Italian composer. His world recognition is due mainly to his operas. Among these, the best known are: "Rigoletto", "Il Trovatore", "La Traviata", "La Forza del Destino", "Aida", "Otello" and "Falstaff". "Otello" and "Falstaff" are considered by most critics to be the finest operas ever adapted from Shakespeare. Verdi wrote "Falstaff" when he was eighty, in 1893. The tenor aria "La donna e mobile", from "Rigoletto", is one of the most famous arias ever written for an opera, and is familiar even to people who never listen to opera.