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OPERA

Verdi lives on in Italy after 200 years

Opera maestro Giuseppe Verdi, whose bicentenary is being celebrated on Thursday, is "still alive" in Italy - especially for the inhabitants of his native village of Busseto.

Verdi lives on in Italy after 200 years
Giuseppe Verdi was born on October 10th 1813. Photo: National Gallery of Modern Art/Wikimedia Commons

The world famous composer's family home is surprisingly humble. On a crossroads, the grocery owned by his parents is on just one floor and has a handful of rooms, including a small stable.

Mario Rossin and Laura Manfrenatto, a couple who have come to visit from Rovigo near Venice, said they wanted to be present for the 200th birthday of "our Verdi", born on October 10th 1813.

"It is thanks to him that our country is known in the whole world with operas like Aida and Rigoletto," Rossin told AFP.

His partner said she was "very emotional".

"Our three sons are at the conservatory and we know how difficult it is to choose music and study when you are not from a rich family," she said.

Verdi only managed to complete his musical studies thanks to the patronage of a wealthy merchant from Busseto after his talent was noticed by his teacher at school, an organist at the local church.

The house of his rich patron, Antonio Barezzi, is in the centre of the village on what is now Giuseppe Verdi Square and is open to the public.

The young Verdi – known as "Peppino" – gave his first concert within these walls and taught piano to Barezzi's daughter, Margherita, his future wife.

In front of Barezzi's house is a statue to Verdi.

Behind it is the local theatre, which was payed in part by the composer himself. A little further is Sant'Agata, the villa where he ended up spending most of his life, which can also be visited.

The maestro could have chosen to live in Milan, the home of the La Scala opera house, once he became famous but he preferred to stay in the Emilia Romagna region where he was born.

"For us, for the inhabitants of Busseto, he was not a genius of music, Verdi was above all one of us. He is alive, still alive," said Gian Paolo Laurini, a local painter sipping an aperitif.

A group of young local residents nod in agreement.

"When we pass in front of the villa, we look to see if he has woken up. When we are on the square, we speak to his statue," Laurini said.

"When we chat at the bar, we always ask 'What would Verdi have said, what would he have done?'"

The composer of the famous arias La donna e' mobile and Va Pensiero will be honoured with a series of concerts around the world on Thursday.

Among them will be a performance of Verdi's Requiem by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by the award-winning Riccardo Muti – to be relayed on live streaming on the Internet.

"Verdi represents our musical identity card in the world," said Jader Bignamini, a 37-year-old conductor at the Teatro Regio in Parma, which is performing Verdi's opera Simon Boccanegra.

"I was born with this music, grew up with it," he told AFP, adding that what he appreciated most in the music was its "great vitality, great force".

Rossin said that Verdi's powerful political and social messages – he was one of the leading lights in the "Risorgimento" that led to the unification of Italy – are often ignored.

"His cry of rebellion would be lost today with the political class currently in charge," he said.

"No one cares about others these days. That is the great drama. We would need a Verdi today."

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OPERA

A Masked Ball: Madrid opera forced to cancel show after protest over social distancing

Spain's main opera house, the Teatro Real in Madrid, defended itself Monday after it had to cancel a performance when a small group of spectators loudly protested against being seated too close to each other amid a spike in Covid-19 infections.

A Masked Ball: Madrid opera forced to cancel show after protest over social distancing
View of the Teatro Real in Madrid. Photo: Claudia Schillinger/ Flickr

The performance of Giuseppe Verdi's “A Masked Ball” on Sunday night was called off after a “minority” of spectators repeatedly jeered and clapped despite being offered the chance to be relocated or get a refund for the value of their tickets, the theatre said in a statement.

Videos shared on social media by several spectators who were at the performance showed full rows in the upper sections where seats are cheaper, while in the pricier floor section many empty seats could be seen.

Clapping and calls of “suspension!” could be heard even after the actors tried to begin their performance.

The Teatro Real had “respected the health norms” put in place by the regional government of Madrid to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and “even reinforced them”, the chairman of the body which manages the theatre, Gregorio Marañon, told a news conference on Monday.

Attendance at the performance had been reduced to just 51.5 percent of the total, well below the  limit of 75 percent set by the regional government, he added.

The regional government does not require there to be an empty seat between spectators, but it does require there to be a distance of 1.5 metres (five feet) between people, or if this is not possible, that they wear face masks, which is mandatory at the theatre, Marañon said.

The Teatro Real, which celebrated its bicentenary in 2018, is studying “what measures we can take for those spectators who… clearly felt in an uncomfortable situation,” he added.

The incident comes as the regional government of Madrid has imposed a partial lockdown in several densely-populated, low income areas mainly in the south of the Spanish capital where virus infections are surging, sparking a debate about inequality and triggering protests in these neighbourhoods over the weekend before the new measures took effect on Monday.

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