A magnificently detailed portrait of the great Italian composer (1813-1901) that refutes many myths and uncovers some unsavory new material, including the strong likelihood that before their marriage Verdi and Giuseppina Strepponi conceived several children who were abandoned at birth. Just as important as her full-bodied rendering of Verdi's personal life is Phillips-Matz's powerful delineation of his confrontations with pre-Unification Italy's foreign masters. Verdi's art was deeply political, she reminds us, and he used his wild popularity to ensure that it would be heard in the form he intended.

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