ジュゼッペ・ヴェルディ

ヴェルディは1813年、北イタリアの小さな村レ・ロンコレで、宿屋と雑貨屋を営む家に生まれました。子どものころから村の教会でオルガンを弾き、近くの町ブッセートの商人バレッツィに才能を認められて援助を受けます。1832年にはミラノ音楽院を受験しますが、年齢などの理由で入学できず、個人の先生について作曲を学びました。Verdi was born in 1813 in Le Roncole, a small village in northern Italy, where his parents ran an inn and a small shop. As a boy he played the organ in the village church, and a merchant from the nearby town of Busseto, Antonio Barezzi, recognized his talent and supported him. In 1832 he applied to the Milan Conservatory, but he was turned down, partly because of his age, so he studied composition with a private teacher.

1836年、ヴェルディは恩人バレッツィの娘マルゲリータと結婚します。ところが数年のうちに、2人の幼い子どもと妻が次々に亡くなり、さらに喜劇オペラも大失敗してしまいました。絶望したヴェルディは作曲をやめようとしますが、ヴェルディが後年に語ったところでは、劇場支配人メレッリから渡された『ナブッコ』の台本に心を動かされ、再び作曲を始めました。1842年、『ナブッコ』は大成功をおさめます。In 1836 Verdi married Margherita, the daughter of his patron Barezzi. But within a few years his two young children and then his wife died, and on top of that his comic opera was a terrible failure. In despair, Verdi decided to give up composing. According to Verdi's own later account, the theater manager Bartolomeo Merelli handed him the libretto of Nabucco, and it moved him to compose again. In 1842 Nabucco became a huge success.

その後ヴェルディは、休みなくオペラを書きつづけました。1851年の『リゴレット』、1853年の『イル・トロヴァトーレ』と『椿姫』は、今も世界中で上演される人気作です。イタリアが1つの国にまとまろうとしていた時代で、ヴェルディの音楽は人々の心を勇気づけたと言われます。1861年には、統一されたイタリアの最初の国会議員にも選ばれました。After that, Verdi wrote opera after opera without rest. Rigoletto in 1851, and Il trovatore and La traviata in 1853, are still performed all over the world. Italy was struggling to become one nation at the time, and Verdi's music is said to have given people courage. In 1861 he was even elected to the first parliament of the newly united Italy.

1871年にはエジプトのカイロで『アイーダ』が初演され、1874年には『レクイエム』を発表します。いったん引退したように見えましたが、70代で『オテロ』、79歳で喜劇『ファルスタッフ』を完成させ、世界を驚かせました。1901年、87歳でミラノで亡くなります。お葬式は質素にと望みましたが、その後お墓へ移されるときには、ものすごい数の人々が集まりました。In 1871 Aida had its premiere in Cairo, Egypt, and in 1874 he presented his Requiem. He seemed to have retired, but in his seventies he wrote Otello, and at 79 he amazed the world with his comic opera Falstaff. He died in Milan in 1901 at the age of 87. He had asked for a simple funeral, but when his body was later moved to its final resting place, enormous crowds filled the streets.