The pretence was that he was delivering a prescription from Dr. Verdi.

Curiously, this scene is a close parallel to one that Verdi was writing at the same time, the scene between Amonasro and Aida.

Verdi rival Errico Petrella's most successful opera, Jone ( 1858 ), was based upon Bulwer-Lytton's The Last Days of Pompeii, and was performed all over the world until the First World War.

He was the first to write an oratorio fully on the subject of the Book of Revelation ( as opposed to a Last Judgement in a Requiem like that of Verdi ).

Puccini was " the greatest composer of Italian opera after Verdi ".

Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (; 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901 ) was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera.

" So it happened that for the civil and temporal world Verdi was born a Frenchman.

Also in Busseto, Verdi was given his first lessons in composition.

Verdi went to Milan when he was twenty to continue his studies.

Both died in infancy while Verdi was working on his first opera and, shortly afterwards, Margherita died of encephalitis on 18 June 1840, aged only 26.

Verdi adored his wife and children, and he was devastated by their untimely deaths.

A large number of operas – 14 in all – followed in the decade after 1843, a period which Verdi was to describe as his " galley years ".

Their cohabitation before marriage was regarded as scandalous in some of the places they lived, but Verdi and Giuseppina married on 29 August 1859 at Collonges-sous-Salève, near Geneva.

In 1869, Verdi was asked to compose a section for a requiem mass in memory of Gioachino Rossini and proposed that this requiem should be a collection of sections composed by other Italian contemporaries of Rossini.

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.

Verdi's grand opera, Aida, is sometimes thought to have been commissioned for the celebration of the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, but, according to one major critic, Verdi turned down the Khedive's invitation to write an " ode " for the new opera house he was planning to inaugurate as part of the canal opening festivities.

Teresa Stolz was associated with both Aida and the Requiem ( as well as a number of other Verdi roles ).

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.

This was the last of four sacred works that Verdi composed, Quattro Pezzi Sacri, which are often performed together or separately.

* January 27 – Giuseppe Verdi, Italian composer ( born 1813 )

* Frank Verdi ( born 1926 ), American baseball player

* Luigi Verdi ( born 1958 ), Italian composer

* Robert Verdi ( born 1968 ), American television personality

* Simone Verdi ( born 1992 ), Italian footballer

Provesi, a native of Parma, Italy, began teaching Verdi in 1824, when Provesi was the master of music at the cathedral in Busseto ( a town not far from the village where Verdi was born ).

Sherrill Milnes ( born January 10, 1935 ) is an American operatic baritone most famous for his Verdi roles.

The theatre is closely associated with the composer Verdi ( who lived in nearby Busseto ) and conductor Arturo Toscanini, who was born in Parma.

Mirella Freni, birth name Mirella Fregni, ( born 27 February 1935, Modena, Italy ) is an Italian opera soprano whose repertoire includes Verdi, Puccini, Mozart and Tchaikovsky.

Opera composer Giuseppe Verdi was born in the nearby village of Le Roncole and he moved there in 1824.

Angela M. Brown ( born 1964 ) is an African-American dramatic soprano particularly admired for her portrayal of Verdi heroines.

José Cura ( born December 5, 1962 ) is a prominent operatic tenor known for his intense and original interpretations of his characters, notably Verdi ’ s Otello and Saint-Saëns ’ Samson, as well as for his unconventional and innovative concert performances.

The most notable person born in the Département of Taro was the composer Giuseppe Verdi ( born 9 or 10 October 1813 in the village of Le Roncole near Busseto ).

Today Le Roncole is called Roncole Verdi, named after the composer Giuseppe Verdi who was born there on either 9 or 10 October, 1813.

There he worked as a choral conductor, married, had a son called Max Winterfeld, and met both Arrigo Boito and Verdi.

In 1913 he produced a symphonic poem in honour of Giuseppe Verdi with verses by Sem Benelli, which was first performed at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa.

* Don Carlo, Don Carlos ( Verdi )

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.

This category originated in the Paris Opera, but it greatly influenced Verdi ( Don Carlo in Ernani and La forza del destino ; Count Luna in Il trovatore ; Simon Boccanegra ) and Wagner as well ( Wotan ; Amfortas ).

A commission by the Teatro San Carlo in Naples in early 1857 led Verdi to begin to oversee the finalization of the libretto ( also by Somma ) for Re Lear with the aim of presenting the finished opera during the 1858 carnival season.

By 9 January 1858, prior to setting out for Naples, Verdi wrote from his home the San Carlo that " the opera is done and even here I am working on the full score ".

* Aida ( Giuseppe Verdi ): Herbert von Karajan conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, with Carlo Bergonzi, Giulietta Simionato, Cornell McNeil.

Moving into the heavier Verdi repertoire in the 1970s, she sang Amelia in Un ballo in maschera, Elisabetta in Don Carlo, Luisa Miller, Lady Macbeth, Leonora in Il trovatore and the Requiem, all under the baton of the Met's music director James Levine.

* Verdi, Rigoletto with Renata Scotto, Carlo Bergonzi, Rafael Kubelík and the La Scala Orchestra on the Deutsche Grammophon label

** Verdi: Falstaff, Carlo Maria Giulini conducting ( Deutsche Grammophon )

DVD Performance – Verdi Don Carlo Soloists ; Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden / Antonio Pappano EMI Classics

A number of Italian theatres produced the work for the first time in the 1920s, including the Teatro Lirico Giuseppe Verdi ( 1922 ), Teatro Regio di Torino ( 1923 ), Teatro di San Carlo ( 1925 ), and the Teatro Carlo Felice ( 1926 ) among others.

From the early 1970s into the 1980s Freni sang heavier Verdi roles, particularly Elisabetta in John Dexter's production of Don Carlo, Desdemona in Otello ( opposite Jon Vickers ), Amelia in Simon Boccanegra, Elvira in the Luca Ronconi staging of Ernani, Leonora in La forza del destino, and the title role of Aida.

** Elizabeth de Valois, Don Carlo ( Giuseppe Verdi )

** Eboli, Don Carlo ( Giuseppe Verdi )

** Rodrigo de Posa, Don Carlo ( Giuseppe Verdi )

** Philip II, Don Carlo ( Giuseppe Verdi )