12 Tremendous Composers 12 Composers    

Lesson 31: La Traviata – The Drinking Song

by Giuseppe Verdi

Performer: European Archive

Directions

Study the musical selection for one week.

Over the week:

• Listen to the music daily.
• Read the synopsis.
• Review the vocabulary terms.
• Read about the composer.
• Complete the enrichment activities.
• Study the review questions.

Synopsis

The next tremendous composer for study is Giuseppe Verdi, and the title of his story is 'The Story of the Little Boy who Loved the Hand Organ' by Thomas Tapper. The first featured Verdi composition is 'The Drinking Song' from Verdi's opera, 'La Traviata.' La Traviata (English: The Fallen Woman) premiered in Venice, Italy in 1853, and it is still commonly performed today. In La Traviata, the charming but scandalous Parisian beauty, Violetta, falls deeply in love with Alfredo Germont. At the request of Alfredo's father, Violetta abandons Alfredo to avoid sullying the reputation of his family. Unfortunately, when the truth of Violetta's love is revealed and Alfredo rushes to her side, she soon after dies from an illness. In La Traviata's 'The Drinking Song,' Alfredo, who has a fine singing voice, sings to win the attention of the vivacious and witty Violetta.

Vocabulary

Hand Organ: A portable organ played by means of a crank turned by the hand.
Spinet: A short, compact harpsichord or piano.
Opera: A theatrical work, combining drama, music, song and sometimes dance.
Aida: Coined name of an imaginary Ethiopian princess in Giuseppe Verdi's opera Aida.
La Traviata: Italian for 'The Fallen Woman.'

Composer

1. The picture on this page is of the house wherein a great composer was born. Of course, one is not born a great composer. They have to become that. So, at the moment this story begins there is, within this house, a little boy quite like any other boy. He loved to play and to make a noise and to have a good time.

2. But most of all—what do you think he loved? A hand organ (also called a barrel organ).

3. Whenever the organ man came into the village of Roncole, in Italy (where Verdi was born, October 10, 1813), he could not be kept indoors. But he followed the wonderful organ and the wonderful man who played it, all day long, as happy as he could be.
4. When Giuseppe was seven years old his father, though only a poor innkeeper, bought him a spinet, a sort of small piano. So faithfully did the little boy practice that the spinet was soon quite worn out and new jacks, or hammers, had to be made for it. This was done by Stephen Cavaletti, who wrote a message on one of the jacks telling that he made them anew and covered them with leather, and fixed the pedal, doing all for nothing, because the little boy, Giuseppe Verdi, showed such willingness to practice and to learn. Thus, the good Stephen thought this was pay enough.
5. Here is a picture of Verdi's little spinet. In Verdi's language (Italian) it is called a spinetta.

6. It was on this spinet that the little boy discovered one day a wonderful chord, for so it seemed to him. It was this:

7. The tones delighted him and he pressed the keys over and over again to drink them in. But the next day when he sought again the keys which made the lovely sound, he could not find them. This made him so impatient and finally so curious that he began to break the spinet to pieces with a hammer. Fortunately, the noise he made brought his father into the room and the spinet was saved.
8. When Giuseppe was making his first attempt to find beautiful chords on the spinet he was, as we have said, seven years old. That was in 1820.
9. When he was ten years old (what year was that?) Giuseppe became organist at the old church of Roncole. Truly a little boy for so great a position! One day he scratched his name on the woodwork. Here is a picture of the organ:

10. Here is the scratching of his name:

11. And here is the way he wrote his name, as a man:

12. Then there came the question of education—of reading, writing, spelling and arithmetic—for this music-loving boy. The Verdis wanted Giuseppe to grow up as he should; so it was arranged for him to go to school in the neighboring town of Busseto. A cobbler lived there who was a friend of the family, and with him Giuseppe went to live, having board, lodging and tuition at the school, and all for six cents a day.
13. Giuseppe still played the organ at Roncole, going thither afoot every Sunday morning and back after nightfall.
14. He must have been a weary little boy after the day's music-making at the church. One Sunday night when it was dark and he was too weary to notice where he was going, he fell into a ditch, from which he was rescued by an old woman, who, hearing his call for help, pulled the half-frozen boy out of the water.
15. Our little hero had another talent besides music. He knew how to win the friendship of people. So at Busseto a man named Antonio Barezzi offered to take him into his business. He sold spices, drugs and perfumes. But besides this he played the flute in the church. At his house Giuseppe heard lots of good music, for the town orchestra rehearsed there. Here is a picture of Giuseppe's friend, Antonio Barezzi.

16. Then Giuseppe made another friend, Ferdinando Provesi, who gave him a wonderful bit of advice. He urged him to become a composer!
17. Better still he helped the boy in every way he could until he was sixteen years old. By that time our little Giuseppe was grown to be quite a man. Ferdinando Provesi was proud of him, for already he was becoming a master. He played the cathedral organ at times. He conducted the Philharmonic Orchestra. He led its rehearsals, and he composed music for its concerts. Here is a picture of Ferdinando Provesi.

18. So you see—all the wonderful operas that were to come were already on the way! It has been written that Provesi was the first person to see and understand Verdi's real genius. The boy worked hard and advanced so rapidly that it was soon necessary for him to go to a larger city for lessons.

Enrichment

Activity 1: Recite the Composition Information

• Recite the name of the composer and the composition.

Activity 2: Study the Music Timeline

Examine the music timeline to answer the following questions.

