The great Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) was largely self-taught. He composed some operas but then in less than two years' time he lost his wife and two children (1838-1840) and decided to give up composing. However he was convinced to write again and in 1842 he became world famous with his opera "Nabucco." This was followed by several masterpieces such as Rigoletto, Il Trovatore, Un ballo in maschera, Aida, Othello and Falstaff. His twenty-fourth opera "La Forza del Destino" was composed in 1862 for a performance at the Imperial Theatre of Saint Petersburg. This four act opera was written to a libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, based on the Spanish tragedy "Don Alvaro" written in 1835 by Don Angelo Perez de Saavedra, Duke of Rivas. It tells the adventures of the unfortunate Alvaro in Italy and Spain in the middle of the eighteenth century. The love between Leonore and the half-breed of Inca descent Don Alvaro meets a lot of obstacles. One year after the creation in Russia, the opera was performed in Rome under the title "Don Alvaro." For the performance at the Scala in Milan in 1869, Verdi transformed the opera and also extended the original prelude into the now popular overture. This overture boasts the best-known melodies as well as the famous three-chord theme and is one of the best-structured overtures by Verdi. It opens with an ominous warning note of the trumpet, introducing a dramatic theme in a minor key. The second theme, taken from the Prayer to the Virgin in Act II, is a noble melody in B major. A gentle pastoral melody forms a contrast to this, and the material of the three principal themes is worked up into a brilliant climax.
