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Guiseppe Verdi

Guiseppe verdi

Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (October 10, 1813 – January 27, 1901) is to date the most influential composer of the 19th century's Italian School of Opera. His works are frequently performed in opera houses throughout the world and, transcending the boundaries of the genre, some of his themes have long since taken root in popular culture - such as La donna è mobile, from Rigoletto. Oftentimes scoffed at by the critics, in his lifetime and today, as catering to the tastes of the common folk, overly simple in chromatic texture and shamelessly melodramatic, Verdi’s masterpieces dominate the standard repertoire a century and a half after their composition.

Biography

Early life

Verdi was born in 1813 in Le Roncole, a village near Busseto in the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza, nowadays in the province of Parma. His father was an innkeeper. When he was still a child, Verdi's parents moved to Busseto from the province of Piacenza, where the future composer's education was greatly facilitated by visits to the large library belonging to the local Jesuit school. Also in Busseto, Verdi received his first lessons in composition from Ferdinando Provesi, who was in charge of the local philharmonic society. Verdi went to Milan when he was twenty to continue his studies, but the Conservatory of Music rejected him, citing the fact that he was two years over the age limit. Verdi took private lessons in counterpoint while attending operatic performances in Milan, as well as lesser concerts of, specifically, Viennese music. Association with Milan's beaumonde convinced him he should pursue a career as a theatre composer. Returning to Busseto, he became town music master and, in 1836, married Margherita Barezzi. Their two children died in infancy.

Initial Recognition

The production of his first opera, Oberto, by Milan's La Scala, achieved a degree of success, after which Bartolomeo Merelli, an impresario with La Scala, offered Verdi a contract for two more works. This resulted in Un giorno di regno and Nabucco. His wife died while he was working on the former, which flopped at the premiere. However, Nabucco, produced in 1842, made Verdi famous. A number of operas followed shortly, I Lombardi and Ernani among them, premiering in various Italian cities. The most important and original among Verdi's early operas is Macbeth. For the first time, Verdi attempted an operistic adaptation of a work by his favorite dramatist – William Shakespeare – and by creating an opera without love story, he broke a basic convention in Italian 19th Century's opera. In 1847, I Lombardi, revised and renamed Jerusalem, was produced by the Paris Opera and, due to a number of Parisian conventions that had to be honored, became Verdi's first work in the grand-opera style.

Great Master

At the age of thirty-eight, Verdi began an affair with Giuseppina Strepponi, a soprano in the twilight of her career. Their cohabitation before marriage was regarded as scandalous in some of the places they lived. Verdi and Giuseppina married in 1859. She soon retired and Verdi, remembering Gioacchino Rossini's example, decided to retire as well. He was well-off, famous, and in love. It may have been Giuseppina herself who convinced him to continue his career. The result was one of Verdi's greatest masterpieces: Rigoletto. Based on a play by author Victor Hugo, the libretto had to undergo substantive revisions in order to satisfy the epoch's censorship, and the composer was on the verge of giving it all up a number of times. The opera was produced in Venice in 1851 and soon became a great success. Victor Hugo With Rigoletto Verdi sets up his original idea of musical drama, as a cocktail of heterogeneous elements embodying a social and cultural complexity, beginning from a peculiar mixture of comedy and tragedy. Rigoletto musical range includes band-music such as the first scene or the song La donna è mobile, Italian melody such as the famous quartet Bella figlia dell'amore, chamber music such as the duet between Rigoletto and Sparafucile and powerful and concise declamatos often based on key-notes like the C and C# notes in Rigoletto and Monterone's upper register. La Traviata, Verdi's next great opera, was composed and produced two years later. It is based on Alexandre Dumas, fils' play The Lady of the Camellias. A number of operas followed, among them such repertoire staples as Il Trovatore, Les vêpres siciliennes (commissioned by the Paris Opera), Un ballo in maschera, La forza del destino (commissioned by the Imperial Theatre of St. Petersburg), and a second version of Macbeth. In 1869, Verdi composed a section for a Requiem Mass in memory of Gioacchino Rossini. Verdi proposed the Requiem to be a collection of sections composed by other Italian contemporaries of Rossini. The Requiem was compiled and completed, but it was not performed in Verdi's lifetime. Verdi later reworked and used the "Libera Me" section he composed for the Rossini Requiem as part of a complete Requiem Mass, honoring Alessandro Manzoni, who died in 1873. The complete Requiem was first performed at the cathedral in Milan, on 22 May 1874. Verdi's final great opera, Aida, was commissioned from him for the celebration of the opening of the Suez Canal. According to some sources, when the organizers approached Verdi, he turned them down. They warned him they would ask Charles Gounod instead. Verdi agreed that they should. Only when they threatened to engage Richard Wagner's services did Verdi begin to show some considerable interest. In fact, the two composers, who were the leaders of their respective schools of music, seemed to resent each other greatly. They never met. Verdi's comments on Wagner and his music are few and hardly benevolent ("He invariably chooses, unnecessarily, the untrodden path, attempting to fly where a rational person would walk with better results"), but at least one of them is kind: upon learning of Wagner's death, Verdi lamented: "Sad! Sad! Sad! ... a name that leaves a most powerful mark on the history of our art." Of Wagner's comments on Verdi, only one is well-known. After listening to Verdi's Requiem, the great German, prolific and eloquent in his comments on some other composers, said, "It would be best not to say anything." Aida premiered in Cairo in 1871 and was an instant success.

Twilight

The next dozen years Verdi worked sparingly if at all, slowly revising some of his earlier scores. Otello, based on William Shakespeare's play, premiered in Milan in 1887. Its music is "continuous" and cannot easily be divided into separate "numbers" to be performed in concert. Although masterfully orchestrated, it lacks the melodic lustre so characteristic of Verdi's earlier, great, operas. Verdi's last opera, Falstaff, whose libretto, by Arrigo Boito, was based on Shakespeare's Merry Wives of Windsor and Victor Hugo's subsequent translation, was a moderate success: mainly, the audiences wished to express their gratitude to the old composer. The score is chiefly algebraic and contains none of Verdi's former melodic genius. Verdi died in 1901. Thus, he may have heard, or perused the scores of, Giacomo Puccini's La bohème and Tosca, Ruggiero Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, Petr Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades, but, unfortunately, what he thought of these operas, penned by his immediate and fairly worthy successors, remains a mystery. Verdi's operas are a staple of the standard repertoire.

