Dr. Verdi had told him to deliver his package in person.

Verdi re-used the " Libera me, Domine " he had written for the Rossini Requiem in his 1872 Requiem for Manzoni.

Returning to Busseto, he became the town music master and, with the support of Antonio Barezzi, a local merchant and music lover who had long supported Verdi's musical ambitions in Milan, Verdi gave his first public performance at Barezzi ’ s home in 1830.

Verdi blamed this on the lack of enthusiasm for the project by the intended conductor, Angelo Mariani, who had been a longtime friend of his.

The soprano Teresa Stolz ( who later had a strong professional – and, perhaps, romantic – relationship with Verdi ) was at that time engaged to be married to Mariani, but she left him not long after.

Five years later, Verdi reworked his " Libera Me " section of the Rossini Requiem and made it a part of his Requiem Mass, honoring the famous novelist and poet Alessandro Manzoni, who had died in 1873.

It was widely believed that she and Verdi had an affair after she left Angelo Mariani, and a Florence newspaper criticised them for this in five strongly worded articles.

While staying at the Grand Hotel et de Milan in Milan, Verdi had a stroke on 21 January 1901.

A month later, his body was moved to the Casa di Riposo per Musicisti, a rest home for retired musicians that Verdi had established.

( Verdi had toyed, too, with writing an opera based on King Lear and Arrigo Boito later tried to interest him in Antony and Cleopatra, but neither project was ever brought to fruition.

( Verdi had been asked to compose an ode for the opening of the Canal, but declined on the grounds that he did not write " occasional pieces ".

Verdi had also written the role of Aida for the voice of Teresa Stolz, who sang it for the first time at the Milan premiere.

Verdi had asked her fiancé, Angelo Mariani, to conduct the Cairo premiere, but he declined, so Giovanni Bottesini filled the gap.

The idea of reducing the scope and scale of Don Carlos had originally come to Verdi in 1875, partly as a result of his having heard reports of productions, such as Costa's, which had removed Act 1 and the ballet and introduced cuts to other parts of the opera.

Although Verdi had accepted the need to remove the first act, it seems that he changed his mind and allowed a performance on 29 December 1886 in Modena which presented the “ Fontainebleau ’’ first act along with the revised 4-act version.

Donizetti had departed for Paris, Bellini had died, and Mercadante's major successes were behind him, thus Verdi offered the only important competition.

Still, by 1844, Verdi had written Nabucco, I Lombardi, and Ernani, thus outstripping Pacini.

La Scala hosted the prima ( first production ) of many famous operas, and had a special relationship with Verdi.

For several years, however, Verdi did not allow his work to be played here, as some of his music had been modified ( he said " corrupted ") by the orchestra.

Eugène Scribe was one of the most prolific librettists of the 19th century, providing the words for works by Meyerbeer ( with whom he had a lasting collaboration ), Auber, Bellini, Donizetti, Rossini and Verdi.

At the time, Piave and Verdi had titled opera La maledizione ( The Curse ), and this unofficial title was used by Austrian censor De Gorzkowski in an emphatic letter written in December 1850 in which he definitively denied consent to its production calling it " a repugnant of immorality and obscene triviality.

Verdi finally completed the composition of the opera on 5 February 1851, a little more than month before the premiere, although as he worked on the final stages of Act 3, Piave had already arranged for the sets to be designed.

It is of the January 27, 1951 concert devoted to the Verdi Requiem, previously recorded and released in high-fidelity monophonic sound by RCA Victor.

For the first time, Verdi attempted an opera without a love story, breaking a basic convention in 19th century Italian opera.

However, it is claimed that Vincent La Selva ( now of the New York Grand Opera ) attempted to give the first US presentation in 127 years in 1998, but it did appear in 1996 as part of the NYGO's " Viva Verdi " series of all of the composer's operas presented in chronological order.

Because the original version never entered the established repertory, performances " limped along " until Verdi attempted to aid its revival at the Paris Opéra on 6 July 1863 by revising some of the roles for selected singers.

