VERDI

A compact, sumptuously illustrated, insightful biography of the Italian composer.

As with his three other exemplary introductory biographies of famous composers, British broadcaster Suchet’s (Mozart: The Man Revealed, 2017, etc.) goal is always to reveal the composers for readers who may not be familiar with them—warts, genius, and all. He admits to a bit of a challenge recounting the life of curmudgeonly Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) because he was “enormously protective” of his privacy, but the author still does a masterful job capturing the life and times as well as explaining the maestro’s significant contributions to music history. There was no music in young Verdi’s family, but when he began to exhibit musical talent, his parents scraped enough money together to buy him a small keyboard when he was 8. At 10, they sent the “rather withdrawn, isolated boy” away to be educated. He gave his first public performance at 13, and at 18, thanks to a benefactor, he tried to enter the Milan Conservatory but was rejected. He married and continued to compose with little success, but his 1842 opera, Nabucco, “changed his life.” As Suchet writes, here was original “music on an altogether different level.” At this point, a “new Verdi” pursued his career with confidence. “Thirteen operas in under a decade; twenty-seven operas…in a lifetime.” It is a “phenomenal achievement,” writes the author. “I can think of no other operatic composer of true stature who can come close to equaling such a record”—not even “Verdi’s rival Wagner.” Rigoletto, with a ruler as villain, a hunchback jester as hero, “eclipsed all who had gone before him.” With Il travatore, “Verdi was creating something entirely new.” After its premiere, an ecstatic, torch-carrying crowd escorted him back to his hotel. Obsessed with Shakespeare, Verdi wrote three operas based on the plays. Otello, writes the author, “is without doubt one of Verdi’s greatest works.”

Once again, Suchet hits his mark.