Biography of Giuseppe Verdi. history of one collection

Giuseppe Verdi
Years of life: 1813 - 1901

The work of Giuseppe Verdi - the culmination of development Italian music XIX century. His creative activity, associated primarily with the opera genre, spanned more than half a century: the first opera (“Oberto, Count Bonifacio”) was written by him at the age of 26, the penultimate (“Othello”) - at 74, the last (“Falstaff” ) - at 80 (!) years old. In total, taking into account six new editions of previously written works, he created 32 operas, which still make up the main repertory fund of theaters around the world.

Verdi's life path coincided with a turning point Italian history. It was heroic era of the Risorgimento- the era of the struggle of Italians for a free and indivisible Italy. Verdi was an active participant in this heroic struggle; he drew his inspiration from its drama. It is no coincidence that contemporaries so often called the composer "the musical Garibaldi", "the maestro of the Italian revolution".

Operas of the 40s

Already in the first operas by Verdi, created by him in the 40s, the national liberation ideas so relevant to the Italian public of the 19th century were embodied: "Nabucco", "Lombards", "Ernani", "Jeanne d'Arc", "Atilla" , "The Battle of Legnano", "Robbers", "Macbeth" (Verdi's first Shakespearean opera), etc. - all of them are based on heroic-patriotic stories, glorify freedom fighters, each of them contains a direct political allusion to the social situation in Italy, fighting against the Austrian oppression. The performances of these operas evoked an explosion of patriotic feelings in the Italian listener, poured into political demonstrations, that is, they became events of political significance. The melodies of opera choirs composed by Verdi acquired the significance of revolutionary songs and were sung throughout the country.

Operas of the 1940s are not without flaws:

intricacy of the libretto;
lack of bright, embossed solo characteristics;
the subordinate role of the orchestra;
inexpressiveness of recitatives.

However, the listeners willingly forgave these shortcomings for their sincerity, heroic-patriotic pathos and consonance with their own thoughts and feelings.

The last opera of the 40s - "Louise Miller" based on Schiller's drama "Cunning and Love" - opened new stage in the work of Verdi. The composer first turned to a new topic for himself - topic social inequality, which worried many artists of the second half of XIX century, representatives critical realism . In place of heroic stories comes personal drama, due to social reasons. Verdi shows how unfair social structure breaks human fates. At the same time, poor, disenfranchised people turn out to be much nobler, spiritually richer than representatives of the “high society”.

Operas of the 50s - 60s

The theme of social injustice, coming from Louise Miller, was developed in the famous opera triad of the early 50s -, "Troubadour", (both 1853). All three operas tell about the suffering and death of socially disadvantaged people, despised by "society": a court jester, a poor gypsy, a fallen woman. The creation of these works speaks of the increased skill of Verdi as a playwright. Compared with early operas The composer has taken a huge step forward here:

the psychological principle is enhanced, associated with the disclosure of bright, extraordinary human characters;
the contrasts reflecting vital contradictions become aggravated;
traditional operatic forms are interpreted in an innovative way (many arias, ensembles turn into freely organized scenes);
V vocal parts the role of declamation is increasing;
the role of the orchestra grows.

Later, in operas created in the second half of the 50s ( "Sicilian Vespers" - for the Paris Opera, "Simon Boccanegra", "Un ballo in maschera") and in the 60s "Force of Destiny" - by order of the St. Petersburg Mariinsky Theater And "Don Carlos" - for the Paris Opera), Verdi again returns to historical, revolutionary and patriotic themes. However, now the socio-political events are inextricably linked with the personal drama of the heroes, and the pathos of the struggle, bright mass scenes are combined with subtle psychologism. The best of these works is the opera Don Carlos, which exposes the terrible essence of the Catholic reaction. It is based on historical plot, borrowed from the drama of the same name by Schiller. The events unfold in Spain during the reign of the despotic King Philip II, betraying his own son into the hands of the Inquisition. By making the oppressed Flemish people one of the main characters of the work, Verdi showed heroic resistance to violence and tyranny. This tyrannical pathos of Don Carlos, consonant political events in Italy, largely prepared "Aida".