Verdi's role in the Risorgimento

In the 1840s, the popularity of Verdi's music coincided with the Risorgimento, the campaign for a unified Italian nation. The wild success of Nabucco in particular put Verdi's name and music in the minds of many Italians at the time. They perceived in Verdi's works a sadness that reflected their own unhappiness with the status quo, and a vibrant strain conjuring romantic visions of Italian unification. Verdi's songs were especially resonant in Milan, then under Austrian occupation. In particular, Nabuccos "Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves", the tender lament of captives in Babylonia, was an immense success, and reportedly could be heard sung in the streets of Milan in 1843. Also known as Va' Pensiero from its first line, the song has been proposed from time to time as the Italian national anthem. It begins:
Fly, thought, on wings of gold;
go settle upon the slopes and the hills
where the sweet airs of our
native soil smell soft and mild!
...Oh, my country, so lovely and lost!
Oh remembrance so dear yet unhappy! 		Va, pensiero, sull'ali dorate;
va, ti posa sui clivi, sui colli
ove olezzano tepide e molli
l'aure dolci del suolo natal!
...Oh, mia patria sì bella e perduta!
Oh, membranza sì cara e fatal!
Full lyrics can be found here: [http://www.r-ds.com/opera/verdiana/lyrics.htm#Va,%20pensiero] and a recording (MP3 format) here: [http://www.r-ds.com/domingo/Soundfiles/vapensiero.mp3]. Milan was still under Austrian occupation and was beginning to consider supporting Victor Emmanuel's effort in Italian reunification, as it afterwards did. Clandestine partisans started therefore plotting to have the then-King of Sardinia conquer Milan. Due to severe Austrian censorship, this campaign was given a codename: "Viva VERDI." Verdi was a secret acronym for Vittorio Emanuele Re D'Italia, referring to Victor Emmanuel, King of Italy. This enabled nationalists to freely shout their support for Victor Emmanuel, while outsiders assumed they were fans of the composer. Giuseppe Verdi was aware of this use of his name and is supposed to have consented. Other references to political events have been seen in Verdi's I Lombardi.

Style

Verdi's predecessors who influenced his music were Rossini, Bellini, Giacomo Meyerbeer and, most notably, Gaetano Donizetti and Saverio Mercadante. With the possible exception of Otello and Aida, he was free of Wagner's influence. Although respectful of Gounod, Verdi was careful not to learn anything from the Frenchman whom many of Verdi's contemporaries regarded as the greatest living composer. Some strains in Aida suggest at least a superficial familiarity with the works of the Russian composer Mikhail Glinka, whom Franz Liszt, after his tour of the Russian Empire as a pianist, popularized in Western Europe. Throughout his career, Verdi refused to use the high C in his tenor arias, citing the fact that the opportunity to sing that particular note in front of an audience distracts the performer before and after the note comes on. Although his orchestration is often masterful, Verdi relied heavily on his melodic gift as the ultimate instrument of musical expression. In fact, in many of his passages, and especially in his arias, the harmony is ascetic, with the entire orchestra occasionally sounding as if it were one large accompanying instrument - a giant-sized guitar playing chords. Some critics maintain he paid insufficient attention to the technical aspect of composition, lacking as he did schooling and refinement. Verdi himself once said, "Of all composers, past and present, I am the least learned." He hastened to add, however, "I mean that in all seriousness, and by learning I do not mean knowledge of music." However, it would be incorrect to assume that Verdi underestimated the expressive power of the orchestra or failed to use it to its full capacity where necessary. Moreover, orchestral and contrapuntal innovation is characteristic of his style: for instance, the strings doing the rapid ascending scale in Monterone's scene in Rigoletto accentuate the drama, or, also in Rigoletto, the choir humming six closely grouped notes backstage portray, very effectively, the brief ominous wails of the approaching tempest. Verdi's innovations are so distinctive that other composers do not use them; they remain, to this day, Verdi's signature tricks. Verdi was one of the first composers who insisted on patiently seeking out plots to suit their particular talents. Working closely with his librettists and well aware that dramatic expression was his forte, he made certain that the initial work upon which the libretto was based was stripped of all "unnecessary" detail and "superfluous" participants, and only characters brimming with passion and scenes rich in drama remained.

Eponyms


- The Verdi Inlet on the Beethoven Peninsula of Alexander Island just off of Antarctica
- Verdi Square at Broadway and West 72nd Street in Manhattan
- Asteroid 3975 Verdi

References


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See also


- List of compositions by Giuseppe Verdi

Media

External links


- [http://www.giuseppeverdi.it Giuseppe Verdi Official Site]
- [http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?query=Verdi%2C+Giuseppe&queryType=%40attr+1%3D1 Verdi cylinder recordings], from the Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara Library.
- Verdi, Giuseppe Verdi, Giuseppe Verdi, Giuseppe Verdi, Giuseppe Verdi, Giuseppe Verdi, Giuseppe ja:ジュゼッペ・ヴェルディ th:จูเซปเป เวอร์ดิ

1813

1813 is a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar).

Events


- March 17 - Through a newspaper, the Prussian king Frederick William III of Prussia calls for resistance against the Napoleonic occupation
- April 27 - War of 1812: Battle of York - United States troops raid, destroy, but do not hold the capital of Ontario, York (present day Toronto, Ontario).
- May 2 - Napoleon wins the Battle of Lützen
- May 20-May 21 - Napoleon wins the Battle of Bautzen
- May 27 - War of 1812: In Canada, United States forces capture Fort George.
- June 6 - War of 1812: Battle of Stoney Creek - A British force of 700 under John Vincent defeat an American force three times its size under William Winder and John Chandler.
- June 21 - Peninsular War: Battle of Vittoria - A British, Spanish, and Portuguese force of 78000 with 96 guns under Wellington defeats a French force of 58000 with 153 guns under Joseph Bonaparte to end the Peninsular War.
- July 5 - War of 1812: Three weeks of British raids on Fort Schlosser, Black Rock and Plattsburgh, New York begin.
- August 19 - Gervasio Antonio de Posadas joins Argentina's second triumvirate.
- August 26-August 27 - Napoleon wins the Battle of Dresden
- August 29-August 30 - Napoleon's troops defeated at Kulm
- September - Robert Southey becomes Poet Laureate of Britain
- September 10 - War of 1812: Oliver Hazard Perry defeats a British fleet in the Battle of Lake Erie
- October 5 - War of 1812: William Henry Harrison defeats the British at the Battle of the Thames, killing native leader Tecumseh
- October 14 - After a ceremony in Caracas, Venezuela, the municipality gives Simón Bolívar the title of El Libertador.
- October 16-October 19 - Napoleon is defeated at the Battle of Leipzig
- October 24-November 5 - Persia and Russia sign the Gulistan Treaty of 1813 at the end of the first Russo-Persian Wars (1804-1813) by which Persia (Iran) loses all its territories to the north of Aras River to the Russians.
- October 25 - War of 1812: Charles de Salaberry defeats an American invasion at the Battle of Chateauguay
- November 11 - War of 1812: the Americans are defeated at the Battle of Crysler's Farm
- November 21 - An independent government is restored in the Netherlands.
- December 29 - War of 1812: British soldiers burn Buffalo, New York
- Russian troops reach and take Berlin without a fight after the French garrison evacuated the city.
- Mathieu Orfila publishes his groundbreaking Trait des poisons, formalizing the field of toxicology.
- George Hamilton-Gordon serves as ambassador extraordinaire in Vienna.
- Following the death of his father Wossen Seged, Sahle Selassie arrives at the capital Qundi before his other brothers, and is made Meridazmach of Shewa.

