Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XVI.djvu/329

 VERCHERES virons are rice, herap, flax, and silk, which is manufactured here. The ancient Vercellae, probably several miles from the present city, was the chief town of the Libici, in Cisalpine Gaul, and became a fortified Roman munici- pium. The Raudian fields, on which Marius defeated the Cimbri in 101 B. 0., are supposed to have been near Vercellse, though some place them near Verona. In the middle ages it was a lordship, and for some time a republic. In 1427 it was ceded by Milan to Savoy. Spain held it from 1638 to 1659, after which it re- mained in possession of Savoy till 1704, when the French, to whom it surrendered, razed the fortifications. In 1786 it was retaken. VEKCHERES, a S. W. county of Quebec, Can- ada, bounded N. W. by the St. Lawrence and S. E. by Richelieu river ; area, 195 sq. m. ; pop. in 1871, 12,717, all but 100 of French origin. It is traversed in the south by the Grand Trunk railway. Capital, Vercheres. VERD, Cape. See CAPE VEED. VERD ANTIQUE. See MABBLE, vol. xi., pp. 147, 148. VERDI, Giuseppe, an Italian composer, born at Busseto, in the duchy of Parma, Oct. 9, 1814. Hia father was an innkeeper, and his first instructions in music were given him by an obscure organist. In 1833 Antonio Barezzi offered to provide the means for his instruction at Milan. Failing to obtain an entrance into the conservatory, he was placed under the in- struction of Lavigna, a member of the orches- tra of La Scala. After studying operatic com- position for six years, Verdi produced in 1839 his first work, Oberto di San Bonifasio, which met with moderate success. His next effort, a comic opera hastily written to order in 1841, called Un giorno di regno, was a positive fail- ure. In 1842 he presented Ndbucco, which instantly established his fame. In this work he developed those characteristics of brilliant melody and vivid musico-dramatic effects which have maintained his popularity undiminished to the present time. In 1843 he produced / Lombar.di, a work of similar musical character to Ndbucco, though somewhat more finished in detail. During the years 1844-'5 he wrote four grand operas, Ernani, I due Foscari, Giovanna d'Arco, and Alzira. For a time Ernani was the most popular of his works. Its qualities are extreme vigor and brilliancy of melody, without floridity, strongly marked melodra- matic effects, and very resonant orchestration. It was first represented at Venice in March, 1844. At Venice he produced in 1846 his Attila, a feeble work, and at Florence in 1847 Macbeth, which, though exceedingly faulty, secured extraordinary public recognition. The composer was called before the audience more than 30 times at each of the first three per- formances, escorted to and from the theatre by triumphal processions, and offered the tes- timonial of a golden crown. This, however, was not exclusively an artistic laudation. Verdi was an ardent sympathizer with the liberal VERDUN 309 politicians of Italy, and the libretto of Macbeth was full of allusions to which the populace at- tached a political significance. In 1847 Verdi also visited London, and there produced I mas- nadieri, in the representation of which Jenny Lind took the principal part. In the same year his Lombardi was given, with French words and under the title Jerusalem, at the grand opera in Paris. In 1848 he wrote for Trieste II corsaro, which failed, and for Rome La battaglia di Legnano, which was interdicted on account of the political bearing of the story. In 1849 he wrote for Naples Luisa Miller; in 1850,.for Trieste, Stiffelio; in 1851, for Venice, Eigoletto ; in 1853, for Rome, 11 trovatore ; and in the same year, for Venice, La traviata. In 1855 Lea vepres siciliennes was produced at the grand opera in Paris; and Un lallo in maschera was first represented in 1859 at Rome. His subsequent operas are Aroldo (a revision of his Stiffelio), Simone Boccanegra, Una ven- detta in domino, La forza del destino (St. Petersburg, 1863), Don Carlos (1867), and Aida (Cairo, 1871). This last opera did much to elevate the reputation of its composer, being written with great elaboration. In 1874 he composed a requiem mass for the anniversary of Manzoni's death, which was performed un- der his direction in Paris, and in 1875 in Lon- don. He generally spends the winter at the Doria palace in Genoa. Verdi in 1859 was a member of the national assembly of Parma, and in 1861 of the Italian parliament ; and in November, 1874, the king made him a senator. VERDIGRIS. See COPPER, vol. v., p. 319. VERDOf (anc. Verodunum), a town of Lor- raine, France, in the department of Meuse, on the river Meuse, 130 in. E. N. E. of Paris; pop. in 1872, 10,738. The Meuse, which is naviga- ble here, separates into several streams within the walls, which reunite on leaving the town. It has fine promenades, a cathedral and other churches, an episcopal palace and garden, an ecclesiastical seminary, a public library, and a theatre. The trade is in wine, liqueurs, confectionery, 'oil, grain, timber, and cattle ; and linen and woollen fabrics, leather, &c., are manufactured. It has a strong citadel de- signed by Vauban, separated from the town by an esplanade, and the enceinte consists of ten fronts. Verdun was a town of some im- portance under the Romans. Charlemagne's Frankish empire was divided into three king- doms by the treaty of Verdun in August, 843. The Verdunois territory belonged to the dukes of Lorraine, who governed it through local counts. Baldwin, the brother of Godfrey of Bouillon, sold it to the bishop of Verdun, who gave it in fief for some time as a viscounty to the count of Moncon and Bar. Verdun early became a free imperial city of the German em- pire ; but the bishops claimed absolute author- ity, and the numerous conflicts resulted in 1552 in French domination, which the "Westphalian treaty sanctioned. The royalists surrendered the town to the Prussians, Sept. 2, 1792, in