Verdi refused to allow her to accompany him
on official travels, due to the scandal that swirled around their
relationship. Moreover, he had at least one documented affair with the
fianc?e of his best friend, Angelo Mariani. Her name was Teresa Stolz
and she was a soprano opera singer. He loved her so much that she was
even allowed to attend his deathbed.
Verdi was a very unpleasant and cantankerous person. He was known for
his litigiousness, evasiveness, vindictiveness, reversals and constant
bickering. He frequently clashed with censors due to the bold subject
matter and librettos of his operas. But he gave rise to so much beauty
that his personal foibles are all but forgotten by now.
http://opera.stanford.edu/Verdi/main.html
http://www.r-ds.com/verdiana.htm
Video Cassette Recorder
A Californian company, Ampex Corporation, invented the video cassette
recorder in 1956. The Ampex VR1000 weighed 665 kilograms and stood 110
centimeters tall. It was not until 1972 that a home version was
introduced by Philips of the Netherlands. Sony introduced the first
affordable home video recorder and player in 1969 but it was JVC
(Matshushita) from Japan which invented the VHS recording system in
1976 and competed with Sony's less successful Betamax standard.
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