bbc.com
Clemency Burton-Hill
"How Giuseppe Verdi's Music Helped Italy"
Giuseppe Verdi is a renowned Italian classical composer that
has captured the imagination of music lovers for two hundred years. Verdi was a
truly great composer. He has written over thirty operas and twenty of them are
prominently popular throughout the world. However, Verdi was more than just a
phenomenal composer. He was an avid supporter of the Italian unification and
worked as a member of Italy’s first Parliament during the 1860’s. Before their
unification, Italy was broken up into independent principalities and kingdoms.
Verdi worked relentlessly towards Italy’s unification by composing operas with
political messages. These messages were designed to resonate with the
disenfranchised citizens to sway them into accepting unification. When Verdi
passed away in 1901, Italy wept as one. They took to the streets, marching at
his funeral procession, and singing his immortal chorus from his famous opera, Va Pensiero. This chorus was the symbol
of Italy’s unification in those days. Verdi’s political messages are
progressive and are still pertinent today. In most of his operas, the heroes
score moral victory over noblemen and sometimes escape the harsh punishment of their
superiors. However, he will be remembered as one of the world’s most beloved
composers and his music will be performed all over the world for generations.
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