Giuseppe Verdi

Refused admission to the Milan Conservatory, Verdi studied privately in the city with Vincenzo Lavigna; Nabucco, in 1842, brought him public recognition at twenty-eight. Born at Le Roncole near Busseto in 1813, he wrote operas for the next half-century. They include Macbeth, Rigoletto, Il trovatore and La traviata, followed by Un ballo in maschera, La forza del destino, Don Carlos and Aida. Otello and Falstaff were written in old age to libretti by Arrigo Boito. He paid for the Casa di Riposo per Musicisti in Milan, a house for old musicians, which he called his finest work and where he is buried. His Requiem of 1874 commemorated Alessandro Manzoni. Verdi died in Milan on 27 January 1901.