So I went to the local public library and checked out her recording of “La Traviata” on vinyl.

When I was in high school in the late 1970s, I had heard Beverly Sills’ name mentioned in choir. “La Traviata” was my very first opera, and is still my favorite Verdi opera. 10, many of OperaWire’s writers are celebrating their personal favorite works by the famed composer. But that is where Verdi always excelled and what keeps him (and will always keep him) at the forefront of the operatic repertory. Other composers have and continue to falter because their music is unable to manage the emotional and psychological depths of the characters it must portray in more complex stories. Imagine a composer whose characterizations are so rich and full of depth of feeling as to render his biggest criticism, his preference for outlandish melodramatic plots, mostly null and void. Verdi’s genius is often associated with his melodic vibrancy and muscularity, but the greatest strength of his art is his ability to embed his characters with deep humanity, even in the most absurd of situations. Giuseppe Verdi is undeniably one of the greatest composers in the history of opera with such works as “La Traviata,” “Aida,” “Rigoletto,” ubiquitous with the artform.

5th century verdi opera