Who was Verdi?
Oh, yeah, him.
Anyone who thinks they might not like Wagner might have their mind nudged a bit in the right direction by watching Wagner’s Dream, about the conception and creation of the spectacular staging of the Ring by the Met a few years ago. If your mind is then transformed into fertile soil, watch the entire DVD set of that magnificent production (don’t forget the subtitles!).
I’ll resist the long parade of superlatives I could add here about it: just watch it, and your eyes, ears and mind will be opened.
Is that the Ring with "the machine"? I still have not seen that version. I liked the Chereau Bayreuth version from the mid 70's and the Met version from the 80's. Most other productions look like the the typical Eurotrash we get nowadays. Here in the Houston they are going to present Das Rheingold for the first time. Looks like it's going to be the Valencia Cirque des Soileil style staging.
Verdi’s operas have the best musical characterization of any others except those of Mozart.