• What is the year of birth of the lesson composer?
• What is the year of death of the featured composer?
• How old was the composer upon death?
• Which composer (if any) directly precedes the studied composer by date of birth?
• Which composer (if any) directly succeeds the lesson composer by date of birth?
• Which other timeline composers were alive at the same time as the studied composer?

Activity 3: Map the Music

• Giuseppe Verdi was born in Roncole, Italy.
• Find Italy on the map of Europe.
• Find the famed Italian cities of Rome, Naples, Venice, and Milan.
• Find the Italian islands of Sicily and Sardinia.
• Which Italian island is being kicked by the 'boot' of Italy?

Activity 4: Read Aloud an Excerpt of the Song Lyrics [3]

VIOLETTA

• With you, with you I'll be able to share
• my cheerful times.
• Everything is foolish in the world
• which is not pleasure.
• Let's enjoy ourselves, for fleeting and quick
• the delight of love is:
• it's a flower that blooms and dies
• and can no longer be enjoyed.
• Let's enjoy ourselves, fervent
• flattering voice invites us.

Activity 5: Study Facts About Giuseppe Verdi

• Giuseppe Verdi was born in Roncole, Italy, October 10, 1813.
• He began to learn the spinet when he was seven years old.
• The spinet is an early form of the harpsichord or piano. It is shorter and more compact than the harpsichord or piano.
• Among the great composers who were alive when Verdi was a little boy were: Beethoven, Schubert, Berlioz and Schumann.
• He became organist at Roncole when he was ten years old (1823).
• He went to school in Busseto and lived with a cobbler.
• After a time he studied in Milan.
• But not at the famous Milan Conservatory, for he was told there that he had no special talent for music.
• Verdi wrote thirty operas.
• The first was performed in 1839, when he was twenty-six years old.
• One of his operas has its scene set in Boston, Mass.
• Another is about Egypt, and the scene is set in Memphis and Thebes, in the time of the Pharaohs.
• Verdi founded, for aged musicians, the Casa di Riposo (House of Rest).
• Besides the thirty operas Verdi wrote a string quartet, The Manzoni Requiem, and a National Hymn.
• For a period of sixteen years Verdi wrote no operas. Then he produced his two great works, Othello and Falstaff.
• He died at St. Agatha, January 27, 1901.

Review

Question 1

When and where was Giuseppe Verdi born?

1 / 8

Answer 1

Giuseppe Verdi was born in 1813 in Roncole, Italy.

1 / 8

Question 2

Which instrument did Giuseppe Verdi love most of all as a boy?

2 / 8

Answer 2

Verdi loved a hand organ (or barrel organ) most of all as a boy.

2 / 8

Question 3

Which instrument did Giuseppe Verdi begin playing at the age of 7?

3 / 8

Answer 3

Verdi began playing the spinet at the age of 7.

3 / 8

Question 4

What is a spinet?

4 / 8

Answer 4

A spinet is an earlier, shorter, and more compact form of the harpsichord or piano.

4 / 8

Question 5

Why did Giuseppe Verdi hit his spinet with a hammer?

5 / 8

Answer 5

Verdi hit his spinet with a hammer when he could not find the wonderful chord he'd played the day before.

5 / 8

Question 6

How old was Giuseppe Verdi when he became the organist at the old church of Roncole?

6 / 8

Answer 6

Verdi was only ten when he became the organist at the old church of Roncole.

6 / 8

Question 7

Why did Giuseppe Verdi fall into a ditch and need to be rescued from the water by an old woman?

7 / 8

Answer 7

Verdi was weary after a day of playing organ at the Roncole church. He fell in the ditch as he walked back to Busseto, where he lived and went to school.

7 / 8

Question 8

Why was it necessary for Giuseppe Verdi to go to a larger city for music lessons?

8 / 8

Answer 8

Verdi worked hard at his music and advanced so rapidly that it was soon necessary for him to go to a larger city for lessons.

8 / 8

❮ ❯

1. When and where was Giuseppe Verdi born? Giuseppe Verdi was born in 1813 in Roncole, Italy.
2. Which instrument did Giuseppe Verdi love most of all as a boy? Verdi loved a hand organ (or barrel organ) most of all as a boy.
3. Which instrument did Giuseppe Verdi begin playing at the age of 7? Verdi began playing the spinet at the age of 7.
4. What is a spinet? A spinet is an earlier, shorter, and more compact form of the harpsichord or piano.
5. Why did Giuseppe Verdi hit his spinet with a hammer? Verdi hit his spinet with a hammer when he could not find the wonderful chord he'd played the day before.
6. How old was Giuseppe Verdi when he became the organist at the old church of Roncole? Verdi was only ten when he became the organist at the old church of Roncole.
7. Why did Giuseppe Verdi fall into a ditch and need to be rescued from the water by an old woman? Verdi was weary after a day of playing organ at the Roncole church. He fell in the ditch as he walked back to Busseto, where he lived and went to school.
8. Why was it necessary for Giuseppe Verdi to go to a larger city for music lessons? Verdi worked hard at his music and advanced so rapidly that it was soon necessary for him to go to a larger city for lessons.

References

Tapper, Thomas. Giuseppe Verdi - The Story of the Little Boy who Loved the Hand Organ. Philadelphia, PA. Theodore Presser Co., 1919.

'La traviata.' Wikipedia. Wikipedia.org. n.p.

'Libiamo ne' lieti calici.' Wikipedia. Wikipedia.org. n.p.