A panorama of Italian and international web sites dedicated to Verdi: an itinerary which, beginning with the most important collections of documents, continues with the discovery of new and unusual aspects regarding the composer.
Casa Ricordi’s Historic Archives, Milan
Archivio storico Casa Ricordi, Milano
Casa Ricordi’s official website presenting the publisher’s own fascinating history through the treasures in its historic archives, one of the most important private music archives in the world. These contain originals for 23 of the 28 operas composed by Verdi, all those written by Puccini (with the exception of La Rondine) together with many works by great classical opera composers: Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, Verdi, Paganini, Liszt, Ponchielli and Mascagni, and also include many by composers from more recent generations such as Respighi, Malipiero, Casella, Pizzetti, Nono, Maderna and Donatoni.
La Scala’s Theatrical Museum, Milan
Museo teatrale La Scala, Milano
A collection of memorabilia and documents of great value going back over one hundred years. Created in 1913 with the acquisition of the collection owned by the Parisian antique merchant, Jules Sambon, La Scala’s theatrical museum contains precious collections of objects, documents, scores, paintings, portraits, scenery designs, dressmakers’ models and stage and technical instruments as well as a large specialist library. An entire section of the museum is dedicated to Giuseppe Verdi.
Historic Archive, La Scala Theatre, Milan
Archivio storico Teatro La Scala, Milano
This archive allows opera lovers and scholars to access the history and artistic patrimony of the La Scala Theatre in Milan. Thousands of documents can be consulted online including photographs, playbills, programmes, and presentations of the operas.
Braidense Library, Milan
Biblioteca Braidense di Milano
Within the official website for the National Braidense Library there is a section dedicated to Casa Ricordi’s historic archives.
Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory, Milan
Conservatorio di musica “G. Verdi”, Milano
The conservatory’s website includes a section with a listing of the large collection of correspondence and autograph letters, between the eighteenth and twentieth centuries, conserved in the institute’s library. Amongst these is a collection with an exchange of letters between Giacomo Puccini and Riccardo Schnabl-Rossi (1872-1955), together with original autograph letters from Giuseppe Verdi, Gaetano Donizetti, Vincenzo Bellini, Amilcare Ponchielli, Francesco Lucca and Giovanni Bottesini.
The Verdi Home, Milan
Casa Verdi, Milano
This is the official website for the Retirement Home for Musicians, in Milan, created by Giuseppe Verdi.
Historic Archive of the Regio Theatre, Turin
Archivio storico del Teatro Regio di Torino
A page on the website for the Regio Theatre of Turin, describes the theatre’s historic archive which documents, conserves and promotes the glorious history of music in Piedmont and especially in the Regio Theatre from the creation of the first Sabaudian court theatre in the middle of the sixteenth century to the present day.
Schmidle Museum, Trieste
Museo Schmidl, Trieste
The official web site for the civic theatrical “Carlo Schmidl Museum” in Trieste dedicated to the musical protagonists and the performances produced in the city of Trieste from the seventeenth century until the present day. The museum contains the archives of the Grand Theatre in Trieste, later renamed the Giuseppe Verdi Theatre. The website allows access to sections of art collections, a collection of medals, theatrical costumes and memorabilia, European and extra European musical instruments, the “George Strehler” collection, a library and the “Riccardo Gmeiner” media collection.
Historic Archive of the La Fenice Theatre, Venice
Archivio storico del Teatro La Fenice
The official web site for the historic archives of the La Fenice theatre which contain historic documentation for the theatre from its creation until the present day. The data banks include information and documents covering the chronological history of the theatre, playbills, posters and invitations, original opera librettos, autographed letters, manuscripts, printed scores, documents referring to choreography, stage photographs for original productions created in the theatre, original stage designs, scenography designs and costume designs and models, administrative documents etc as well as materials for the most important operatic protagonists of eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, which a large space dedicated to Giuseppe Verdi.
