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"Success is impossible for me if I cannot write as my heart dictates!"

Key Points

  • The Italian nationalist composer Giuseppe Verdi is best known for his twenty-eight operas; they embody the spirit of Romantic drama and passion.
  • Many of Verdi's operas draw on well-known literary sources, including several from Shakespeare plays (Macbeth, Otello, and Falstaff from Merry Wives of Windsor).
  • Rigoletto, Verdi's opera based on a play by Victor Hugo, is one of the most performed works in the repertory today.

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