Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) is one of the most cherished composers of all time. His operas have remained in the international repertory in a sustained way unmatched by those of any composer save Mozart and Wagner. For Italians, Verdi has come to be associated with the country's history as well, for during the period in which Italy struggled for independence from foreign rule (and acquired it in 1860), he instigated political action through his music. The haunting chorus in the opera Nabucco, "Va' pensiero," was an allusion to the plight of Italy, to the country's memories and hopes, that no one in the audience could have failed to recognize. It has been said that operas such as Aida, I Lombardi, and Nabucco often ended by causing a revolution in the theater.

Like Guido Mazzoni, Giuseppe Verdi was elected to the Senate, but in Verdi's case it was an honorary gesture; the composer never participated in the Senate's activities, preferring to immerse himself in his music. There are quite a few Verdi librettos among the Mazzoni pamphlets, many of them published for specific performances. The Don Carlo libretto, for example, is for a performance in Florence in 1869 which Mazzoni may have attended, only two years after the opera was first introduced.