Late period of creativity (1870s - 1890s)

Created in 1871 by order of the Egyptian government, it opens late period in the work of Verdi. This period also includes such peak creations of the composer as musical drama "Othello" and comic opera "Falstaff" (both after Shakespeare to a libretto by Arrigo Boito). These three operas combined the best features of the composer's style:

deep psychological analysis human characters;
bright, exciting display of conflict clashes;
humanism, aimed at exposing evil and injustice;
spectacular entertainment, theatricality;
democratic intelligibility musical language based on the traditions of Italian folk song.

Those. quite late: Verdi, who grew up in the countryside, did not immediately find himself in an environment where his abilities could be fully revealed. His youth was spent in the small provincial town of Busetto; an attempt to enter the Milan Conservatory ended in failure (although the time spent in Milan was not in vain - Verdi privately studied with the conductor of the La Scala theater in Milan, Lavigna).

After the triumph of Aida, Verdi said that he considered his work as an opera composer finished and, indeed, he had not written operas for 16 years. This is largely due to the dominance of Wagnerianism in musical life Italy.

Giuseppe Verdi - ( full name Giuseppe Fortunato Francesco) - italian composer. Master opera genre who created high standards of psychological musical drama.

Operas: Rigoletto (1851), Il trovatore, La traviata (both 1853), Un ballo in maschera (1859), The Force of Destiny (for the Petersburg Theater, 1861), Don Carlos (1867), Aida (1870), Othello (1886), Falstaff (1892), Requiem (1874).

Giuseppe Verdi was born October 10, 1813, Le Roncole, near Busseto, Duchy of Parma. He died on January 27, 1901, in Milan. Libra.

In art, as in love, one must first of all be frank.

Verdi Giuseppe

Giuseppe's childhood

Giuseppe Verdi was born in the remote Italian village of Le Roncole in northern Lombardy into a peasant family. An extraordinary musical talent and a passionate desire to make music appeared in the child very early. Until the age of 10, Giuseppe studied at native village, then in the town of Busseto. An acquaintance with a merchant and music lover Barezzi helped to get a city scholarship to continue music education in Milan.

The shock of the thirties

However, Giuseppe Verdi was not accepted into the conservatory. He studied music privately with the teacher Lavigne, thanks to whom he attended La Scala performances for free. In 1836 he married his beloved Margherita Barezzi, the daughter of his patron, from whom he had a daughter and a son.

You can take the whole world for yourself, but leave Italy to me.

Verdi Giuseppe

A happy chance helped to get an order for the opera Lord Hamilton, or Rochester, which was successfully staged in 1838 at La Scala under the title Oberto, Count Bonifacio. In the same year, 3 vocal compositions by Verdi were published. But the first creative success coincided with a number of tragic events in personal life: in less than two years (1838-1840) his daughter, son and wife die. D. Verdi is left alone, and the comic opera The King for an Hour, or the Imaginary Stanislav, composed at that time by order, fails. Shocked by the tragedy, Verdi writes: "I ... decided never to compose again."

Way out of the crisis. First triumph

Giuseppe Verdi was brought out of a severe spiritual crisis by work on the opera Nebuchadnezzar ( Italian name"Nabucco").

The opera, staged in 1842, was a huge success, helped by excellent performers (one of the main roles was sung by Giuseppina Strepponi, who later became Verdi's wife). Success inspired the composer, each year brought new compositions. In the 1840s, he created 13 operas, including Hernani, Macbeth, Louise Miller (based on F. Schiller's drama "Deceit and Love"), etc. And if the opera Nabucco made Giuseppe Verdi popular in Italy, then already "Ernani" brought him European fame. Many of the compositions written then are still staged on the opera stages of the world today.

The works of the 1840s belong to the historical-heroic genre. They are distinguished by impressive mass scenes, heroic choirs, permeated with courageous marching rhythms. The characteristics of the characters are dominated by the expression of not so much temperament as emotions. Here Verdi creatively develops the achievements of his predecessors Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti. But in individual works ("Macbeth", "Louise Miller"), the features of the composer's own, unique style, an outstanding opera reformer, ripen.

In 1847, Giuseppe Verdi made his first trip abroad. In Paris, he becomes close to J. Strepponi. Her idea of living in the countryside, doing art in the bosom of nature, led, upon her return to Italy, to the purchase of a plot of land and the creation of the estate of Sant'Agata.

