Giuseppe Verdi

Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)
portrait by Giovanni Boldini, 1886
Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna, Rome
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Verdi.jpg)
no copyright infringement intended

My first encounter with the music of Verdi was Aida. It was a movie made in 1953, a performance of the great opera, with Sophia Loren playing the lead role, while the voice was of Renata Tebaldi. There was also another movie from the same year, 1953, that I didn't have the opportunity to watch, though I had loved to: Giuseppe Verdi, featuring Pierre Cressoy in the role of the Maestro. I remained for all my life an enthusiast for Verdi's operas.

I had once the occasion to watch Traviata at the Opera of Vilnius in Lithuania. The name of the composer was translated in Lithuanian: Verdis. The interpret of Alfredo Germont was a tenor from Latvia, a country neighboring Lithuania. He was singing in Italian, all the others were singing in Lithuanian. The theater was in a wonderful modern building (unfortunately I cannot remember the name of the architect, the building looks really great)

Aida, Marcia Trionfale
(video by ClassicalMusicOnly)

(Old Masters)