It  is  affirmed  that  it  was  Provesi  who  urged
Verdi  on  the  path  where  the  latter  was  to  meet
with  glory,  and  the  friends  of  art  owe  him
gratitude  for  the  awakening  thus  given  to
a  genius  probably  still  unconscious  of  its  own


BECOMES    A    PUPIL    OF    PROVESI.  21

existence.  Having  once  become  the  pupil  of
Provesi,  Verdi  gave  himself  up  to  study  with
a  zeal  and  an  ardour  which  nothing  could
quench.  He  worked  '  double  tides,'  and  to
such  good  purpose  that  at  the  end  of  two  or
three  years  Provesi  frankly  declared  that  his
pupil  knew  more  than  he  did,  and  that  he  could
no  longer  teach  him  anything.  ''He  will  go
far,"  added  he,  "  and  one  day  become  a  great
master ! "  The  youth  was  then  approaching
his  sixteenth  year,  and  Provesi,  whose  age
began  to  forbid  great  exertion,  made  him  take
his  place  in  the  direction  of  the  Philharmonic
Society.  Under  these  circumstances,  Verdi
began  to  wTite  numerous  pieces  for  the  use  of
this  Society  ;  he  composed,  scored,  and  copied
them  himself,  afterwards  conducted  the  practices
of  his  orchestra,  and  directed  the  execution  of
the  performances.  The  pieces  in  question  are
still  preserved  in  the  philharmonic  archives  of
Busseto.  At  the  same  time,  Provesi  frequently
made  use  of  Verdi  to  take  his  place  at  the  organ
of  the  cathedral.^


^  One  of  the  strangest  duties  which  Verdi  had  to  fulfil  for
the  ser\dce  of  the  Philharmonic  Society  of  Busseto  was  to
teach  the  viola  part  to  a  member  of  that  Association,  blind
from  his  birth,  who  for  that  reason  was  called  Donnino  il  Cieco.
