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Article: Verdi: Master of grand opera and the heart
- Article from:
- Chicago Sun-Times
- Article date:
- February 14, 1988
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright (null) Chicago Sun-Times. (Hide copyright information)
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Verdi A Life in the Theater. By Charles Osborne. Knopf. $22.95.
The two greatest figures in 19th century opera are Giuseppe
Verdi and Richard Wagner. Not unexpectedly, they did not understand
each other artistically.
Commenting ironically on the failure of a Milan performance of
Wagner's "Die Walkure," Verdi observed that "the large audience found
the work frankly boring. After a week they had had enough."
Wagner did not see Verdi's operas as serious music dramas of the
type he was composing, but, perpetually in debt, he never ceased to
admire the businesslike methods by which Verdi profited from the
popularity of his work.
Wagner liked to live like a prince. Visit his home in ...