Reasons why we love Giuseppe Verdi* He turned incredible tragedy into creative power
Despite losing both of his first children before they were out of infancy and, unbelievably, his adored wife as well at the tender age of 26 in 1840, Verdi turned things around. On the back of his inestimable heartache, he bounced back with two of his most successful operas in 1842 - Nabucco and I Lombardi.
* He wasn't averse to a bit of scandal
After the death of his first wife, Verdi naturally moved on - but cohabiting with soprano Giuseppina Strepponi before they married caused quite a to-do among the great and good.
* He proved you don't have to be a technical genius
Verdi was the first to admit his music wasn't the most technically challenging in purely academic terms: "Of all composers, past and present, I am the least learned," he said. But did that stop him writing some of the most heart-wrenching arias of the day?
*He was a showbiz kind of guy
Being a generally revered part of the musical establishment has its perks - Giuseppe appeared in the pages of Vanity Fair in 1879.
* The Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves
More than merely an evocative musical rendering of Jewish exile in his opera Nabucco, Va Pensiero (to give it its original Italian title) has become emblematic of political struggle in Italy. In 2009, it was briefly considered for a new national anthem, and conductor Riccardo Muti once led a whole audience in a performance of the chorus as an act of protest against arts cuts.
*He was prolific
In an unrivalled bout of creativity, Verdi smashed out three of the operatic repertoire's biggest hits in a mere three years between 1851 and 1853 - Rigoletto, Il trovatore and La traviata.
http://www.classicfm.com/composers/verdi/guides/why-we-love-giuseppe-verdi/