The Verona Arena
Arena di Verona
The Arena’s official web site has a section dedicated to Giuseppe Verdi. The theatre is amongst the most important in the Italian peninsula and its website gives information about current productions, ticket prices, the history of the Arena and much more.
The website for the Arena’s museum accompanies visitors through the incredible creative process necessary for an opera up until the works receives a theatrical production: from the writing of a libretto to the composition of a score, designs for the scenography and costumes, from the first plans for a theatrical presentation and the presentation of the singers, up until the final performance. Ample space is dedicated to the Verdi bicentenary.
National Institute of Verdi Studies, Parma
Istituto nazionale di studi verdiani, Parma
The official website for the National Institute of Verdi Studies, which was set up in Parma in 1959 to preserve, valorise and promote the works and the figure of Giuseppe Verdi through studies, research, conventions and specialised series of books and publications.
The House of Music, Parma
Casa della musica, Parma
The official web site for the House of Music, Parma, an institution created in 2002 thanks to an initiative undertaken by the City of Parma to conserve and valorise documents and patrimony referring to music culture in Parma. The House of Music promotes specialised research and its collection. It is also a centre of production especially for educational programmes promoting music master courses as well as concert series.
Giuseppe Verdi National Museum. Busseto
Museo nazionale Giuseppe Verdi, Busseto
The official website for the Giuseppe Verdi National Museum in Busseto, in the province of Parma. The museum is situated in the salons of the Villa Pallavicino and was inaugurated on the 10th October 2009, to celebrate the 196th anniversary of Giuseppe Verdi’s birth. It also presents an historic exhibition centred on the composer’s twenty seven operas.
International Research Centre for musical periodicals, Parma
Centro internazionale di ricerca sui periodici musicali, Parma
The official web site of the International Research Centre for Musical Periodicals, in Parma allows visitors to visit the digital archives of the most important music magazines including “Il Centenario verdiano”, the official publication authorised by the Committee for the Celebrations and Exhibitions for Giuseppe Verdi (1913:1-10)”, as well as others containing press reviews for first performances of Verdi’s operas.
Villa Verdi, Villanova sull’Arda
This web site offers a virtual visit to Villa Verdi in Villanova sull’Arda, where the composer lived and composed.
Verdi Museum in Casa Barezzi, Busseto
Museo verdiano di Casa Barezzi, Busseto
The official web site of the Verdi Museum in the Barezzi Home in Busseto, where young Giuseppe Verdi obtained his early musical and sentimental education.
National Academy of the Lincei, Corsini Library, Rome
Accademia nazionale dei Lincei. Biblioteca Corsiniana, Roma
The official web site of the National Academy of the Lincei of which Alessandro Luzi was a member, and curator, between 1935 and 1947, containing editions of the publication “Carteggi verdiani”, in 4 volumes, now conserved in the Corsini Library.
Risorgimento Museum, Rome
Museo del Risorgimento, Roma
The official web site of the Risorgimento Museum in Rome giving access to the archive’s inventory of a large artistic and documentary patrimony, one of the principle starting points for research regarding Italy and the international scenario from the middle of the eighteenth century to the end of the First World War. The institute produces collections of historic studies and organises international congresses about specific and individual aspects of the Risorgimento. The central Museum for the Risorgimento is housed within the Institute and also arranges exhibitions.
National Library of Naples, Lucchesi Palli department
Biblioteca Nazionale di Napoli. Sezione Lucchesi Palli
The web page for the “Lucchesi Palli” collection is part of the official web site for the National Library of Naples. The department was created in 1888 when Count Edoardo Lucchesi Palli donated his theatrical library and music archives to the National Library. The donation is devoted principally to printed theatrical and musical works and also includes newspapers, novels, Neapolitan songs, and literary works which include a large Japanese collection. Of particular interest is the Album verdiano, a collection set up by Ercole Alberghi in 1913, (plus some later additions) containing eight Verdi autographs and a large amount of correspondence with Vincenzo and Achille Torelli and Salvatore Cammarano. This can be viewed in the section of the site for the Theatre Archives of Naples.
