in her.
She ministered to him. They grew great together. When each was over
eighty years of age, Henry James met them at Cremona, at a musical
festival in honor of the birthday of Stradivari. And thus wrote Henry
James: "Verdi and his wife were there, admired above all others. And why
not? Think of whom they are, and what they stand for--nearly a century
of music, and a century of life! The master is tall, straight, proud,
commanding. He has a courtly old-time grace of bearing; and he kissed
his wife's hand when he took leave of her for an hour's stroll. And the
Madame surely is not old in spirit; she is as sprightly as our own Mrs.
John Sherwood, who translated 'Carcassonne' so well that she improved on
the original, because in her heart spring fresh and fragrant every day
the flowers of tender, human, Godlike sympathy."

* * * * *

"Rigoletto," produced in the year Eighteen Hundred Fifty-one at Venice,
is founded on Victor Hugo's "Le Roi s'Amuse"; and the music has all the
dramatic fire that matches the Hugo plot. Verdi's devotion to Victor
Hugo is seen again in the use of "Hernani" for operatic purposes. "Il
Trovatore" and "La Traviata" followed "Rigoletto," and these three
operas are usually put forward as the Verdi masterpieces. The composer
himself regarded them with a favor that may well be pardoned, since he
used to say that he and his wife collaborated in their production--she
writing the music and he looking on. The proportion of truth and poetry
in this statement is not on record. But the simple fact remains that "Il
Trovatore" was always a favorite with Verdi, and even down to his death
he would travel long distances to hear it played. A correspondent of the
"Musical Courier," writing from Paris in Eighteen Hundred Eighty-seven,
says: "Verdi and his wife occupied a box last evening at the Grand Opera
House. The piece was 'Il Trovatore,' and many smiles were caused by the
sight of the author and his spouse seemingly leading the claque as if
they would split their gloves."

The flaming forth of creative genius that produced the "Rigoletto," "Il
Trovatore," and "La Traviata," subsided into a placid calm.

The serene happiness of Verdi's married life, the fortune that had come
to him, and the consciousness of having won in spite of great
obstacles, led him to the thought of quiet and well-earned rest. The
master interested himself in politics, and was elected to represent the