The works of no great composer between the twentieth and the
twenty-first centuries have undergone a more spectacular reassessment
than those of Giuseppe Verdi. His death brought a crowd of
several hundred thousand people to mourn not only the passing of a
great artist but also a beloved national hero. It is not surprising that a
figure such as Verdi should have inspired an enormous amount of
books, articles, essays, and critical evaluation. Today, Verdi scholars
build their work on a vast foundation of earlier research. For those
who have not spent years with Verdi literature or who may just be
starting to explore some aspect of the giant's life and works, this
foundation may seem daunting indeed. It is primarily for these
researchers that this volume is intended, although it is hoped that
specialists will also find it to be useful. Its purpose is to index and
describe some of the most significant studies about the composer
and his music, presenting enough material - in a sort of stream of
consciousness, using annotations that readers may survey the myriad
directions Verdi research has gone, ascertain the relevance of
individual items to their individual interests, and easily pursue significant
patterns and threads in which they are interested. This Verdi
biography is dealt with as a simple story to be read in one go - in
which thoughts concerning personal and professional events in his
life flow in simplicity, while continuing to respect the importance of
chronological order.