 |
| Stamps |
 |
| Souvenir sheets |
 |
| First Day Cover with stamps |
 |
| First Day Cover with souvenir sheets |
 |
| Brochure |
They share the birth year and a masterful talent
that catapulted them to the forefront of the history of music. There is no
record of them ever having crossed in life. But they were companions in time
and brilliant artists in a romantic Europe shaken by major social and political
upheavals.
Richard Wagner and Giuseppe Verdi were born in
1813: the first in the German city of Leipzig on May 22nd; the second in
Roncole, Italy, on October 10th. A self-taught complete artist, Wagner was a
composer, orchestra director, poet and musical theorist.
In Wagner’s childhood, his stepfather – an
actor, painter and poet – played a determinant role. By his influence, he woke
early for the Arts, in particular Literature, his first passion.
e was fascinated by the works of Weber and
Beethoven, which eventually imposed music in his life. He begins to reveal
traces of his strong musical personality in the opera The Flying Dutchman, but
it is for the teratology The Ring of the Nibelung and the work Tristan and
Isolde that the German musician becomes renowned.
In The Valkyrie, the second opera of the four
that make up the cycle of The Ring, Wagner addresses timeless issues such as
the pursuit of love and fight over power. The main character is Brynhildr, one
of the nine Valkyrie (demigoddesses, in Norse mythology), daughters of the god
Wotan. Encouraged to study music under the protection of a merchant from Busseto
who early noticed his talent, Verdi becomes a composer in 1842 with Nabucco, an
opera triumphantly taken in by critics and the public.
He then initiates an intense period of work that
results in works with a guaranteed place in the lyrical repertoire worldwide,
as is the case of Rigoletto, Il Trovatore, La Traviata and Aïda. At the age of
80 he composes that which would be his last work and his first comedy: the
Falstaff opera, based on Shakespeare. It tells the adventures of the obese
Falstaff, an old seductive libertine, who ends up himself being cheated. This
“swan song” of his is regarded a masterpiece of musical- -theatrical
virtuosity.
Verdi died in Milan at age 88. Earlier, in 1883,
in the German city of Bayreuth, Wagner had already succumbed to heart problems,
before completing 70 years of age, at the peak of his career.
Technical Details
Date of Issue: 31 January 2013
Values: two stamps of 0,68€ (Europe 20g)
Designer: Atelier B2
Photos:
Credits: Stamps - Giuseppe Verdi, painting by
Jäger; Richard Wagner, photo F.Hanfstaengl
Souvenir sheets – Falstaff in “L’Illustrazione
Italiana”; The Valkyrie
Printer: INCM
Process: Offset 4 Colors
Size: 30,6 x 40 mm
Size special sheet: 95 x 125 mm
Perforation: Cross of Christ 13 x 13
Paper: FSC 110 g./m2
Watermark:
Sheet: with 50 stamps
No comments:
Post a Comment