first year it was performed an astonishing 64 times. The most famous piece, the “Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves;’ came in thethird act and began with the lines Ver -di saw in the book: Va, pensiero, sun ‘ali dorate. The Hebrews are lamenting the loss of their homeland, a sentiment to which many Italians in the audience could relate. Over the following decades, the chorus became something of an unofficial anthem for the revolution. 
Although Italian nationalism was led to victory by soldiers like Giuseppe Garibaldi, Verdi’s music provided a huge emotional boost to /7 Risorgimento. After Nabu cco, Verdi was aware ofthe unusual responsibility he faced as an artist. Fame came at a price, however: Verdi was soon attracting the attention of the Austrian authorities in Italy, and his criticism of ecclesiastical power was likely to offend the powerful Catholic Church. 
Despite enjoying the protection ofthe Countess Clara Maffei, a leading patron of the arts in Milan, trouble loomed for the composer. Shortly after his next op-era, ‘Lombardi, premiered in 3.843, Verdi had his first clash with censorship. The archbishop of M Ilan reported rumors that the work attacked Catholic rites, and threatened to write to Austrian Emperor Ferdinand I to make a formal complaint. The next day, the imperial police tol d the companythat ‘Lombardi could not be per-formed unless passages were changed. The composer refused to edit a single 
note and said it would be performed as it was or not at all. The chief of police re- sponded, saying: “I will not be the man to clip the wings of so promising a genius!’ Emboldened, Verdi embarked on a se- ries of great operas suffusedwith nation- alism.Attila (1846) tells ofthe hated Huns’ arrival in Italy in the fifth century. The final act of his Macbeth (1847) opens with its stir ring”Patria oppressechoru.s: “Op - pressed land of ours! . . . now you have become a tomb for your sonsfEven as he enjoyed such success, however, Verdi’s self-confidence was not boundless. In 1853, he still feared his latest opera, La Traviata, could be a flop.
Rome Comes Together
In later life, Verdibecame heavily involved in politics. In 1859, he was elected to a provincial council that paid an official visit to Piedmont, where he met the new “Father of the Homeland;) King Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia. The following year, the whole of the southern peninsu- la, known as the Kingdom of the Two Si- cilies, became part of Italy. Venice would follow in 1866, but Rome remained part of the Papal States. 
Verdi accepted a position as represen- tative in the first Italian parliament, but in 1865, he retired in order to focus on music. His next great work, Don Carlos (1867), reflected the desire to bring Rome into the unified nation The opera includes a magnificent scene with two bass roles: a villain, Philip II of Spain, and an even worse villain, the Grand Inquisitor.
The anti-Spanish theme was symbolic, as Spain had long ceased to exert influ- ence over Italy —Verdi’s real target was the church, whose power and greed, Ver- dibelieved,was holdingback the final goal by Italian nationalism.
With Don Carlos, the composer was readying his public for the conquest of Rome, and the fall of the outdated papal states. Three years after Don Carlos pre- miered, on September 20, 1870, Italian troops entered Rome, andunificationwas finally complete.
The new Italian state recognized Ver- di’s colossal artistic and political contri- butions, appointing him a life senator. However, a radical to the end, Verdi was disappointed by the nation’s social in- equality and preferred to remain in Bus - seto, in a villa that 18 now a museum. The composer’s unused train tickets to attend the Senate in Rome can still be seen there. Soon after his death, at the dawn of the 20thcentury,his neighbors gathered out- side his home to sing the “Chorus of the Hebrew Slavee the great gift he had be- queathed Italy. 
—Josep Palau
