Verdi as a sacred music composer--Share in the "Rossini" mass--Failure of a patch-work effort--_Missa de Requiem_ produced--Splendid reception--Performed at the Royal Albert Hall--Structure of the work--Von Bülow's opinion--Divided opinions on its style and merit--Its character--Modern Italian Church style--Northern _versus_ Southern Church music--Verdi's early compositions--E minor Quartet for strings--_L'Inno delle Nazioni_--Its performance at Her Majesty's Theatre--Verdi's slender share in orchestral music--National temperament involved--Thematic method inconsistent with Italian national life 150
A matured style--Methuselah of opera--The last link--_Aïda_--A higher art plane--Ismail Pacha commissions _Aïda_--Its libretto--Production at Cairo--The argument--Patti as _Aïda_--_Athenæum_ criticism of _Aïda_--_Otello_--Scene in Milan--The initial cast--Its production and reception in London and Paris--_Athenæum_ review of _Otello_--Its story--Vocal and instrumental qualities--_Falstaff_--A surprise defeated--Boito--_Falstaff_ produced at La Scala--In France--_Falstaff_ at Covent Garden--The comedy and its music--_Athenæum_ opinion of _Falstaff_--A crowning triumph 167
A born politician--Attempt to draw Verdi--The revolutionary ring of Verdi's music--Signor Basevi on this feature--National and political honours and distinctions--An inactive senator--England's neglect--The composer's nature and character--Bluntness of speech--A dissatisfied auditor--Verdi's alleged parsimony--Verdi and the curate--The gossips and his fortune--Life at St. Agata villa--An "eighty-two" word-portrait--Verdi's old-age vigour--Love of flowers--His hobby at the Genoa _palazzo_--Independence of character 203
Verdi's popularity--An important personality in music--Most successful composer of the nineteenth century--Verdi's opportuneness--Keynote of future struck in _Nabucco_--Its characteristics--Distinguishing features of Verdi's music--Stereotyped pattern operas--Change of style imminent in _Luisa Miller_--Altered second period style of _Rigoletto_--This maintained in _Il Trovatore_--_La Traviata_ forebodings--Basevi's charge of an altered style therein--_La Traviata_ and _débutantes_--True Verdi style in _Les Vêpres Siciliennes_--_Simon Boccanegra_ and _Un Ballo in Maschera_--Third period works--_Aïda_--Alleged Wagner influence--Mistaken criticism--Orchestration of _Otello_--Its style and _technique_ compared with _Aïda_--_Falstaff_--Its position as an opera--A saviour of Italian art--The _Illustrated London News_ defends Verdi from early critics--Later critics silenced--Verdi vindicated 223