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Born in the same year, Verdi and Richard Wagner created parallel, mutually exclusive types of opera that figure equally among the greatest achievements of 19th-century culture. Their works remain at the heart of opera repertory at the beginning of the 21st century. Verdi appeared on the operatic scene just as the Italian bel canto tradition of Rossini, Vincenzo Bellini, and Donizetti, in the quarter-century from about 1815 to 1845, entered its waning phase. He transformed it and dominated Italian opera alone for another 30 years. It was a period of constant experimentation, constant refinement of musical and dramatic means—a process ...(100 of 3921 words)