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Born October 10, 1813. Died January 27, 1901. Born at Le Roncole, near Busseto, Italy. His parents kept the village inn and shop. The child was so delighted by a passing fiddler that hs father sbought him an old piano. At ten he was appointed village organist, and his duties beginning before dawn, he was nearly drowned in a canal, because of a misstep in the dark. Next he was made organist in a cathedral. Atfifteen he wrote a symphony. Afterward he went to Milan to study and in 1836 to live. In 1839 his first opera was brought out. In 1840 he lost his wife and children, and was so overcome by grief, that he gave up music. He began composing again after a time, and gained a world-wide reputation. He wrote many operas, but his greatest works after he was 70 years old. He is one of the greatest of operatic composers. His early operas, "II Trovatore' and "La Traviata" are in the old Italian style, but others "Aida," "Otelo," and "Falstaff" in the modern style. He also wrote a great "Requiem" mass. He is one of the greatest composers to Shakespeare's dramas. |
