Page "Giuseppe Verdi" Paragraph 44

Verdi's predecessors who influenced his music were Rossini, Bellini, Giacomo Meyerbeer and, most notably, Gaetano Donizetti and Saverio Mercadante.

With the exception of Otello and Aida, it is said that he was free of Wagner's influence.

However, many see his monumental work, Don Carlo, as a response to Wagner's typical epics that often spanned over four hours.

Although respectful of Gounod, Verdi was careful not to learn anything from the Frenchman whom many of Verdi's contemporaries regarded as the greatest living composer.

Some strains in Aida suggest at least a superficial familiarity with the works of the Russian composer Mikhail Glinka, whom Franz Liszt, after his tour of the Russian Empire as a pianist, popularized in Western Europe.