''The Life of Verdi'' is a 1982

Italian-language Italian (''italiano'' or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. Together with Sardinian, Italian is the least divergent language from Latin. Spoken by about ...

biographical A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or c ...

television miniseries directed by

Renato Castellani Renato Castellani (4 September 1913 in Varigotti, Liguria – 28 December 1985 in Rome) was an Italian film director and screenwriter. Early life Son of a representative of Kodak, he was born in Varigotti, a hamlet at the time of Final Pia, ...

dramatizing the life of Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi. Castellani also co-wrote the original script with

Leonardo Benvenuti Leonardo Benvenuti (8 September 1923 – 3 November 2000) also called Leo, was an Italian screenwriter. He wrote for more than 130 films between 1948 and 2000. He was born in Florence, Italy and died in Rome, Italy. Selected filmography * ''O ...

and Piero De Bernardi. The English version was written by Gene Luotto and narrated by Burt Lancaster. The miniseries first aired in 1982, and was made available on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

in 2003. The production stars British

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

Ronald Pickup Ronald Alfred Pickup (7 June 1940 – 24 February 2021) was an English actor. He was active in television, film, and theatre, beginning with a 1964 appearance in ''Doctor Who''. Theatre critic Michael Billington described him as "a terrific sta ...

as Giuseppe Verdi, Italian

ballet dancer A ballet dancer ( it, ballerina fem.; ''ballerino'' masc.) is a person who practices the art of classical ballet. Both females and males can practice ballet; however, dancers have a strict hierarchy and strict gender roles. They rely on ye ...

and actress

Carla Fracci Carolina "Carla" Fracci (; 20 August 1936 – 27 May 2021) was an Italian ballet dancer, actress and ballet director. Considered one of the greatest ballerinas of the 20th century, she was a leading dancer of La Scala Theatre Ballet in Milan, th ...

as Giuseppina Verdi, and

Giampiero Albertini Giampiero Albertini (20 December 1927 – 14 May 1991) was an Italian film, television and voice actor. Biography Born in Muggiò, Albertini started his career as stage actor at the Piccolo Teatro in Milan, under the guidance of Giorgio Strehle ...

as Antonio Barezzi. Funded by a number of European national broadcasting companies, the series is an accurate portrayal of Verdi's life. According to promotional material for the production, it was "filmed on location in Italy, Leningrad, London, and Paris...(T)his epic mini-series took several years to create, requiring more than 100 actors, 1800 extras, and 4000 costumes."''The Life of Verdi''
at amazon.com

Episodes

The English version has seven 90-minute episodes totaling 630 minutes; the original Italian version, nine 70-minute episodes. # "Childhood, Barezzi & Milan" # "Margherita, Tragedy & Nabucco" # "Patriotism, I Lombardi & Ernani" # "Giuseppina, Revolution & Rigoletto" # "Independent Italy, La Traviata & Un Ballo" # "Wagner, Teresa & Aida" # "Crisis, Otello & Falstaff"

Cast

as Giuseppe Verdi *

Omero Antonutti Omero Antonutti (3 August 1935 – 5 November 2019) was an Italian actor and voice actor. Biography Born in Basiliano, in the province of Udine (in the Northeastern Italian region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia), after having worked in shipyard ...

as Carlo Verdi * Agla Marsili as Luisa Uttini *

as Antonio Barezzi *

Adriana Innocenti Adriana Innocenti (16 October 1926 – 4 March 2016) was an Italian actress and voice actress. Life and career Born in Portico e San Benedetto, Forlì, Innocenti formed at the Silvio d’Amico Academy of Dramatic Arts in Rome and then made her ...

as Maria Barezzi * Daria Nicolodi as Margherita Barezzi *

Giuseppina Strepponi Clelia Maria Josepha (Giuseppina) Strepponi ( Lodi, 8 September 1815 – Villanova sull'Arda, 14 November 1897) was a nineteenth-century Italian operatic soprano of great renown and the second wife of composer Giuseppe Verdi. She is ofte ...