Ongoing events


- Napoleonic Wars (1799-1815)-Peninsular War/Sixth Coalition
- War of 1812 (1812-1815)

Births


- January 19 - Sir Henry Bessemer, English inventor (d. 1898)
- January 21 - John C. Frémont, American soldier and explorer (d. 1890)
- January 26 - Juan Pablo Duarte, Founder of the Dominican Republic (d. 1876)
- February 11 - Otto Ludwig, German writer (d. 1865)
- March 18 - Christian Friedrich Hebbel, German poet and playwright (d. 1863)
- March 19 - David Livingstone, English missionary and explorer (d. 1873)
- March 21 - James Strang, Mormon splinter group leader (d. 1856)
- March 27 - Nathaniel Currier, American illustrator (d. 1888)
- April 23 - Stephen A. Douglas, U.S. Senator from Illinois and Presidential candidate (d. 1861)
- May 5 - Soren Kierkegaard, Danish philosopher (d. 1855)
- May 21 - Robert Murray M'Cheyne, Scottish clergyman (d. 1843)
- May 22 - Richard Wagner, German composer (d. 1883)
- June 24 - Henry Ward Beecher, American clergyman and reformer (d. 1887)
- July 19 - Samuel M. Kier, American industrialist (d. 1874)
- October 10 - Giuseppe Verdi, Italian composer (d. 1901)
- October 17 - Georg Büchner, German playwright (d. 1837)
- December 13 - David Spangler Kaufman, U.S. Congressman from Texas (d. 1851)
- Abbas I, Pasha of Egypt (d. 1854)
- John Miley, American Methodist theologian (d. 1895)

Deaths


- January 20 - Christoph Martin Wieland, German writer (b. 1733)
- February 13 - Samuel Ashe, Governor of North Carolina (b. 1725)
- February 26 - Robert Linvingston, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (b. 1746)
- April 10 - Joseph Louis Lagrange, Italian mathematician (b. 1746)
- April 27 - Zebulon Pike, American general (b. 1779)
- April 28 - Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov, Russian field marshal (b. 1745)
- May 1 - Jean-Baptiste Bessières, French marshal (killed in combat) (b. 1768)
- June 6 - Alexandre-Théodore Brongniart, French architect (b. 1739)
- June 17 - Charles Middleton, 1st Baron Barham, English sailor and politician (b. 1726)
- June 28 - Gerhard von Scharnhorst, Prussian general (b. 1755)
- July 29 - Jean-Andoche Junot, French general (suicide) (b. 1771)
- August 11 - Henry James Pye, English poet (b. 1745)
- August 23 - Alexander Wilson, Scottish-born ornithologist (b. 1766)
- September 2 - Jean Victor Marie Moreau, French general (mortally wounded in battle) (b. 1763)
- October 5 - Tecumseh, Shawnee leader
- October 19 - Józef Antoni Poniatowski, Polish prince and Marshal of France (friendly fire) (b. 1763)
- November 12 - Jean de Crévecoeur, French-American writer (b. 1735)
- December 24 - Empress Go-Sakuramachi of Japan (b. 1740)
- Wossen Seged, Meridazmach of Shewa (murdered) Category:1813 ko:1813년 ms:1813 simple:1813

1901

1901 (MCMI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar).

Events

January-March


- January 1 - World celebrates what is regarded as the start of the new century. (Zero-ists' argument that new century should be celebrated in 1900 rejected worldwide).
- January 1 - The British colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia federate as the Commonwealth of Australia. Edmund Barton becomes first Prime Minister.
- January 1 - Nigeria becomes a British protectorate
- January 7 - Alferd Packer is released from prison after serving 18 years for cannibalism
- January 10 - The first great Texas gusher, oil discovered at Spindletop in Beaumont, Texas Beaumont, Texas
- January 22 - Death of Queen Victoria. Her eldest son, Prince Albert Edward, Prince of Wales becomes King, reigning as King Edward VII. His son, Prince George, Duke of York becomes Duke of Cornwall.
- February 20 - The legislature of Hawaii Territory convenes for the first time.
- February 25 - J.P. Morgan incorporates the United States Steel Corporation.
- March 2 - The U.S. Congress passes the Platt amendment, limiting the autonomy of Cuba as a condition for the withdrawal of American troops.
- March 6 - In Bremen an assassin attempts to kill Wilhelm II of Germany.
- March 17 - A showing of 71 Vincent van Gogh paintings in Paris, 11 years after his death, creates a sensation.

April-June


- April 25 - New York State becomes the first to require automobile license plates.
- May 5 - Official end of the Caste War of Yucatàn, although mayan skirmishers will continue sporadic fighting for the next decade.
- May 9 - Australia opens its first parliament in Melbourne.
- May 27 - In New Jersey, the Edison Storage Battery Company is founded.
- June 2 - Katsura Taro becomes Prime Minister of Japan
- June 12 - Cuba becomes US protectorate

July-September


- July 4 - The 1,282 foot (390 meters) covered bridge crossing the St.John River at Hartland, New Brunswick, Canada opens. It is the longest covered bridge in the world.
- July 24 - O. Henry is released from prison in Columbus, Ohio after serving three years for embezzlement from the First National Bank in Austin, Texas.
- August 21 - The Cadillac Motor Company formed in Detroit, Michigan, USA
- September 2 - Vice President Theodore Roosevelt utters the famous phrase, "Speak softly and carry a big stick" at the Minnesota State Fair.
- September 5 - The National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues (later renamed Minor League Baseball), is formed in Chicago, Illinois.
- September 6 - American anarchist Leon Czolgosz shoots and fatally wounds US President William McKinley at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. McKinley dies there eight days later.
- September 7 - The Boxer Rebellion in China officially ends with the signing of the Peking Protocol.
- September 9 - Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd, was prime minister of South Africa from 1958 - 1966 (d. September 6 1966)
- September 14 - With the death of William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt succeeds him as President of the United States.

