The exact circumstances of Giuseppe Verdi's birth are lost to history; history, and we, have wanted to know them. Some speculate he was born on October 10, 1813, others turned his supposed birthplace into a national monument, but the composer himself refused to confirm the accuracy of these biographi

Epic, Lyrical, Melancholy, Pathos

By all accounts, Peter Tchaikovsky was an emotionally troubled man. He suffered from nervous depression, which was heightened by the constant social presssure to hide his homosexuality. The composer had affairs with women and even married Antonina Miliukova -- with disastrous emotional effects to bot

Dark, Dramatic, Elegant, Grand, Lush, Psychological, Romantic music, Voluminous

The harmonic foundations on which Western music had rested since the Renaissance got a strong shaking in the earthquake that was Romanticism. Dissonant notes were sounded -- and left unresolved. In time, the need for a tonal center was questioned, and by the turn of the century, atonal music had arri

20th-century music, Dissonant, Moody

Like many composers, Giacomo Puccini was born into a family of musicians who actively encouraged his musical talent from the time he was a child. Although Puccini's father, Michele, died when he was six, the boy felt much of his influence at the Istituto Musicale where the father had taught, and wher

Romantic poetry