# Recommendations for a new Verdi fan

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendations-for-a-new-verdi-fan/291534>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [February 23, 2005, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendations-for-a-new-verdi-fan/291534 "2005-02-23T15:21:49Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![AmericanMaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@AmericanMaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AmericanMaid)\
**Post date:** [February 23, 2005, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendations-for-a-new-verdi-fan/291534/1 "2005-02-23T15:21:49Z")

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I stumbled upon Verdi last week as I ripped my family’s CDs to pack my iPod full of music. Since then, I’ve been listening to Verdi’s Requiem obsessively, almost daily. What other pieces would you recommend when I tire of the Requiem?

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**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\
**Post date:** [February 23, 2005, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendations-for-a-new-verdi-fan/291534/2 "2005-02-23T16:56:39Z")

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> [@AmericanMaid](#):
>
> I stumbled upon Verdi last week as I ripped my family’s CDs to pack my iPod full of music. Since then, I’ve been listening to Verdi’s Requiem obsessively, almost daily. What other pieces would you recommend when I tire of the Requiem?

Ah, Giuseppe Verdi, the Joe Green of Italian composers.

He’s most famous as a composer of operas. La Traviata is the most famous and will probably be easy to find.

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**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\
**Post date:** [February 23, 2005, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendations-for-a-new-verdi-fan/291534/3 "2005-02-23T17:25:49Z")

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Let us not forget **Aida** and **Rigoletto**. My favorite, though, is **Nabucco** because the music is so moving. The Hebrews chorus was sung by the people who lined the streets for his funeral procession, and was practically the Italian national song. All this from someone who generally dislikes opera.

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**Author:** ![haardvark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5ac83/32.png) [@haardvark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/haardvark)\
**Post date:** [February 23, 2005, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendations-for-a-new-verdi-fan/291534/4 "2005-02-23T17:44:52Z")

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Pretty much all of the violin concerti are wonderful, IMNSHO.

I’m also especially fond of the _Gloria in D_, and the _Concert for the Prince of Poland_, both of which are somewhat off the beaten track.

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**Author:** ![haardvark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5ac83/32.png) [@haardvark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/haardvark)\
**Post date:** [February 23, 2005, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendations-for-a-new-verdi-fan/291534/5 "2005-02-23T17:45:54Z")

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except of course, that’s **VIVALDI** :smack: :smack: :smack:

Nevermind.

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**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\
**Post date:** [February 23, 2005, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendations-for-a-new-verdi-fan/291534/6 "2005-02-23T18:11:34Z")

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If you can find it, rent Franco Zefferelli’s _La Traviata_, which is a lushly filmed version of the opera, starring Placido Domingo and and Teresa Stratas. This is a favorite opera of mine, partly because Verdi’s music is fabulous, and partly because all the best arias are in the first third of the film. Therefore, if the opera gets a bit too long for you and you run out of gas halfway through, you’ve already heard the best! Although that gypsy aria at the end is gorgeous, too.