Theatre Archives, Naples
Archivi di Teatro Napoli
This project is the result of collaboration amongst the major Neapolitan cultural institutions to disseminate materials referring to the history of theatre. Among them the Corrispondenza verdiana in the Lucchesi Palli collection.
International Giuseppe Verdi Foundation
Fondazione Internazionale Giuseppe Verdi
The official web site for the International Giuseppe Verdi Foundation exists to protect the great composer’s inheritance, in all forms and in every field, to conserve this for future generations and to render the patrimony accessible for all.
The official Web Site for the project undertaken by the Emilia-Romagna Region to celebrate Busseto’s great composer on the two hundredth anniversary of his birth. The website also presents regional realities and includes sections and itineraries for tourism, food and wine as well as information about the special events created for the celebrations. The objective is the promotion of greater knowledge about Verdi’s operas through a calendar of events dedicated to the great composer, with the possibility of listening to his operas on line or in a theatre.
Online Treccani Encyclopaedia
Enciclopedia Treccani online
The web page for Giuseppe Verdi’s biography has been set up inside the official web site for the Italian Treccani Encyclopaedia, which exists to update, publish and disseminate the “Italian Encyclopaedia of Science, Literature and the Arts” together with many other related works increasing the knowledge of humanistic and scientific culture for education, research and social service. There are over 200,000 entries referring to the “Enciclopedia Italiana di Scienze Lettere ed Arti”; the “Enciclopedia Treccani Trevolumi”; “Il Treccani sinonimi e contrari”; “La piccola Treccani”; “Dizionario Biografico degli italiani”; “Il vocabolario Treccani”; “Neologismi” and the “Atlante Storico Treccani”.
A web page dedicated to Giuseppe Verdi and his biography can be found on the site Biografieonline.it, programmed by Stefano Moraschini.
A web page dedicated to the life and compositions of Giuseppe Verdi is inside the Web site “Settemuse.it – To spread knowlege”. The section sets out, among other things, a large listing of printed and on line publications, Cds and DVDs, which are dedicated to the composer.
Giuseppe Verdi’s Wealth
Le ricchezze di Giuseppe Verdi
An article written by Paolo Stefanato can be found on the site “mondo in tasca.org – magazine di turismo e cultura del viaggiare”. His essay includes a brief biography for Giuseppe Verdi and lists his properties, will and testament and heirs.
Verdi’s Homes
Le dimore verdiane
A web page dedicated to the homes and houses in which Giuseppe Verdi lived starting with his birthplace in Roncole, and including the Barezzi home and Orlandi Palace in Busseto. This listing is in the official web site of the Tourist Information Centre for the Emilia Romagna Region.
The web site for the “Va’ Pensiero Viaggi” (travel agency) in Busseto (Province of Parma) contains an itinerary dedicated to visits available to locations connected with Verdi, and the purchase of tickets for opera performances in important theatres. This particular tour operator specializes in packets for stays of one or two days in Italy, in particular for the regions of Emilia Romagna and Lombardy and especially for Parma, Piacenza, Cremona and Mantova.
Opera Glass, Università di Stanford
This web page dedicated to Giuseppe Verdi has been set up by the Californian University of Stanford and is part of their “Opera Glass” web site giving detailed information for over 4,800 opera composers. The contents and materials available for each individual musician are subdivided into sections for librettos, original information, texts, and details of performances, plots for the operas, discographies and performers.
Arts and Science Department, University of Toronto
Università di Toronto. Facoltà Arts & Science
A web page set up by Nicla A. Gargano and Rachele Longo Lavorato, thanks to a contribution from the Arts and Science Department of the University of Toronto, contains a brief biography for Giuseppe Verdi and the possibility of listening to performances of some of his most famous arias.