October-December

President of the United States
- October 2 - Royal Navy's first submarine launched at Barrow
- October 24 – Michigan schoolteacher Annie Taylor goes down Niagara Falls in a barrel and survives
- October 29 - In Amherst, Massachusetts nurse Jane Toppan is arrested for murdering the Davis family of Boston with an overdose of morphine.
- October 29 - Capital punishment: Leon Czolgosz, the assassin of US President William McKinley, is executed by electrocution.
- November 9 - Prince George, Duke of Cornwall becomes Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester.
- November 15 - Miller Reese Hutchinson patents Acousticon, a heavy hearing-aid prototype
- November 27 - U.S. Army War College is established.
- December 3 - US President Theodore Roosevelt delivers a 20,000-word speech to the House of Representatives asking Congress curb the power of trusts "within reasonable limits".
- December 10 – Marie Curie receives doctorate. The first Nobel Prize ceremony is held in Stockholm.
- December 12 - Guglielmo Marconi receives the first trans-Atlantic radio signal in Newfoundland, Canada; it is Morse code for the letter "S."

Unknown dates


- In the United Kingdom, Factory Act forbids child labor under 12
- Two typhoid outbreaks in USA
- Winston Churchill enters the House of Commons
- In Germany, Eugen Hollander makes the first known facelift to a Polish noblewoman
- Scotland Yard creates a fingerprint archive
- Cleveland Indians founded
- Europium discovered by Eugène-Antole Demarçay
- First prototype Harley-Davidson created
- Okapi discovered (previously known only to local natives)
- Independent Maya of Eastern Yucatán surrender to Mexico
- American Standard Version Bible first published.
- Intercollegiate Prohibition Association established in Chicago, Illinois.
- Mordecai Ham, American evangelist enters ministry.

Births

January-March


- January 3 - Ngo Dinh Diem, 1st President of South Vietnam (d. 1963)
- January 4 - CLR James, Trinidad-born writer and journalist (d. 1989)
- January 14 - Bebe Daniels, American actress (d. 1971)
- January 16 - Frank Zamboni, American inventor (d. 1988)
- January 26 - Stuart Symington, American politician (d. 1988)
- January 29 - E. P. Taylor, Canadian business tycoon (d. 1989)
- January 30 - Rudolf Caracciola, German race car driver (d. 1959)
- February 1 - Clark Gable, American actor (d. 1960)
- February 2 - Jascha Heifetz, Lithuanian violinist (d. 1987)
- February 10 - Stella Adler, American actress (d. 1992)
- February 25 - Zeppo Marx, American comedian (d. 1979)
- February 27 - Horatio Luro, Argentine horse trainer (d. 1991)
- February 28 - Linus Pauling, American chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry and Peace (d. 1994)
- March 4 - Charles Goren, American bridge player (d. 1991)
- March 17 - Alfred Newman, American film composer (d. 1970)
- March 21 - Karl Arnold, German politician (d. 1958)
- March 22 - Greta Kempton, American artist (d. 1991)
- March 24 - Ub Iwerks, American cartoonist (d. 1971)
- March 27 - Carl Barks, American cartoonist (d. 2000)
- March 27 - Erich Ollenhauer, German politician (d. 1963)
- March 27 - Eisaku Sato, Prime Minister of Japan, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1975)
- March 27 - Kenneth Slessor, Australian poet (d. 1971)

April-June


- April 1 - Whittaker Chambers, American spy (d. 1961)
- April 29 - Emperor Hirohito of Japan (d. 1989)
- April 30 - Simon Kuznets, Ukrainian-born economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1985)
- May 5 - Blind Willie McTell, American singer (d. 1959)
- May 7 - Gary Cooper, American actor (d. 1961)
- May 17 - Werner Egk, German composer (d. 1983)
- May 18 - Vincent du Vigneaud, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1978)
- May 20 - Max Euwe, Dutch chess player (d. 1981)
- May 21 - Horace Heidt, American bandleader (d. 1986)
- May 21 - Sam Jaffe, American film producer (d. 2000)
- June 3 - Chang Hsüeh-liang, Chinese military leader (d. 2001)
- June 17 - F. F. E. Yeo-Thomas, English World War II hero (d. 1964)
- June 18 - Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia (d. 1918)
- June 24 - Harry Partch, American composer (d. 1974)
- June 29 - Nelson Eddy, American singer and actor (d. 1967)

July-September


- July 9 - Dame Barbara Cartland English novelist (d. 2000)
- July 17 - Bruno Jasieński, Polish poet (d. 1938)
- July 20 - Heinie Manush, baseball player (d. 1971)
- July 31 - Jean Dubuffet, French painter (d. 1985)
- August 4 - Louis Armstrong, American jazz musician (d. 1971)
- August 8 - Ernest Lawrence, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1958)
- August 10 - Franco Dino Rasetti Italian scientist (d.2001)
- August 18 - Jean Guitton, French writer and philosopher (d. 1999)
- August 20 - Salvatore Quasimodo, Italian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1968)
- September 9 - James Blades, English percussionist (d. 1999)
- September 12 - Ben Blue, Canadian comedian and actor (d. 1975)
- September 15 - Sir Donald Bailey, British civil engineer (d. 1985)
- September 22 - Charles B. Huggins, Canadian-born cancer researcher, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1997)
- September 23 - Jaroslav Seifert, Czech writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1986)
- September 29 - Enrico Fermi, Italian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1954)
- September 29 - Lanza del Vasto, Italian philosopher, poet, and activist (d. 1981)

October-December


- October 2 - Kiki, French singer (d. 1953)
- October 10 - Alberto Giacometti, Swiss sculptor (d. 1966)
- November 3 - Léopold III of Belgium (d. 1983)
- November 4 - Yi, Bang-ja, Crown Princess of Korea (d. 1989)
- November 22 - Joaquin Rodrigo, Spanish composer (d. 1999)
- December 5 - Walt Disney, American animator and film producer (d. 1966)
- December 5 - Werner Heisenberg, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1976)
- December 16 - Margaret Mead, American cultural anthropologist (d. 1978)
- December 19 - Rudolf Hell, German inventor (d. 2002)
- December 25- Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester (d. 2004)
- December 31 - Karl-August Fagerholm, Prime Minister of Finland (d. 1984)
- Nadezhda Alliluyeva-Stalin, second wife of Iosif Vissarionovich Stalin (d. 1932)