"Tristar". "Don Carlos"

In 1851, Rigoletto appeared (based on Victor Hugo's drama The King Amuses himself), and in 1853, Il trovatore and La Traviata (based on A. Dumas's play The Lady of the Camellias), which made up the composer's famous tri-stardom. In these works, Verdi departs from heroic themes and images, ordinary people become his heroes: a jester, a gypsy, a half-light woman. Giuseppe seeks not only to show feelings, but also to reveal the characters' characters. The melodic language is marked by organic links with the Italian folk song.

In operas of the 1850s and 60s. Giuseppe Verdi turns to the historical-heroic genre. During this period, the operas Sicilian Vespers (staged in Paris in 1854), Simon Boccanegra (1875), Un ballo in maschera (1859), The Force of Fate, which was commissioned by the Mariinsky Theater, were created; in connection with its production, Verdi visited Russia twice in 1861 and 1862. By order of the Paris Opera, Don Carlos (1867) was written.

New rise

In 1868 the Egyptian government approached the composer with a proposal to write an opera for the opening of a new theater in Cairo. D. Verdi refused. Negotiations continued for two years, and only the scenario of the Egyptologist Mariette Bey, based on the old Egyptian legend, changed the composer's decision. The opera "Aida" became one of his most perfect innovative creations. It is marked by the brilliance of dramatic mastery, melodic richness, mastery of the orchestra.

The death of the writer and patriot of Italy Alessandro Manzoni caused the creation of "Requiem" - a magnificent creation of the sixty-year-old maestro (1873-1874).

For eight years (1879-1887) the composer worked on the opera Othello. The premiere, held in February 1887, resulted in a national celebration. In the year of his eightieth birthday, Giuseppe Verdi creates another brilliant creation - "Falstaff" (1893, based on the play by W. Shakespeare's "The Merry Wives of Windsor"), in which he reformed Italian comic opera based on the principles of musical drama. "Falstaff" is distinguished by the novelty of dramaturgy, built on detailed scenes, melodic inventiveness, bold and refined harmonies.

IN last years Giuseppe Verdi's life wrote works for choir and orchestra, which in 1897 he combined into the cycle "Four Sacred Pieces". In January 1901, he was paralyzed and a week later, on January 27, he died. basis creative heritage Verdi composed 26 operas, many of which entered the world musical treasury.

Giuseppe Verdi also wrote two choirs, a string quartet, works of church and chamber vocal music. Since 1961, the vocal competition "Verdi Voices" has been held in Busseto.

Giuseppe Verdi - quotes

No need to hesitate, no need to give in when it comes to art.

In art, as in love, one must first of all be frank.

In music, as in love, you must first of all be sincere.

http://www.giuseppeverdi.it/

Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi(ital. Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi, October 10, Roncole, near the city of Busseto, Italy - January 27, Milan) - Italian composer, central figure Italian opera school. His best operas ( Rigoletto, La Traviata, Aida), known for their richness of melodic expression, are often performed in opera houses around the world. In the past, often disparagingly referred to by critics (for "indulging the tastes of ordinary people”, “simplified polyphony” and “shameless melodramatization”), Verdi’s masterpieces are the basis of the usual operatic repertoire a century and a half after they were written.

Early period

This was followed by several more operas, among them - the Sicilian Supper, which is constantly performed today ( Les vêpres siciliennes; written to order Paris Opera), "Troubadour" ( Il Trovatore), "Masquerade Ball" ( Un ballo in maschera), "Force of Destiny" ( La forza del destino; written by order of the Imperial Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg), the second edition of "Macbeth" ( Macbeth).

