Composer Of The Week

Donald Macleod explores the relationship between Verdi and the city of Milan. As the hearse carrying the coffin of the composer Giuseppi Verdi travelled through Milan, more than half of the city’s population lined the streets to pay their respects and catch a final glimpse of their hero. Few musicians have made such an indelible impression on the population of a country, and become more linked to their sense of identity than him. And fewer still have become as ingrained in the fabric of a city as Verdi is in Milan. Today, as well as a statue to the composer, both the Conservatoire and a major theatre are named after him. So how was this relationship, between the city of Milan, and Verdi – a man born in Le Roncole, which was then French territory – who would rise to become the most successful Italian composer of his generation, forged? Over the course of this week, Donald Macleod explores the twists and turns of Verdi’s relationship with Milan -where Verdi would see his first iconic successes, and where he wo