Deaths


- January 11 - Vasily Kalinnikov, Russian composer (b. 1866)
- January 21 - Elisha Gray, American inventor and appliance manufacturer (b. 1835)
- January 22 - Queen Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India (b. 1819)
- January 27 - Giuseppe Verdi, Italian composer (b. 1813)
- February 11 - King Milan I of Serbia (b. 1854)
- February 22 - George Francis FitzGerald, Irish mathematician (b. 1851)
- March 13 - Benjamin Harrison, 23rd President of the United States (b. 1833)
- April 3 - Richard D'Oyly Carte, English impresario (b. 1844)
- June 2 - George Leslie Mackay, Canadian missionary (b. 1844)
- July 4 - Johannes Schmidt, German linguist (b. 1843)
- August 5 - Victoria, Empress of Germany (b. 1840)
- August 24 - Clara Maass, American Nurse (d. 1876)
- September 5 - Ignacij Klemenčič, Slovenian physicist (b. 1853)
- September 9 - Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, French painter (b. 1864)
- September 14 - William McKinley, 25th President of the United States (assassinated) (b. 1843)
- October 1 - Abdur Rahman Khan, Amir of Afghanistan
- October 10 - Lorenzo Snow, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1814)
- October 29 - Leon Czolgosz assassin of U.S. President William McKinley (b. 1873)
- November 7 - Li Hongzhang, Chinese general (b. 1823)
- November 30 - Edward John Eyre, English explorer (b. 1815)
- December 1 - George Lohmann, English cricketer (tuberculosis) (b. 1865)

Nobel Prizes


- Physics - Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen
- Chemistry - Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff
- Medicine - Emil Adolf von Behring
- Literature - Sully Prudhomme
- Peace - Jean Henri Dunant, Frédéric Passy Category:1901 ko:1901년 ms:1901 ja:1901年 simple:1901 th:พ.ศ. 2444

La donna è mobile

"La donna è mobile" ("Woman is fickle" in the Italian language) is a song from the opera Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi. The aria is famous as a showcase for tenors. It has been recorded by Tito Gobbi, Enrico Caruso, Plácido Domingo Luciano Pavarotti, and others. The song can be found on many record labels, including ASV, Naxos, Nimbus Records, Parlophone, and Victor.

Lyrics (Original Italian)

La donna è mobile
qual piuma al vento
muta d'accento
e di pensiero
Sempre un'amabile
leggiadro viso
in pianto e in riso
è menzognero
(chorus)
La donna è mobil
qual piuma al vento
muta d'accento
e di pensier
e di pensier
e di pensier
È sempre misero
chi a lei s'affida
chi le confida
mal cauto il core
Pur mai non sentesi
felice appieno
chi su quel seno
non liba amore

- chorus
-

Lyrics (English Translation)

This translation by Randy Garrou copied from [http://www.aria-database.com/translations/rig15_donna.txt this Aria Database entry], reformatted for readability on Wikipedia. La donna è mobile, the Duke's aria from Rigoletto ; La donna è mobile, qual piùma al vento, : Woman is fickle (movable), like a feather in the wind, ; muta d'accento, e di pensiero. : she changes the tone of her voice (i.e., her accents), and her thoughts ; Sempre un amabile, leggiadro viso, : Always a sweet, pretty face, ; in pianto o in riso, è menzognero. : in tears or in laughter, (she) is (always) lying ; La donna è mobile, qual piùma al vento, : Woman is fickle, like a feather in the wind, ; muta d'accento, e di pensier : she changes her accents, and her thoughts ; e di pensier, e di pensier : and her thoughts, and her thoughts ; È sempre misero, chi a lei s'affida, : It is always miserable, he that trusts in her
(He is always miserable who trusts in her) ; chi le confida, mal cauto il core! : who to her confides, his unwary heart! ; Pur mai non sentesi felice appieno : Yet nobody feels happy fully ; chi su quel seno non liba amore! : who on that bosom doesn't drink love, ; La donna è mobil, qual piùma al vento, : Woman is fickle, like a feather in the wind, ; muta d'accento e di pensier, : she changes the tone of her voice and her thoughts ; e di pensier, e di pensier! : and her thoughts, and her thoughts!

Media

Category:Opera excerpts

1813

1813 is a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar).

Events


- March 17 - Through a newspaper, the Prussian king Frederick William III of Prussia calls for resistance against the Napoleonic occupation
- April 27 - War of 1812: Battle of York - United States troops raid, destroy, but do not hold the capital of Ontario, York (present day Toronto, Ontario).
- May 2 - Napoleon wins the Battle of Lützen
- May 20-May 21 - Napoleon wins the Battle of Bautzen
- May 27 - War of 1812: In Canada, United States forces capture Fort George.
- June 6 - War of 1812: Battle of Stoney Creek - A British force of 700 under John Vincent defeat an American force three times its size under William Winder and John Chandler.
- June 21 - Peninsular War: Battle of Vittoria - A British, Spanish, and Portuguese force of 78000 with 96 guns under Wellington defeats a French force of 58000 with 153 guns under Joseph Bonaparte to end the Peninsular War.
- July 5 - War of 1812: Three weeks of British raids on Fort Schlosser, Black Rock and Plattsburgh, New York begin.
- August 19 - Gervasio Antonio de Posadas joins Argentina's second triumvirate.
- August 26-August 27 - Napoleon wins the Battle of Dresden
- August 29-August 30 - Napoleon's troops defeated at Kulm
- September - Robert Southey becomes Poet Laureate of Britain
- September 10 - War of 1812: Oliver Hazard Perry defeats a British fleet in the Battle of Lake Erie
- October 5 - War of 1812: William Henry Harrison defeats the British at the Battle of the Thames, killing native leader Tecumseh
- October 14 - After a ceremony in Caracas, Venezuela, the municipality gives Simón Bolívar the title of El Libertador.
- October 16-October 19 - Napoleon is defeated at the Battle of Leipzig
- October 24-November 5 - Persia and Russia sign the Gulistan Treaty of 1813 at the end of the first Russo-Persian Wars (1804-1813) by which Persia (Iran) loses all its territories to the north of Aras River to the Russians.
- October 25 - War of 1812: Charles de Salaberry defeats an American invasion at the Battle of Chateauguay
- November 11 - War of 1812: the Americans are defeated at the Battle of Crysler's Farm
- November 21 - An independent government is restored in the Netherlands.
- December 29 - War of 1812: British soldiers burn Buffalo, New York
- Russian troops reach and take Berlin without a fight after the French garrison evacuated the city.
- Mathieu Orfila publishes his groundbreaking Trait des poisons, formalizing the field of toxicology.
- George Hamilton-Gordon serves as ambassador extraordinaire in Vienna.
- Following the death of his father Wossen Seged, Sahle Selassie arrives at the capital Qundi before his other brothers, and is made Meridazmach of Shewa.