Operas by Giuseppe Verdi

Oberto, Count di San Bonifacio (Oberto, Conte di San Bonifacio) - 1839
King for an hour (Un Giorno di Regno) - 1840
Nabucco or Nebuchadnezzar (Nabucco) - 1842
Lombards in the first crusade(I Lombardi) - 1843
Ernani- 1844. By play of the same name Victor Hugo
Two Foscari (I due Foscari)- 1844. Based on the play by Lord Byron
Joan of Arc (Giovanna d'Arco)- 1845. Based on the play "The Maid of Orleans" by Schiller
Alzira (Alzira)- 1845. Based on the play of the same name by Voltaire
Attila- 1846. Based on the play "Atilla, Leader of the Huns" by Zacharius Werner
Macbeth- 1847. Based on the play of the same name by Shakespeare
Robbers (I masnadieri)- 1847. Based on the play of the same name by Schiller
Jerusalem (Jerusalem)- 1847 (Version Lombards)
Corsair (Il corsaro)- 1848. By poem of the same name Lord Byron
Battle of Legnano- 1849. Based on the play "The Battle of Toulouse" by Joseph Meri
Louise Miller- 1849. Based on the play "Cunning and Love" by Schiller
Stiffelio (Stiffelio)- 1850. Based on the play "The Holy Father, or the Gospel and the Heart", by Emile Souvestre and Eugène Bourgeois.
Rigoletto- 1851. Based on the play "The King Amuses" by Victor Hugo
Troubadour (Il Trovatore)- 1853. Based on the play of the same name by Antonio Garcia Gutiérrez
La Traviata- 1853. Based on the play "The Lady of the Camellias" by A. Dumas son
Sicilian Vespers (Les vêpres siciliennes)- 1855. Based on the play "The Duke of Alba" by Eugene Scribe and Charles Deverier
Giovanna de Guzman(Version of the Sicilian Vespers).
Simon Boccanegra- 1857. Based on the play of the same name by Antonio Garcia Gutierrez.
Aroldo (Aroldo)- 1857 (Version "Stiffelio")
Masquerade ball (Un ballo in maschera) - 1859.
The Force of Destiny- 1862. Based on the play "Don Alvaro, or the Force of Destiny" by Angel de Saavedra, Duke of Rivas, adapted for the stage by Schiller under the title "Wallenstein". The premiere took place at the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg
Don Carlos- 1867. Based on the play of the same name by Schiller
Aida- 1871. The premiere took place in Opera House Khedive in Cairo, Egypt
Othello- 1887. Based on the play of the same name by Shakespeare
Falstaff- 1893. Based on "The Merry Wives of Windsor" by Shakespeare

Music fragments

Attention! Music fragments in Ogg Vorbis format

“The heart of a beauty is prone to treason”, from the opera “Rigoletto”(info)

Notes

Links

Giuseppe Verdi: Sheet Music at the International Music Score Library Project

operas Giuseppe Verdi

Oberto (1839) King for an hour (1840) Nabucco (1842) Lombards in the first crusade (1843) Hernani (1844) Two Foscari (1844)

Joan of Arc (1845) Alzira (1845) Atilla (1846) Macbeth (1847) Robbers (1847) Jerusalem (1847) Corsair (1848) Battle of Legnano (1849)

Louise Miller (1849) Stifellio (1850) Rigoletto (1851) Troubadour (1853) La Traviata (1853) Sicilian Vespers (1855) Giovanna de Guzman (1855)

One of the colors of the flag of the Italian Republic - green, verde, verdi ... Amazing providence chose a man with consonant name, Giuseppe Verdi, to become a symbol of the unification of Italy and a composer, without whom the opera would never have been the way we know it.

short biography

Giuseppe Verdi was born on October 10, 1813 into a poor family of an innkeeper and a spinner who lived in the village of Roncole near the town of Busetto (now it is the Emilia-Romagna region). From the age of five, the boy begins to learn musical notation and playing the organ at the local church. Already in 1823 young talent notes a wealthy businessman, and at the same time a member of the Philharmonic Society of Busetto, Antonio Barezzi, who will support the composer until his death. Thanks to his help, Giuseppe moved to Busetto to study at the gymnasium, and two years later he began taking lessons in counterpoint. Fifteen-year-old Verdi is already the author of a symphony. After graduating from the gymnasium in 1830, the young man settled in the house of his benefactor, where he gives voice and piano lessons to Margherita, daughter of Barezzi. In 1836, the girl becomes his wife.

An attempt to enter the Milan Conservatory was unsuccessful. But Giuseppe cannot return to Busetto with his head bowed. After staying in Milan, he takes private lessons from one of the best teachers and head of the La Scala Orchestra, Vincenzo Lavigna. Thanks to a fortunate combination of circumstances, he receives an order from La Scala for his first opera. In subsequent years, the composer's children are born. However, happiness is deceptive. Not having lived even a year and a half, my daughter dies. Verdi moves to Milan with his family. This city was destined to witness both the grand glory of the maestro and his most bitter losses. Dies suddenly in 1839 little son, and less than a year later, Margherita also died. So, by the age of twenty-six, Verdi had lost his entire family.

