It is the simplest statement, exhibited every day in every avenue of life.
1. Antonio Gramsci, Italian Marxist theoretician and founding member and one-time leader of the Communist Party of Italy. Gramsci’s motto is that of liberals today: “that all life is "political."
2. You think not? Believe you can separate yourself from politics? Put a Trump sign on your lawn, or your car. Offer an opinion at the water cooler.
But that isn’t today’s example.
Music is.
Born this date, one of the greatest operatic composers, and the spearhead of a political movement.
3. Giuseppe Verdi, in full Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi, (born October 9/10, 1813, Roncole, near Busseto, duchy of Parma [Italy]—died January 27, 1901, Milan, Italy), leading Italian composer of opera in the 19th century, noted for operas such as Rigoletto (1851), Il trovatore (1853), La traviata (1853), Don Carlos (1867), Aida (1871), Otello (1887), and Falstaff (1893) and for his Requiem Mass (1874).
Britannica.com
4. "In his early period Verdi's operas were openly political, directly expressing the Italian struggle for national independence."
Verdi: the music of revolt | Socialist Review
5. "...Venice and much of northern Italy was in the hands of the Austrians, who were deeply fearful of the attempts to unify Italy and were well aware of Verdi’s patriotic stance.
His very name had become an anagram, an open secret used to inflame the public toward independence and unification. “Viva VERDI” was scrawled on walls, painted on banners, shouted by crowds — ostensibly in honor of the increasingly popular composer.
V -E- R- D- I
But “VERDI” also stood for Vittorio Emmanuele, Re d’Italia (Vittorio Emmanuel, King of Italy, meaning a free, unified Italy, not just King of Sardinia as he was at the time). "
RIGOLETTO—A REVOLUTION IN OPERA | Paul Thomason
1. Antonio Gramsci, Italian Marxist theoretician and founding member and one-time leader of the Communist Party of Italy. Gramsci’s motto is that of liberals today: “that all life is "political."
2. You think not? Believe you can separate yourself from politics? Put a Trump sign on your lawn, or your car. Offer an opinion at the water cooler.
But that isn’t today’s example.
Music is.
Born this date, one of the greatest operatic composers, and the spearhead of a political movement.
3. Giuseppe Verdi, in full Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi, (born October 9/10, 1813, Roncole, near Busseto, duchy of Parma [Italy]—died January 27, 1901, Milan, Italy), leading Italian composer of opera in the 19th century, noted for operas such as Rigoletto (1851), Il trovatore (1853), La traviata (1853), Don Carlos (1867), Aida (1871), Otello (1887), and Falstaff (1893) and for his Requiem Mass (1874).
Britannica.com
4. "In his early period Verdi's operas were openly political, directly expressing the Italian struggle for national independence."
Verdi: the music of revolt | Socialist Review
5. "...Venice and much of northern Italy was in the hands of the Austrians, who were deeply fearful of the attempts to unify Italy and were well aware of Verdi’s patriotic stance.
His very name had become an anagram, an open secret used to inflame the public toward independence and unification. “Viva VERDI” was scrawled on walls, painted on banners, shouted by crowds — ostensibly in honor of the increasingly popular composer.
V -E- R- D- I
But “VERDI” also stood for Vittorio Emmanuele, Re d’Italia (Vittorio Emmanuel, King of Italy, meaning a free, unified Italy, not just King of Sardinia as he was at the time). "
RIGOLETTO—A REVOLUTION IN OPERA | Paul Thomason