Ongoing events


- Napoleonic Wars (1799-1815)-Peninsular War/Sixth Coalition
- War of 1812 (1812-1815)

Births


- January 19 - Sir Henry Bessemer, English inventor (d. 1898)
- January 21 - John C. Frémont, American soldier and explorer (d. 1890)
- January 26 - Juan Pablo Duarte, Founder of the Dominican Republic (d. 1876)
- February 11 - Otto Ludwig, German writer (d. 1865)
- March 18 - Christian Friedrich Hebbel, German poet and playwright (d. 1863)
- March 19 - David Livingstone, English missionary and explorer (d. 1873)
- March 21 - James Strang, Mormon splinter group leader (d. 1856)
- March 27 - Nathaniel Currier, American illustrator (d. 1888)
- April 23 - Stephen A. Douglas, U.S. Senator from Illinois and Presidential candidate (d. 1861)
- May 5 - Soren Kierkegaard, Danish philosopher (d. 1855)
- May 21 - Robert Murray M'Cheyne, Scottish clergyman (d. 1843)
- May 22 - Richard Wagner, German composer (d. 1883)
- June 24 - Henry Ward Beecher, American clergyman and reformer (d. 1887)
- July 19 - Samuel M. Kier, American industrialist (d. 1874)
- October 10 - Giuseppe Verdi, Italian composer (d. 1901)
- October 17 - Georg Büchner, German playwright (d. 1837)
- December 13 - David Spangler Kaufman, U.S. Congressman from Texas (d. 1851)
- Abbas I, Pasha of Egypt (d. 1854)
- John Miley, American Methodist theologian (d. 1895)

Deaths


- January 20 - Christoph Martin Wieland, German writer (b. 1733)
- February 13 - Samuel Ashe, Governor of North Carolina (b. 1725)
- February 26 - Robert Linvingston, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (b. 1746)
- April 10 - Joseph Louis Lagrange, Italian mathematician (b. 1746)
- April 27 - Zebulon Pike, American general (b. 1779)
- April 28 - Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov, Russian field marshal (b. 1745)
- May 1 - Jean-Baptiste Bessières, French marshal (killed in combat) (b. 1768)
- June 6 - Alexandre-Théodore Brongniart, French architect (b. 1739)
- June 17 - Charles Middleton, 1st Baron Barham, English sailor and politician (b. 1726)
- June 28 - Gerhard von Scharnhorst, Prussian general (b. 1755)
- July 29 - Jean-Andoche Junot, French general (suicide) (b. 1771)
- August 11 - Henry James Pye, English poet (b. 1745)
- August 23 - Alexander Wilson, Scottish-born ornithologist (b. 1766)
- September 2 - Jean Victor Marie Moreau, French general (mortally wounded in battle) (b. 1763)
- October 5 - Tecumseh, Shawnee leader
- October 19 - Józef Antoni Poniatowski, Polish prince and Marshal of France (friendly fire) (b. 1763)
- November 12 - Jean de Crévecoeur, French-American writer (b. 1735)
- December 24 - Empress Go-Sakuramachi of Japan (b. 1740)
- Wossen Seged, Meridazmach of Shewa (murdered) Category:1813 ko:1813년 ms:1813 simple:1813

Busseto

Busseto is a commune in the province of Parma, in Emilia-Romagna. It was home of Giuseppe Verdi when he moved in 1824.

External link


- [http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?tb=1&city=Busseto&country=IT Mapquest - Busseto] ja:ブッセート Category:Towns in Emilia-Romagna

Duchy of Parma and Piacenza

The Duchy of Parma was created in 1545 from that part of the Duchy of Milan south of the Po River, as a fief for Pope Paul III's illegitimate son, Pier Luigi Farnese, centered around the city of Parma. In 1556, the second Duke, Ottavio Farnese, was given the city of Piacenza, becoming thus also Duke of Piacenza, and thus the state was thereafter properly known as the Duchies of Parma and Piacenza. The Farnese family continued to rule until their extinction in 1731, at which point the Duchy was inherited by the young son of the King of Spain, Don Charles, whose mother Elizabeth Farnese was the Farnese heiress. He ruled until the end of the War of the Polish Succession in 1735, when Parma was ceded to Emperor Charles VI in exchange for the Two Sicilies. The Habsburgs only ruled until the conclusion of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748, when it was ceded back to the Bourbons in the person of Don Philip, Don Charles's younger brother. As Duke Filippo, he became the founder of the House of Bourbon-Parma. In 1802, following the death of Duke Ferdinand, the Duchies were occupied by Napoleonic France, who took over administration, and, in 1808, annexed them, forming out of them the Département of Taro (although two officials were given the titles of Duc de Parme and Duc de Piacenze). In 1814, the Duchies were restored under Napoleon's wife, Marie Louise of the Habsburgs, who was to rule them for her lifetime. She died in 1847, and the Bourbon-Parma line, which had heretofore been ruling the tiny Duchy of Lucca, returned. The Bourbons ruled until 1859, when they were driven out by a revolution following the Sardinian victory in their war against Austria. The Duchies joined with Tuscany and Modena to form the United Provinces of Central Italy in December, and were annexed to the Kingdom of Sardinia in March of 1860. The House of Bourbon continues to maintain the title Duke of Parma to this day; Carlos-Hugo (pretender to the Spanish throne in the 1970s) has held the title since 1977.

See also


- List of Dukes of Parma
- Historical states of Italy
- Parma Parma Category:Contemporary Italian history Category:Bourbon-Parma Category:Habsburg Category:Habsburg-Lorraine Category:History of Austria Category:History of Italy

Parma

Parma is a medieval city in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna, with splendid architecture and a fine countryside around it. Parma is divided in two parts by the little stream with the same name. The Italian poet Attilio Bertolucci wrote: "As a capital city, it had to have a river. As a little capital, it received a stream, which is often dry".