For almost two years, Verdi barely made ends meet and wanted to quit music. But again, chance intervened, thanks to which Nabucco was born, after the premiere of which in 1842 it came to a resounding success and all-European recognition. The 40-50 years were the most productive in terms of creativity: Verdi wrote 20 of his 26 operas. Since 1847, Giuseppina Strepponi, the singer who performed the part of Abigail at the premiere of Nabucco, became the actual wife of the composer. Verdi affectionately called her Peppina, but he married her only 12 years later. Giuseppina had a past that was questionable from the point of view of morality of that era and three children from different men. The couple had no joint children, and in 1867 they adopted a little niece. Since 1851, Verdi has been living in Sant'Agata, his own estate near Busetto, agriculture and horse breeding. The composer actively participated in political life of his country: in 1860 he became a deputy of the first Italian parliament, and in 1874 - a senator in Rome. In 1899, a boarding house for elderly musicians, built at his expense, was opened in Milan. Verdi, who died in Milan on January 27, 1901, was buried in the crypt of this institution. He outlived his Peppina by as much as 13 years ... His funeral grew into a large procession to see the composer off last way more than 200,000 people came.

Interesting Facts

The main operatic opponent of G. Verdi - Richard Wagner - was born with him in the same year, but died 18 years earlier. It is noteworthy that over the years Verdi wrote only two operas - “ Othello" And " falstaff". The composers have never met, but there are many intersections in their destinies. One of them is Venice. There were premieres in this city Traviata" And " Rigoletto", and Wagner died at the Palazzo Vendramin Calergi. F. Werfel's book “Verdi. Opera novel.

The native village of the composer is now officially called Roncole Verdi, the Milan Conservatory is also named after him, in which the musician could not enter.
The composer's fifth opera, Ernani, brought Verdi a record fee for him, which allowed him to think about buying his own estate.
Britain's Queen Victoria, after attending the premiere of "Robbers", wrote in her diary that the music was "noisy and banal".
The maestro rightly called Rigoletto an opera of duets, almost completely devoid of arias and traditional choral finales.
It is believed that not every opera house can afford to stage " Troubadour" or " Masquerade ball”, since both require four magnificent voices at once - soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor and baritone.
Statistics show that Verdi is the most performed opera composer, and "La Traviata" - the most opera performed on the planet.
"Viva VERDI" is both a tribute to the composer and an acronym for the supporters of Italian unification, where VERDI meant: Vittorio Emanuele Re D'Italia (Victor Emmanuel - King of Italy).
There are two " Don Carlos- French and Italian. They differ not only in the language of the libretto, in fact they are two different versions operas. So what is considered to be the "genuine" "Don Carlos"? It is impossible to answer this question unequivocally, since there are even differences between the version presented at the Paris premiere and the one performed at the second performance two days later. There are not one, but at least three Italian versions: the first, created for a production in Naples in 1872, a four-act version of 1884 for La Scala, a five-act version without a ballet in 1886 for a performance in Modena. The most famous, performed and published on discs today are the classic French version and the "Milanese" Italian version.
Since 1913, the annual opera festival "Arena di Verona" has been held in the ancient Roman amphitheater of Verona. The first performance was " Aida” in honor of the centenary of Verdi. In 2013, "Aida" was also the center of the anniversary festival program.

Verdi's music in cinema

The list of films where Verdi's music sounds is endless, there are more than a thousand of them, the newest and most popular:

La La Land (2016)
007: SPECTRE (2015)
I am the beginning (2014)
Django Unchained (2012)
Madagascar 3 (2012)
Twilight (2008)

Let's focus on a few interesting adaptations operas by Verdi:

Sophia Loren played Aida in film of the same name 1953, Renata Tebaldi sang for her.
In 1982, Franco Zeffirelli's amazing picture "La Traviata" with Teresa Stratas and Placido Domingo came out - beautiful, stylish, with incredibly reliable characters, devoid of operatic pretentiousness.
The creative union of Domingo and Zeffirelli found a continuation in the work four years later on the film adaptation of Othello.
Curious is the transformation of Domingo in the baritone part of Rigoletto in the 2010 film Rigoletto in Mantua, filmed in historical interiors.