Florentine antiquarian Alberto Bruschi and Luigi Verdi, Secretary of the Farinelli Study Centre, co-ordinator and general manager of the project, promoted the exhumation.

Edwards was soon gone, a replaced by Lance Nicholls, who in turn, was replaced by former Tidewater Tides manager Frank Verdi.

His expertise as a stage manager and tact as a negotiator served Verdi well over the years, although Verdi bullied him mercilessly.

The production by Milan's La Scala of his first opera, Oberto in November 1839 achieved a degree of success, after which Bartolomeo Merelli, La Scala's impresario, offered Verdi a contract for three more works.

Between 1855 and 1867, an outpouring of great Verdi operas followed, among them such repertory staples as Un ballo in maschera ( 1859 ), La forza del destino ( commissioned by the Imperial Theatre of Saint Petersburg for 1861 but not performed until 1862 ), and a revised version of Macbeth ( 1865 ).

During the following years, Verdi worked on revising some of his earlier scores, most notably new versions of Don Carlos, La forza del destino, and Simon Boccanegra.

In the early 1850s, Verdi produced his three most popular operas: Rigoletto, Il trovatore and La traviata.

* February 5 – The Giuseppe Verdi opera Otello premieres at La Scala.

Later La Scala became the reference theatre in the world, with its premières of Bellini, Donizetti, Rossini and Verdi.

* The Lady of the Camellias was a novel about a courtesan by French author Alexandre Dumas, fils that was turned into the opera La Traviata by Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi.

La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave.

Piave and Verdi wanted to follow Dumas in giving the opera a contemporary setting, but the authorities at La Fenice insisted that it be set in the past, " c. 1700 ".

The day after, Verdi wrote to his friend Muzio in what has now become perhaps his most famous letter: " La traviata last night a failure.

It was rebuilt and reopened on 11 May 1946, with a memorable concert conducted by Arturo Toscanini — twice La Scala's principal conductor and an associate of the composers Giuseppe Verdi and Giacomo Puccini — with a soprano solo by Renata Tebaldi, which created a sensation.

* Verdi: La forza del destino

Giuseppe Verdi quotes from " La Marseillaise " in his patriotic anthem Hymn of the Nations, which also incorporates " God Save the King " and " Il Canto degli Italiani ".

Verdi was commissioned to write a new opera by the La Fenice opera house in Venice in 1850, at a time when he was already a well-known composer with a degree of freedom in choosing the works he would prefer to set to music.

For the première, La Fenice had cast Felice Varesi as Rigoletto, the young tenor Raffaele Mirate as the Duke, and Teresa Brambilla as Gilda ( although Verdi would have preferred Teresa De Giuli Borsi ).

* Alfredo, La traviata ( Verdi )

* Don Alvaro, La forza del destino ( Verdi )

* Gastone, La traviata ( Verdi )

* the young Giuseppe Verdi ( Nabucco, Ernani, Macbeth, Rigoletto, La traviata, Il trovatore ).

They included Giorgio Ronconi, who created the title role in Verdi's Nabucco ; Felice Varesi, who created the title roles in Macbeth and Rigoletto as well as Germont in La traviata ; Antonio Superchi, the originator of Don Carlo in Ernani ; Francesco Graziani, who was the original Don Carlo di Vargas in La forza del destino ; Leone Giraldoni, the creator of Renato in Un ballo in maschera and the first Simon Boccanegra ; Enrico Delle Sedie, who was London's first Renato ; Adriano Pantaleoni, renowned for his performances as Amonasro in Aida as well as other Verdi roles at La Scala, Milan ; Francesco Pandolfini, whose singing at La Scala during the 1870s was praised by Verdi ; Antonio Cotogni, a much lauded singer in Milan, London and Saint Petersburg, the first Italian Posa in Don Carlos and later a great vocal pedagogue, too ; and Giuseppe Del Puente, who sang Verdi to acclaim in the United States.