Happy 200th Birthday, Verdi!
This week, we celebrate the 200th birthday of Giuseppi Verdi. Truth be told, he is my least favorite of the great opera composers — Mozart, Handel, Puccini, Strauss, Wagner, Berg are my others. Too many of Verdi’s operas feel endless: I don’t think I’ve ever made it through an entire performance of “Don Carlos.” But every time I want to be dismissive I think of “Otello”: my God, he made improvements on Shakespeare! And he gave motivation to Iago. And Desdemona’s “Ave Maria” is sublime. I heard some chump on NPR over the weekend express wonder that an unbeliever like Verdi could write such exquisite “holy” music. But you don’t have to believe a damn thing to set a text you like. All you need is genius.
