Presentazione di Edita Camm
Bicentenario della nascita di Giuseppe Verdi (1813 -1901)
To mark the bicentenary of
Giuseppe Verdi’s birth
(1813 -1901)VERDI’S LIFE Screening of excerpts from various films Presentation by Edita Camm Italian Institute of CultureGrenadier Tower – 6th floor – Westlands (opposite Jacaranda Hotel)Thursday, 24th October 20136.30 for 7.00pm.
FREE ENTRY
After years of struggle, Giuseppe Verdi’s 3rd opera, Nabucco made him famous overnight.
Commissions flocked in from every Opera House in Italy and he was forced to compose at a rate of one or more operas a year. By 1853 with Rigoletto, Trovatore and Traviata he had composed 19 operas and his fame had travelled the whole of the known world. He invested his earning wisely and became a very wealthy man. He also spent his wealth wisely and generously by building a hospital and a retiring home for musicians. He referred to these as “my most beautiful creation”. They are both still operational today and are funded by the trust Verdi had set up before his death. He composed his last masterpiece at the age of 80. Milan and the whole of Italy came virtually at a standstill when his death in 1901 was announced.
GIUSEPPE VERDI
The son of an illiterate Inn keeper in a tiny Italian village, Verdi rose to become one of the most admired loved and revered public figures in Europe.
In addition to affording us a better understanding of his music and its development, Verdi’s life history gives us an interesting insight into the politics during the turbulent times that brought about the Unification of Italy
Just like Wagner, born in the same year, Verdi was a legend in his own lifetime and one of the greatest composers who has ever lived. Yet their lives, characters and music could not have been more different.
Italian Institute of Culture Tel. (020) 4451266 – Mobile: 0733 624834 E-mail : iicnairobi@esteri.it – Website: www.iicnairobi.esteri.it