Before the end of the month, pause and listen to Verdi. I
have and I encourage you to as well.
Try this quartet from Rigoletto:
(It is never really wise for a man to use the same pickup lines on a new love interest when the old love interest is nearby. But that is human nature, and in Rigoletto a great reason for a beautiful famous quartet.)
So why listen now?
200 years ago, Giuseppe Verdi was born. October 10, 1813. There has been a lot of musical
commemoration of this bicentennial anniversary in the last few weeks. So as the
month of October wraps up, here is a just one more. Short and sweet! Listen to Verdi.
And if you claim you haven’t listened to one of the greatest
composers of Italian Opera, well, fact is, you have! You just may not have
realized it, and if you still claim to be unfamiliar, then listen some more, right
now.
His melodies are found throughout pop culture, movies and television soundtracks, anthems and political rallies. On the opera stage and in the concert hall. His music surged during
a time of Italian unification, helping create the Italy we know today. And his operatic characters are just folks like us, singing as
we might, about everyday emotions:
- the fickleness of women (Rigoletto),
- a fallen homeland (Nabucco),
- soaring freely from joy to joy (La Traviata),
- making triumphant entrances (Aida),
- drinking with friends (La Traviata or Macbeth),
- or dreaming of gypsy maidens while hammering away at work (Il Trovatore).
Chances are, somewhere in your past you’ve heard one of his melodies and chances are if you love opera you will jump at the chance to hear it this season or next, in one of the great opera houses of the world. But if opera is not your thing, it is Verdi’s melodies that you should listen to just to experience a bit of the emotion he creates, the joy, the angst and the hope of humanity. Melodies that have survived the test of time. They are sustainable, and that's a cool thing today.
Arias, duets, quartets, choruses and overtures producing countless melodies, which are still heard around the world, 200 years later. Verdi in Italian means green. 200 years of sustainable melodies. That’s something. What did any of us do today that will provide such enjoyment for so many in the next 200 years?