History

The city was most probably founded and named by the Etruscans, for a parma (circular shield) was a Latin borrowing, as were many Roman terms for particular arms, and Parmeal, Parmni and Parmnial are names that appear in Etruscan inscriptions. Diodorus Siculus (XXII, 2,2; XXVIII, 2,1) reported that the Romans had changed their rectangular shields for round ones, imitating the Etruscans. Whether the Etruscan encampment was so named because it was round, like a shield, or whether its situation was a shield against the Gauls to the north, is more a matter of choice. The Roman colony was founded in 183 BC, together with Modena. 2000 families were settled. Parma had a certain importance as a road hub over the Via Aemilia and the Via Claudia. It had a forum, in what is today the central Garibaldi Square. In 44 CE the city was destroyed, and August rebuilt it. During the Roman Empire it gained the title of Julia for its loyalty to the Royal House. Roman Empire The city was subsequently sacked by Attila, and later given by the Barbarian king Odoacer to his fellows. During the Gothic War, however, Totila destroyed it. It was then part of the Byzantine Exarchate of Ravenna (changing name to Chrysopolis, "Golden City", probably due to the presence of the army's treasure) and, from 569, of the Lombard Kingdom of Italy. Parma became an important stage of the Via Francigena, the main Middle Ages road connecting Rome to Northern Europe: several castles, hospitals and inn were founded in the following centuries to host the increasing number of pilgrims. Under the Franks reign Parma became a committee's capital (774). Like most northern Italian cities, was nominally a part of the Holy Roman Empire created by Charlemagne, but locally ruled by its bishops, first being Guidobus. In the subsequent struggles between Papacy and Empire, Parma was usually member of the Imperial party. Two of his bishops became antipopes: Càdalo, founder of the Cathedral, as Honorius II); and Guibert, as Clement III). An almost independent commune was created around 1140. After the peace of Konstanz (1183), quarrels with the neighbouring communes of Reggio Emilia, Piacenza and Cremona became harsher: the aim was the control over the vital trading line over the Po river. The struggle between Guelphs and Ghibelline were a feature of Parma too. After a long stance alongside the Emperors, the Papist families of the city gained control in 1248: the city was besieged by the Emperor Frederick II, who was however crushed in the battle that ensued. Parma fell under the control of Milan in 1341. After a short-lived period of indpendence under the Terzi family (1404-1409), Sforza imposed their rule (1440-1449) through their associated families of Pallavicino, Rossi, Sanvitale and Da Correggio. These created a kind of new feudalism, building towers and castles throughout the city and the land. These fiefs evolved into truly independent states: the Landi governed the higher Taro's valley from 1257 to 1682. The Pallavicino' seignory extended over the eastern part of the today's province, with the capital in Busseto. Parma's territories was an exception for Northern Italy, as its feudal subdivision continued often until recent years. For example, Solignano was a Pallavicino's family possession until 1805, and San Secondo belonged to the Rossi well into the 19th century. 19th century Between the 14th and the 15th centuries Parma was at the centre of the Italian Wars. The Battle of Fornovo was fought in its territory. The French mantained the city in 1500-1521, with a short Papal parenthesis in 1512-1515. After the foreigners were expelled Parma belonged to the Papal States untile 1545. In that year the Farnese pope, Paul III, detached Parma and Piacenza from the Papal States and gave them as a duchy for his illegitimate son, Pier Luigi Farnese, whose descendents ruled in Parma until 1731, when Antonio Farnese (1679-1731), last male of the Farnese line, died. The state was consolidated by Ottavio II Farnese (1547-1586). He also renovated the city's structures to create a true capital for his little but rich reign. In 1594 a Constituion was emanated, the University enhanced and the Nobles' College founded. The war to reduce the barons' power continued for several years: in 1612 Barbara Sanseverino was executed in the central square of Parma, together with six other nobles charged of plotting against the duke. At the end of the 17th century, after the defeat of Pallavicini (1588) and Landi (1682) the Farnese duke could finally hold with firm hand all Parmense territories. The castle of the Sanseverino in Colorno was turned into a luxurious summer palace by Ferdinando Bibiena. In 1731] the combined Duchy of Parma and Piacenza was given to the House of Bourbon in a diplomatic shuffle of the European dynastic politics that were played out in Italy. Under the new rulers, however, it faced a certain decadence. In 1734 all the outstanding art collections of the duke's palaces of Parma, Clorno and Sala Baganza were moved to Naples. Parma was under French influence after the Peace of Aachen (1748). Parma became a modern state with the energic action of prime minister Guillaume du Tillot. He created the bases for a modern industry and fought strenuously against the church's privileges. The city lived a period of particular splendour: the Palatine Library, the Archaelogical Museum, the Picture Gallery and the Botanical Garden were founded, together with the Royal Printing Works directed by Giambattista Bodoni. During the Napoleonic Wars (1802-1814), Parma was part of the Taro Department. The Risorgimento's upheavals had no fortile ground in the tranquil duchy. In 1847, after Maria Luigia's death, it passed again to the Bourbon, the last of them was stabbed in the city and left it to his Widow, Luisa Maria of Berry. On September 15, 1859 the dynasty was declared deposed, and Parma entered in the newly formed provinces of Emilia under Carlo Farini. With the plebiscite of 1860 the former duchy became part of the unified Kingdom of Italy. The loss of the capital role provoked an ecenomical and social crisis in Parma. It strarted to recover its role of industrial prominence after the connection with Piacenza and Bologna of 1859, and with Fornovo and Suzzara in 1883. Trade unions were strong in the city, in which a famous General Strike was declared from May 1 to June 6, 1908. The struggle with Fascism lived its most dramatic moment in the August 1922, when the regime officer Italo Balbo attempted to enter in the popular quarter of Oltretorrente. The citizens organized into the Arditi del Popolo ("People's assaulters") and pushed back the squadristi. This episode is considered the first example of Resistance in Italy. During World War II, Parma was a strong centre of partisan presence. It suffered large destructions for bombardments until it was liberated on April 25, 1945.

