Verdi

‘Verdi’s extraordinary life makes for compelling reading. Barbara Meier reflects the energy of this man who, more than a centruy after his death, still dominates the opera repertoire, his familiar tunes whistled and hummed on the street.’
Petroc Trelawny, BBC Radio 3 Presenter

Giuseppe Verdi, the popular genius behind Rigoletto, Aida and La Traviata, continues to enthral audiences with his daring music and stories of love and death. His life was as dramatic and passionate as his music. As this biography shows, he was always fighting: for Italy’s liberty and nationhood and for his own artistic freedom against the censors, opera impresarios and the authorities.

BARBARA MEIER has written widely on classical composers, including Mahler, Strauss, Schoenberg and Robert Schumann.

ROGER PARKER, Professor of Music and Fellow of St John’s College, Cambridge, is the author of the Oxford History of Opera (1996) and the Verdi entry in the New Grove Dictionary of Music.