Biographical films about the life of the great Italian, on the contrary, are not so many. The most famous of these is the 1982 Italian miniseries Verdi, starring British actor Ronald Pickup and Giuseppina Strepponi as the title character. famous ballerina Carla Fracci. This painting gives a broad view of Verdi's personality and historical events of that time, inextricably linked not only with the life of the composer, but also with the fate of all of Europe. Renato Castellani created a three-dimensional film portrait of Verdi, the film contains the true words of the maestro from his letters and memoirs of his contemporaries. Ronald Pickup accurately conveyed the explosive, often overcast, but simple and sincere nature of the frenetic genius.

Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi(ital. Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi, October 10, Roncole, near the city of Busseto, Italy - January 27, Milan) - Italian composer, the central figure of the Italian opera school. His best operas ( Rigoletto, La Traviata, Aida), known for their richness of melodic expression, are often performed in opera houses around the world. In the past, often disparaged by critics (for "pleasing the tastes of the common people", "simplified polyphony" and "shameless melodramatization"), Verdi's masterpieces are the mainstay of the usual operatic repertoire a century and a half after they were written.

Early period

This was followed by several more operas, among them - the Sicilian Supper, which is constantly performed today ( Les vêpres siciliennes; commissioned by the Paris Opera), Il trovatore ( Il Trovatore), "Masquerade Ball" ( Un ballo in maschera), "Force of Destiny" ( La forza del destino; written by order of the Imperial Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg), the second edition of "Macbeth" ( Macbeth).

Operas by Giuseppe Verdi

Oberto, Count di San Bonifacio (Oberto, Conte di San Bonifacio) - 1839
King for an hour (Un Giorno di Regno) - 1840
Nabucco or Nebuchadnezzar (Nabucco) - 1842
Lombards in the First Crusade (I Lombardi") - 1843
Ernani- 1844. Based on the play of the same name by Victor Hugo
Two Foscari (I due Foscari)- 1844. Based on the play by Lord Byron
Joan of Arc (Giovanna d'Arco)- 1845. Based on the play "The Maid of Orleans" by Schiller
Alzira (Alzira)- 1845. Based on the play of the same name by Voltaire
Attila- 1846. Based on the play "Atilla, Leader of the Huns" by Zacharius Werner
Macbeth- 1847. Based on the play of the same name by Shakespeare
Robbers (I masnadieri)- 1847. Based on the play of the same name by Schiller
Jerusalem (Jerusalem)- 1847 (Version Lombards)
Corsair (Il corsaro)- 1848. Based on the poem of the same name by Lord Byron
Battle of Legnano- 1849. Based on the play "The Battle of Toulouse" by Joseph Meri
Louise Miller- 1849. Based on the play "Cunning and Love" by Schiller
Stiffelio (Stiffelio)- 1850. Based on the play "The Holy Father, or the Gospel and the Heart", by Emile Souvestre and Eugène Bourgeois.
Rigoletto- 1851. Based on the play "The King Amuses" by Victor Hugo
Troubadour (Il Trovatore)- 1853. Based on the play of the same name by Antonio Garcia Gutiérrez
La Traviata- 1853. Based on the play "The Lady of the Camellias" by A. Dumas son
Sicilian Vespers (Les vêpres siciliennes)- 1855. Based on the play "The Duke of Alba" by Eugene Scribe and Charles Deverier
Giovanna de Guzman(Version of the Sicilian Vespers).
Simon Boccanegra- 1857. Based on the play of the same name by Antonio Garcia Gutierrez.
Aroldo (Aroldo)- 1857 (Version "Stiffelio")
Masquerade ball (Un ballo in maschera) - 1859.
The Force of Destiny- 1862. Based on the play "Don Alvaro, or the Force of Destiny" by Angel de Saavedra, Duke of Rivas, adapted for the stage by Schiller under the title "Wallenstein". The premiere took place at the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg
Don Carlos- 1867. Based on the play of the same name by Schiller
Aida- 1871. Premiered at the Khedive Opera House in Cairo, Egypt
Othello- 1887. Based on the play of the same name by Shakespeare
Falstaff- 1893. Based on "The Merry Wives of Windsor" by Shakespeare

Music fragments

Attention! Music snippets in Ogg Vorbis format

“The heart of a beauty is prone to treason”, from the opera “Rigoletto”(info)