MS 385 - Giuseppe Verdi: Melodrama and Italian Identity

The course will focus on the most popular and most frequently performed of all Italian composers: Giuseppe Verdi, lately celebrated worldwide in the bicentenary of his birth. Verdi’s life and output is strongly connected to Milan, the geographical heart of his life. It was in Milan that Verdi studied and developed his musical and cultural background from the age of 19, started and ended his career as an opera composer, and eventually, died. This course on Verdi provides the unique opportunity to understand the composer’s creative path and style, while getting to know the environment and the institutions where they developed. The course will explore Verdi’s interpretation of the main themes of the Romantic era and investigate his relationship with European music and culture. The course will trace the roots of Verdi’s art and explore the influence the composer had in shaping the modern Italian identity.