Lino Capolicchio Lino Capolicchio (21 August 1943 – 3 May 2022) was an Italian actor, screenwriter, and director. He won a special David di Donatello acting award for his role in Vittorio de Sica's 1970 film, '' The Garden of the Finzi-Contini''. Capolicchio ...

Arrigo Boito Arrigo Boito (; 24 February 1842 10 June 1918) (whose original name was Enrico Giuseppe Giovanni Boito and who wrote essays under the anagrammatic pseudonym of Tobia Gorrio) was an Italian poet, journalist, novelist, librettist and composer, best ...

Enzo Cerusico Enzo Cerusico (22 October 1937 – 26 November 1991) was an Italian film actor. He appeared in more than 50 films between 1951 and 1984. Career in the United States Cerusico's first role on American television was in a 1966 episode of ''I ...

Emanuele Muzio Donnino Emanuele Muzio (or ''Mussio'') (24 August 1821 in Zibello – 27 November 1890 in Paris) was an Italian composer, conductor and vocal teacher. He was a lifelong friend and the only student of Giuseppe Verdi. Biography In April 1844, V ...

* Eva Christian as

Teresa Stolz Teresa Stolz (born 2 June 1834, Elbekosteletz (Czech: Kostelec nad Labem), Bohemia – died 23 August 1902, Milan) was a Bohemian soprano, long resident in Italy, who was associated with significant premieres of the works of Giuseppe Verdi, a ...

* Nino Dal Fabbro as

Giulio Ricordi Giulio Ricordi (19 December 1840 in Milan – 6 June 1912 in Milan) was an Italian editor and musician who joined the family firm, the Casa Ricordi music publishing house, in 1863, then run by his father, Tito, the son of the company's founder ...

Jan Niklas Jan Niklas (born 15 October 1947) is a German film and television actor. He is best known for appearing in TV films such as '' Peter The Great'', '' Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna'' and '' Anne Frank: The Whole Story''. He won a Golden Globe Aw ...

as Angelo Mariani *

Renzo Palmer Renzo Palmer (20 December 1929 – 4 June 1988) was an Italian film, television and stage actor. He appeared in more than 60 films between 1957 and 1988. Life and career Born in Milan as Lorenzo Bigatti, Palmer was the adopted son of the ...

Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour Camillo Paolo Filippo Giulio Benso, Count of Cavour, Isolabella and Leri (, 10 August 1810 – 6 June 1861), generally known as Cavour ( , ), was an Italian politician, businessman, economist and noble, and a leading figure in the movement tow ...

* Raimondo Penne as

Francesco Maria Piave Francesco Maria Piave (18 May 18105 March 1876) was an Italian opera librettist who was born in Murano in the lagoon of Venice, during the brief Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy. Career Piave's career spanned over twenty years working with many of th ...

* Tito Schipa Jr. as

Franco Faccio Francesco (Franco) Antonio Faccio (8 March 1840 – 21 July 1891) was an Italian composer and conductor. Born in Verona, he studied music at the Milan Conservatory from 1855 where he was a pupil of Stefano Ronchetti-Monteviti and, as scholar Wil ...

* Nanni Svampa as Impresario Merelli * Milena Vukotic as Clara Maffei *

Ugo Bologna Ugo Bologna (11 September 1917 – 29 January 1998) was an Italian actor and voice actor. Biography Born in Milan, the son of a municipal employee and a housewife, in 1936 Bologna started working as a primary school teacher, and in 1939 he atte ...

as Gaetano Donizetti * Giorgio Trestini as

Temistocle Solera Temistocle Solera (25 December 1815 – 21 April 1878) was an Italian opera composer and librettist. Life and career He was born in Ferrara. He received his education at the Imperial College in Vienna and at the University of Pavia. Throughou ...

* Leopoldo Trieste as Finola * Carlo Colombo as Giovannino Barezzi

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Life Of Verdi, The 1982 television films 1982 films Italian biographical films Italian television films Films about classical music and musicians Films about composers Films directed by Renato Castellani Cultural depictions of Giuseppe Verdi Television series set in the 19th century Films set in the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia 1980s Italian films