Main sights


- The Romanesque Cathedral houses works by Correggio and Benedetto Antelami.
- The Baptistry (begun in 1996 by Antelami), one of the most important Medieval monuments in Europe.
- The church of Saint John the Evangelist was built between 1498 and 1510 behind the Cathedral's apse. It has Baroque facade and belfry, with a Latin cross plant and three naves. The dome was frescoed by Correggio in 1520-1521. Chapels have frescoes by Parmigianino. Also the cloisters and the ancient Benedictine grocery are noteworthy. The library has books from the 15th and 16th centuries.
- The Monastery of Saint Paul has frescoes by Correggio and Araldi.
- The Museum House of Arturo Toscanini, where the famous musician was born.
- The Old Hospital (1201)
- The Palazzo della Pilotta (1583). It houses the Academy of Fine Arts with artists of the School of Parma (Painting), the Palatine Library, the National Gallery, the Archaeological Museum, the Bodoni Museum and the Farnese Theatre.
- The Farnese Theatre was constructed in 1618-1619 by G.B. Aleotti, totally in wood. It was commissioned by Ranuccio I Farnese for the visit of Cosimo I de' Medici.
- The Teatro Regio ("Royal Theatre"), built in 1821-1829 by Nicola Bettoli. It has a Neo-Classical facade and a porch with double window order.
- The Auditorium Niccolò Paganini, designed by Renzo Piano.
- The Ducal Park (1561), built by Vignola for Ottaviano Farnese. It was turned into a Franch-style garden in 1749.

Food

Parma is famous for its food: its cheese "Parmigiano Reggiano" (along with Reggio Emilia) and for its Parma ham. In year 2004 Parma has been appointed seat of the [http://www.efsa.eu.int/index_en.html European Food Safety Authority (EFSA)].

Sport

Parma F.C. is a football club renowned in Italy and Europe for its successes including three national cups, an European's Cups Winner's Cup and a UEFA Cup. The stade Ennio Tardini can host up to 28,000 spectators. Also volleyball, rugby and baseball have large popularity in the city and have scored relevant successes.

Miscellaneous

Parma hosts the [http://www.comune.parma.it/tourvirtuale/virtual-teatroregio2.html Teatro Regio], a famous opera theatre. Stendhal set much of his masterpiece (The Charterhouse of Parma) in the city, even though there was no "Charterhouse" in real life. The Serie A football club Parma F.C. play in the city's Ennio Tardini stadium. Parma is also home to two rugby union teams, Overmach Rugby Parma and SKG Gran Rugby.

Famous people from Parma


- Francesco Mazzola, called 'Il Parmigianino', 16th century painter
- Sisto Badalocchio, painter
- Giambattista Bodoni, typographer
- Charles Ponzi, swindler and namesake of the Ponzi scheme
- Ferdinando Paer, composer
- Giuseppe Verdi, opera composer
- Arturo Toscanini, conductor
- Alessandro Araldi, painter (1460-1528)
- Michelangelo Anselmi, painter born in Tuscany (1492-1554)
- Giovanni Maria Francesco Rondani, painter (1490-1550)
- Girolamo Mazzola Bedoli, painter(1500-1569)
- Antonio da Correggio (Antonio Allegri), painter born in Correggio (c. 1489-c. 1533)

External links


- [http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=44.798769,10.323372&spn=0.086441,0.158838&t=k&hl=en Parma's view from satellite (Google Earth)]
- [http://www.comune.parma.it/tourvirtuale/index.html 360° photos of City of Parma]
- [http://parma.arounder.com/fullscreen.html for broadband: Interactive high quality fullscreen QTVR panoramas] Category:Towns in Emilia-Romagna Category:History of Italy ja:パルマ

Ferdinando Provesi

Ferdinando Provesi (18th - 19th century) was an early tutor of Giuseppe Verdi, regarded as one of the greatest Italian opera composers. Provesi, a native of Parma, Italy, began teaching Verdi in 1824, when Provesi was the master of music at the cathedral in Busseto (a town not far from the village where Verdi was born). Provesi, Ferdinando

La Scala

:This article is about the opera house. For other uses, see Scala. The Teatro alla Scala (or La Scala for short), in Milan, Italy, is one of the world's most famous opera houses. The current edifice is the second theatre on the site. A fire destroyed the first, the ancient Teatro Ducale, on 25 February 1776, after a carnival gala. A group of ninety wealthy Milanese, who owned palchi (private boxes) in the theater, wrote to Archduke Ferdinand I of Austria asking for a new theatre and a provisional one to be used while completing the new one. The neoclassical architect Giuseppe Piermarini produced an initial design but it was rejected by Count Firmian (an Austrian governor). A second plan was accepted in 1776 by Empress Maria Theresa. The new theatre was built on the former location of the church of Santa Maria alla Scala, from which the theatre gets its name. The church was deconsecrated and demolished, and over a period of two years the theater was completed by Pietro Marliani, Pietro Nosetti and Antonio and Giuseppe Fe. The theater was inaugurated on 3 August 1778, under the name Nuovo Regio Ducal Teatro alla Scala with Salieri's L'Europa riconosciuta. Building expenses were covered by the sale of palchi, which were lavishly decorated by their owners, impressing such observers as Stendhal. La Scala (as it soon became to be known) soon became the preeminent meeting place for noble and wealthy Milanese people. In the tradition of the times, the platea (the main floor) had no chairs and spectators watched the shows standing up. The orchestra was in full sight, as the golfo mistico (orchestra pit) had not yet been built. Above the boxes, La Scala has always had a gallery where the less wealthy can watch the performances. It is called the loggione. The loggione is typically crowded with the most critical opera aficionados, who can be ecstatic or merciless towards singers' perceived successes or failures. La Scala's loggione is considered a baptism of fire in the opera world, and fiascos are long remembered. (The famed tenor Carlo Bergonzi, back on stage after many years, wasn't forgiven for a bad start to his Aida and suffered merciless fischi — whistles, which in Italy signify contempt). As with most of the theaters at that time, La Scala was also a casino, with gamblers sitting in the foyer. casino La Scala was originally illuminated with eighty-four oil lamps mounted on the palcoscenico and another thousand in the rest of theater. To prevent the risks of fire, several rooms were filled with hundreds of water buckets. In time, oil lamps were replaced by gas lamps, these in turn were replaced by electric lights in 1883. The original structure was renovated in 1907, when it was given its current layout. In 1943, during WWII, La Scala was severely damaged by bombing. It was rebuilt and reopened on May 11, 1946, with a memorable concert conducted by Arturo Toscanini. La Scala hosted the prima (first production) of many famous operas, and had a special relationship with Giuseppe Verdi. For several years, however, Verdi did not allow his work to be played here, as some of his music had been modified (he said "corrupted") by the orchestra. It now hosts a museum (accessible from the foyer) with an extraordinary collection of paintings, drafts, statues, costumes, and other documents regarding opera. La Scala's season traditionally opens on December 7, Saint Ambrose's Day, Milan's patron saint. All performances must end before midnight; long operas start earlier in the evening if need be. Ticketholders are not allowed to enter after the performance has begun. No exceptions are made, as Richard Burton once discovered.

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