Editing Giuseppe Verdi (section)

===1860–1887: from ''La forza'' to ''Otello''===
[[File:Verdi Russia 1861-62.jpg|thumb|upright|Verdi in Russia, 1861–1862]]
In the months following the staging of ''Ballo'', Verdi was approached by several opera companies seeking a new work or making offers to stage one of his existing ones but refused them all.{{sfn|Phillips-Matz|1993|pp=439–446}} But when, in December 1860, an approach was made from [[Saint Petersburg]]'s [[Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre|Imperial Theatre]], the offer of 60,000 francs plus all expenses was doubtless a strong incentive. Verdi came up with the idea of adapting the 1835 Spanish play ''Don Alvaro o la fuerza del sino'' by [[Angel Saavedra]], which became ''[[La forza del destino]]'', with Piave writing the libretto. The Verdis arrived in Saint Petersburg in December 1861 for the premiere, but casting problems meant that it had to be postponed.{{sfn|Rosselli|2000|p=124}}

Returning via Paris from Russia on 24 February 1862, Verdi met two young Italian writers, the twenty-year-old [[Arrigo Boito]] and [[Franco Faccio]]. Verdi had been invited to write a piece of music for the [[1862 International Exhibition]] in London,{{sfn|Phillips-Matz|1993|pp=446–449}} and charged Boito with writing a text, which became the ''[[Inno delle nazioni]]''. Boito, as a supporter of the grand opera of [[Giacomo Meyerbeer]] and an opera composer in his own right, was later in the 1860s critical of Verdi's "reliance on formula rather than form", incurring the composer's wrath. Nevertheless, he was to become Verdi's close collaborator in his final operas.{{sfn|Parker|2007|pp=3–4}} The Saint Petersburg premiere of ''La forza'' finally took place in September 1862, and Verdi received the [[Order of Saint Stanislaus (Imperial House of Romanov)|Order of St. Stanislaus]].{{sfn|Budden|1993|p=88}}

{{Listen|image=none|help=no|type=music|filename=Triumphal March from Aida.ogg|title=''Grand March'' from Aida|description=The Grand March from the Act 2 of Aida}}A revival of ''Macbeth'' in Paris in 1865 was not a success, but he obtained a commission for a new work, ''[[Don Carlos]]'', based on the play [[Don Carlos (play)|''Don Carlos'']] by [[Friedrich Schiller]]. He and Giuseppina spent late 1866 and much of 1867 in Paris, where they heard, and did not warm to, Giacomo Meyerbeer's last opera, ''[[L'Africaine]]'', and [[Richard Wagner]]'s overture to ''[[Tannhäuser (opera)|Tannhäuser]]''.{{sfn|Budden|1993|p=93}} The opera's premiere in 1867 drew mixed comments. While the critic [[Théophile Gautier]] praised the work, the composer [[Georges Bizet]] was disappointed at Verdi's changing style: "Verdi is no longer Italian. He is following Wagner."{{sfn|Budden|1993|p=93}}

During the 1860s and 1870s, Verdi paid great attention to his estate around Busseto, purchasing additional land, dealing with unsatisfactory (in one case, embezzling) stewards, installing [[irrigation]], and coping with variable harvests and economic slumps.{{sfn|Rosselli|2000|pp=128–131}} In 1867, both Verdi's father Carlo, with whom he had restored good relations, and his early patron and father-in-law Antonio Barezzi, died. Verdi and Giuseppina decided to adopt Carlo's great-niece Filomena Maria Verdi, then seven years old, as their own child. She was to marry in 1878 the son of Verdi's friend and lawyer Angelo Carrara and her family became eventually the heirs of Verdi's estate.{{sfn|Rosselli|2000|pp=131, 133}}
[[File:Teresa Stolz Aida 1872.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Teresa Stolz]] as ''Aida'' in the 1872 Parma production]]
''[[Aida]]'' was commissioned by the Egyptian government for the [[Khedivial Opera House|opera house]] built by the [[Khedive]] [[Isma'il Pasha]] to celebrate the opening of the [[Suez Canal]] in 1869. The opera house actually opened with a production of ''Rigoletto''. The prose libretto in French by [[Camille du Locle]], based on a scenario by the Egyptologist [[Auguste Mariette]], was transformed into Italian verse by [[Antonio Ghislanzoni]].{{sfn|Porter|1980|p=655}} Verdi was offered the enormous sum of 150,000 [[franc]]s for the opera (even though he confessed that [[Ancient Egypt]] was "a civilization I have never been able to admire"), and it was first performed in Cairo in 1871.{{sfn|Rosselli|2000|pp=149–150}} Verdi spent much of 1872 and 1873 supervising the Italian productions of ''Aida'' at Milan, Parma and Naples, effectively acting as producer and demanding high standards and adequate rehearsal time.{{sfn|Rosselli|2000|p=158–159}} During the rehearsals for the Naples production he wrote his [[String Quartet (Verdi)|String Quartet]], the only chamber music by him to survive, and the only major work in the form by an Italian of the 19th century.{{sfn|Stowell|2003|p=259}}

In 1869, Verdi had been asked to compose a section for a [[Music for the requiem Mass|requiem]] mass in memory of Rossini. He compiled and completed the requiem, but its performance was abandoned (and its premiere did not take place until 1988).{{sfn|Rosselli|2000|pp=138–139}} Five years later, Verdi reworked his "Libera Me" section of the Rossini Requiem and made it a part of his Requiem honouring [[Alessandro Manzoni]], who had died in 1873. The complete Requiem was first performed at the cathedral in Milan on the anniversary of Manzoni's death on 22 May 1874.{{sfn|Rosselli|2000|pp=138–139}} The ''[[spinto]]'' soprano [[Teresa Stolz]], who had sung in La Scala productions from 1865 onwards, was the soloist in the first and many later performances of the Requiem; in February 1872, she had created Aida in its European premiere in Milan. She became closely associated personally with Verdi (exactly how closely remains conjectural), to Giuseppina Verdi's initial disquiet; but the women were reconciled and Stolz remained a companion of Verdi after Giuseppina's death in 1897 until his own death.{{sfn|Christiansen|1995|pp=202–203}}

Verdi conducted his Requiem in Paris, London and Vienna in 1875 and in Cologne in 1876.{{sfn|Porter|1980|p=653}} It seemed that it would be his last work. In the words of his biographer [[John Rosselli (historian)|John Rosselli]], it "confirmed him as the unique presiding genius of Italian music. No fellow composer...came near him in popularity or reputation". Verdi, now in his sixties, initially seemed to withdraw into retirement. He deliberately shied away from opportunities to publicise himself or to become involved with new productions of his works,{{sfn|Rosselli|2000|pp=163–165}} but secretly he began work on ''[[Otello]]'', which Boito (to whom the composer had been reconciled by Ricordi) had proposed to him privately in 1879. The composition was delayed by a revision of ''Simon Boccanegra'' which Verdi undertook with Boito, produced in 1881, and a revision of ''Don Carlos''. Even when ''Otello'' was virtually completed, Verdi teased "Shall I finish it? Shall I have it performed? Hard to tell, even for me." As news leaked out, Verdi was pressed by opera houses across Europe with enquiries; eventually the opera was triumphantly premiered at La Scala in February 1887.{{sfn|Rosselli|2000|pp=164–172}}