Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (Italian Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi; October 10, 1813, Roncole - January 27, 1901, Milan) was an Italian composer and conductor.

The creative legacy of the composer is very large: 26 operas[1], a quartet, a requiem and a number of small opuses. Verdi's most famous operas are "Masquerade Ball", "Rigoletto", "La Traviata", "Troubadour", "Aida", "Othello", "Falstaff". His operas are considered one of the greatest of all time and still remain on the stages of opera houses around the world.

Verdi's predecessors who influenced his work are Rossini, Bellini, Meyerbeer and, most importantly, Gaetano Donizetti. With the possible exception of Othello, Richard Wagner had no influence on Verdi. Respecting Charles Gounod, whom contemporaries considered the greatest composer of the era, Verdi, however, did not borrow anything from the great Frenchman. Some passages in "Aida" indicate the composer's familiarity with the works of Mykhailo Glinka, whom Ferenc Liszt popularized in Western Europe after returning from a tour of Russia.

Throughout his career, Verdi refused to use the high C in the tenor parts, citing the fact that the opportunity to sing this particular note in front of a full hall would distract the performers before, after, and during the performance of the note.

Although Verdi's orchestration is sometimes masterful, the composer relied mainly on his melodic gift to express the emotions of the characters and the action. Indeed, very often in Verdi's operas, especially during the solo vocal numbers, the harmony is deliberately austere, and the entire orchestra sounds like a single accompanying instrument - such as the guitar. Some critics argue that Verdi did not pay enough attention to the technical aspect of the score because he lacked school and refinement. Verdi himself once said: "Of all composers, I am the most ignorant." But he hastened to add: "I say this seriously, but by "knowledge" I do not mean knowledge of music at all" (source?).

However, it would be unfair to say that Verdi underestimated the expressive power of the orchestra and did not know how to use it to the end when he needed it. Moreover, orchestral and contrapuntal innovation (for example, strings soaring up the chromatic scale in Monterone's scene in Rigoletto to emphasize the drama of the situation, or, also in Rigoletto, the chorus singing on "mmm..." for behind the scenes, quite effectively conveying the approach of the storm) is characteristic of Verdi's work, so characteristic that other composers did not dare to borrow some bold techniques from him because of their instant recognition.

Verdi was the first composer who was specifically engaged in finding a plot for a libretto that best suited the characteristics of his compositional gift. Working in close cooperation with the librettists and knowing that dramatic expression is the main strength of his talent, he sought to eliminate "unnecessary" details and "extra" characters from the plot, leaving only characters with throbbing passions and scenes rich in drama.