke.