Currents
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December 2017
bravura. The themes for the librettos also changed.
Instead of the serious, often tragic dramas of the
seventeenth century, the new operas were light and
even humorous. Mozart’s operas are masterpieces
of the comic style – the so-called opera buffa.
In the nineteenth century, operas by famous Ital-
ian composers such as Gioacchino Rossini, Vin-
cenzo Bellini and Gaetano Donizetti were immensely
successful. But the king of Italian opera remains
Giuseppe Verdi (1813 –1901).
Verdi, like the Romantics of his era, was intensely
passionate about music and also about politics. Son
of an innkeeper, he was proud of his roots and
wanted his music to reach everyone, not just the
privileged elite. He enthusiastically supported the
Risorgimento (Resurgence) – the revolutionary
movement for Italian unification and independence
from Austrian control.
Many of Verdi’s operas tell stories of foreign
oppression, and thus send “hidden” political mes-
sages. Supporters of the struggle for Italian unifica-
tion used Viva Verdi as their slogan. The Austrians
thought that the Italians were sim-
ply expressing their admiration for
this great composer. The Italian
patriots were instead expressing
support for Victor Emanuel whom
they hoped would be King of a
united Italy. The letters of Verdi’s
name represented their dream:
Vittorio Emanuele Re D’Italia.
Some of the world’s best
operas are German. Among
opera lovers, Richard Wagner is
an international favorite. He was
also a patriot hoping for German
unification. His powerful works
were inspired by the powerful leg-
ends of Germany mythology. It
took him 20 years to complete the
four operas of his masterpiece
The Ring.
Both Verdi and Wagner lived
to see their dream of national uni-
fication come true! The music of
these two great composers
We Support Our Troops
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