Giuseppe Verdi

Born in 1813 in La Roncole, Italy, Verdi started playing the organ and the piano at age 7. He began studying under Ferdinando Provesi in Busseto and started composing at age 15. He also studied with Vincenzo Lavigna in Milan. In 1839 Verdi composed his first opera, Oberto. The following years he composed many successful operas such as Nabucco, I Lombardi, Macbeth, Luisa Miller,…

He composed three of his most popular operas in de 1850s, Rigoletto, Il trovatore and La traviata. He also wrote operas such as Simon Boccanegra and Un ballo in maschera during that period. Later he wrote La forza del destino and Don Carlos. In the early 1870s he composed Aida.

After Aida he took a leave from opera and composed his String Quartet and Requiem. His two final operas he composed after that were Otello and Falstaff.

Verdi died in 1901.